Reuters: Powell Urges China to Take Action on Human Rights [Excerpt]

Mon, Jul 23 11:36 AM EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell played down China's moves toward ending spying cases against two U.S.-connected academics, saying Monday Beijing has to do more to earn a seat beside the world's democracies.

Powell was making a brief stop in Tokyo ahead of a five-day sprint through Asia.

Human rights was part of the U.S. agenda with China "and just removing one or two cases that might be high-profile cases for the moment isn't enough," he told reporters on his plane.

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Powell said he hoped Gao would be free by the time he got to Beijing, but this was not enough as China had other human rights problems. These include Beijing's treatment of followers of the Falun Gong movement and alleged violations of religious freedom strongly criticized in Washington.

"There are other people who have been detained and there are other people who could be detained tomorrow," Powell said.

"We're looking for a more basic change in their human rights attitudes and positions," he said, giving a preview of part of his message to the Chinese officials he will meet in Vietnam and Beijing.

"We think it would be better for their society, it would be better for their standing in the international community as part of becoming a fully fledged member of the international community," he added.

[...]

"The international community is not just an economic community, it's a community of human rights, it's a community of the individual rights of men and women. It's a community of increasing democratization, if you want to be a fully-fledged member of it," he said.

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