President Bush Speaks Selectively on Chinese Human Rights Abuses

President Bush expressed concern last night about human rights in China. He talked about the need for the government of China to extend religious and political freedom to its people, which is undoubtedly true; there is no question that China’s domestic human rights record could and should be much stronger. We appreciate President Bush’s willingness to raise human rights on the eve of the Olympics, but find it disappointing that he declined to address China’s role in supporting human rights abuses internationally. As an acknowledged emerging superpower, China is responsible for ensuring that its foreign policy and practices do not support human rights violations abroad. Thus far, China’s willingness to promote human rights in countries with the worst abuses, such as Sudan, is more rhetorical than actual. China claims to do everything within its power to seek an end to the conflict in Darfur. But, for example, Beijing still is the major provider of small arms to the government of Sudan. Some of these weapons make their way to Darfur, where they fuel terror and violence against civilians. (See Human Rights First’s report, Investing in Tragedy, for more). The government of Sudan has openly defied the arms embargo on Darfur, stating that it will transfer weapons within the country as it sees fit. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has been accused of genocide by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and may yet be charged with multiple counts of that crime. Yet China continues to sell weapons to Beijing. The government of China knows the weapons may be going to Darfur, and until it stops sending them, it simply is not doing everything it can to resolve the conflict. Of course President Bush knows all of this too, and he should have raised it when he had the eyes of the world—and China—on him. There is still time for President Bush to speak out while he is in Beijing. Hopefully he will not the this opportunity completely escape him, the people of Darfur deserve nothing less.