U.S. State Department Slams China on Human Rights

The U.S. State Department's annual review of China's human rights practices shows the country's unacceptable human rights record deteriorated further in 1999, while China expanded its trading relationship with the United States and made a bid to enter the World Trade Organization.

The report, released Feb. 25, finds that as China intensified efforts to suppress dissent, it continued or tightened restrictions on freedom of religion, association, movement, speech and the press. The Chinese government commonly engages in killings, torture, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest, detention and denial of due process, the report says, while describing violence against women, including coercive family planning practices such as forced abortion and sterilization.

"The government continued to tightly restrict worker rights, and forced labor in prison facilities remains a serious problem," the report says.

Congress is considering a proposal to grant China permanent Normal Trade Relations status, which would end its annual review of that country's trade and human rights records. But a new national survey of registered voters by Peter D. Hart Research Associates shows that 65 percent of voters oppose such a move. By 4-to-1, voters say they are less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supports permanent free trade with China.

To let Congress know China does not deserve permanent free trade status from the United States until it improves trade and human rights practices:

• Send a "No Blank Check for China," e-mail to your members of Congress, and
  
  
• Sign up today to join the April 12 rally and lobby day at the U.S. Capitol.