The US, citing some human rights improvements and a new leadership in Beijing, has decided not to sponsor a resolution critical of China at the annual session of the UN Human Rights Commission underway in Geneva, the US State Department said on Friday.
It has also decided not to sponsor, jointly with the EU, a resolution on rights in the Russian territory of Chechnya, spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing. It favors a chairman's statement about Chechnya instead, he added, saying the US is very concerned about the human-rights situation there.
"The decision ... was based on what we believe will best advance the cause of human rights in China with the new government in Beijing. We believe we are beginning to see some limited but significant progress," Boucher said.
The US usually sponsored a resolution on China at the annual commission meeting until last year, when Washington was not on the commission. In most cases China thwarted the resolutions by procedural maneuvers.
The spokesman denied speculation that the decisions were politically motivated, for example to reward China and Russia for their position on Washington's "global war on terrorism" or to help reduce their opposition to the US invasion of Iraq.
But human-rights organizations deplored the US decision to treat China and Russia lightly.
"By failing to sponsor a resolution, the US is aiding China's evasion of scrutiny of its human-rights record," said William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International in the US.
"China's effort to avoid criticism abroad is paired with the authorities' vigorous crackdown on human rights at home. China's dismal -- and deteriorating -- human-rights record cannot be covered up, and the US ought to keep pressure on China to respect basic human rights," he added.
Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for rights group Human Rights Watch, said the US had left the EU "out in the cold" in Chechnya.
"This administration has plenty of moral courage when it comes to dealing with France and Germany but when it comes to Russia and China they are models of diplomatic circumspection," Malinowski added.
The annual US report on human rights, released on April 1, said China's record improved early last year, but US officials said it deteriorated later in the year and early this year.
The report accused China of a broad array of human-rights violations including summary executions, torture, forced confessions, suppression of political dissent and denial of religious freedom.
Boucher listed four areas of improvement in China's record:
-- China gave the US last December a commitment to cooperate with UN mechanisms without conditions, including with the special rapporteur on torture and the working group on arbitrary detention;
-- it decided to invite the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to visit the country;
-- it allowed the special repre-sentatives of the Dalai Lama to visit Beijing and Lhasa; and
-- it released a significant number of political prisoners, including democracy activist Xu Wenli, Tibetan prisoner Tanak Jigme Sangpo and Tibetan nun Ngawang Sangdrol.
But he added: "China's human-rights record remains poor. Much remains to be done to promote improvement ... and over the coming year we will continue to press China's new government to improve its human-rights record."
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