Copyright 2000 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
April 28, 2000, Friday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 9A
LENGTH: 442 words
HEADLINE:
U.S. panel wants rights linked to China deal
BYLINE:
James Cox
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. commission on Monday
will condemn Chinese
religious persecution and urge Congress to put
conditions on a
landmark trade agreement with China when it votes on the
legislation
in May.
The nine-member U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom
is expected to propose a formula that would
allow Congress to
re-examine Beijing's record next year and link it to U.S.
trade
relations with China.
The vote on Permanent Normal Trade
Relations (PNTR), effectively
a referendum on China's entry
to the World Trade Organization,
takes place the week of May 22. The Clinton
administration is
courting wavering House Democrats in an all-out lobbying
effort.
Both Beijing and the White House have insisted that
PNTR must
be unconditional if U.S. companies are to get new
access to China's
markets.
The commission, set up by Congress in
1998, also will review religious
freedom in Sudan and Russia.
But it will be especially critical of China, which has intensified
religious persecution in the year since the commission began its
work.
The past year in China has been characterized by "serious
deterioration in
religious freedom, no doubt about it," says
Lawrence Goodrich, commission
spokesman.
Goodrich refused to discuss the commission's
recommendations.
In recent months, Chinese authorities have harassed
members of
underground Catholic and Protestant congregations. They have
jailed
Roman Catholic priests and bishops, and ordained bishops in defiance
of the Vatican.
Human-rights advocates say Beijing continues to
oppress Tibetan
Buddhists and Muslim Uighurs. Since last spring, authorities
have
carried out a brutal public campaign against followers of the
Falun
Gong spiritual movement.
The commission's finding ought to persuade
Congress to reject
normalized trade with China, says Joseph Kung, head of
the Cardinal
Kung Foundation, a U.S.-based advocate for Chinese Catholics
who
are loyal to the Vatican.
Persecution of Catholics
worshipping outside the state-sanctioned
church "has gone from bad to
worse," Kung says. "Constructive
engagement doesn't work. How long do we
wait?"
A harsh commission report "won't have much of an impact on
how
members vote," says Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Calif., a leader in the
effort to round up votes for normalized trade with Beijing.
"Some of us would argue that the annual review we've been doing
has provided us with very little, in terms of influencing China's
behavior. By embracing the policy of economic engagement with
China, we
will accelerate progress on human rights and religious
freedoms," Dooley
says.
LOAD-DATE: April 28, 2000
