Amnesty Says China's Human Rights White Paper Is A Whitewash (AFP: 2/18)

BEIJING, Feb 18, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Amnesty International on Friday rejected China's latest human rights report as a whitewash and accused Beijing of waging the largest crackdown on peaceful dissent for more than 10 years.

The London-based human rights group said the white paper released by China on Thursday contained empty guarantees andfailed to address repressive legislation and rampant abuse of power.

"Constitutional rights have been severely proscribed by newer laws or are simply not delivered in practice," said an Amnesty statement faxed to AFP.

Amnesty rejected the Chinese government's long-held view that it must put the priority of feeding and improving the lot of its 1.3 billion people ahead of Western interpretations of human rights.

"This is a weak and unconvincing explanation for Beijing's failure to act decisively against torture, to allow thousands to be detained, to carry out unfair trials and to deny constitutional rights to critics and perceived opponents of the regime," said the statement.

The 15,000-word report, the ninth human rights white paper issued since 1991, trumpeted the economic and social development of China under 50 years of Communist rule.

It said life expectancy had doubled to 70 during the period, and that the amount of people living in poverty had fallen from 250 million in 1978 to just 4.2 million.

The paper reiterated Beijing's view that it can always improve its human rights situation, but not at the cost of stability and development.

China has come under particular fire for its ongoing crackdowns on political dissent, in particular the banned China Democracy Party (CDP), and the outlawed spiritual Falungong movement.

Rights groups say several thousand Falungong have been rounded up across China this month. China admitted to detaining 35,000 between July and November last year, and sentenced group leaders to up to 18 years in jail.

A prominent member of the CDP was jailed for six years on Wednesday, the 21st CDP member to be jailed for "subversion" since December 1998. Another 15 are awaiting trial.

Amnesty described the crackdown as the worst since the pro-democracy movement was crushed in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

"The ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent -- the most serious and widespread in China since 1989 -- is alienating and potentially destabilizing China.

"So indeed are corruption and abuse of power, issues that find no mention in the White Paper." ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)