Friday March 30

According to Reuters, "The United States said on Friday that the United Nations could not remain silent as China steps up repression of the Tibetan minority and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement."

The paper said, "The U.S. delegation, led by the Pakistani-American academic who was formerly with the U.S. National Security Council, has said that its priorities at the annual six-week forum in Geneva would be resolutions criticizing China and Cuba."

"China's 'already poor human rights record worsened (over) the last year, particularly with respect to religious minorities and the Tibetan people,' the U.S. envoy said."

"'We seek no blanket condemnation of China,' she said."

"'(But) by speaking out the Commission can best serve the cause of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It should not be silent when the Chinese authorities demolish Christian churches and Buddhist temples and brutally repress Falun Gong practitioners exercising rights to freedom of belief and expression.'"

"'It should not be silent when those who call for democratic government or more cultural preservation and religious freedom in Tibet and elsewhere in China are suppressed or when advocates of labor rights are thrown in jail,' she said."

The paper mentioned, "The U.S. envoy also accused Chinese authorities of detaining up to 1,000 people for 'counter-revolution,' a crime taken off the books in 1997. Hundreds of others remained jailed under the state security law, while thousands are sentenced without trial in ''reform-through-labor camps,' she said."