The next time you find yourself in the midst of a large crowd, try to imagine that every fifth person around you is Chinese. It may make you more aware of the fact that China contains a full fifth of the world's population.
These 1.2 billion people live under an extraordinarily corrupt and repressive government. China regularly jails its citizens if they happen to express political or religious beliefs the government deems "wrong." Its women must have official permission to bear children, and birth control is vigorously enforced. Eyewitness reports have revealed cases of pregnant women held in detention centers for several months until they finally submitted to having abortions.
The use of torture is widespread in China, occurring in nearly every part of the country and in an array of forms: Prisoners may be shocked with electric batons, beaten while suspended by the arms, or made to stand without moving for long periods. Others have had boiling water poured over them, burning cigarettes placed against their skin, and electric prods used on their genitals.
Thousands of Chinese citizens are executed every year, sometimes for such crimes as theft, gambling, or publishing pornography. A death-penalty trial is generally a formality that makes a mockery of the term "justice." Executed prisoners provide the primary source of organ transplants in China. The country's courts, health departments, and hospitals work together so that foreigners can come to China and purchase organs for large sums of money.
Nevertheless, the image of China's courageous young activists, many of whom gave their lives in the struggle for democracy at the turn of the last decade, remains etched in our consciousness. But what is their legacy? The latest U.S. State Department report on human rights says China has silenced all its dissidents. It is a nation so skilled at oppression that it appears no one is left who is willing or able to rebel in public.
But just as China must be held accountable for its systemic human-rights abuses, the Clinton administration must be held accountable for its spinelessness. Most-favored-nation trade status has repeatedly been granted to China, ignoring the historical link between human rights and trade. Clearly, Clinton understood that human rights and trade are strange bedfellows. So while U.S. trade with China grows every day, discussions about human rights have been muted. The torture and suffering continue, while businesspeople in both countries get richer - a textbook case of dollars over decency.
Why has Clinton removed human rights as a fundamental element of his foreign policy? Has he not noticed that history is on the side of human rights? Has he not noticed that the leaders of South Africa, Poland, and the Czech Republic went from prison cells to the presidency?
Only a few years ago, Latin America was the domain of military juntas, and blood flowed like the Amazon's waters. That is the case no longer. Generally, Latin American countries are more stable, their people safer. The repressive Soviet Union dissolved in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
Bill Clinton is traveling in the wrong lane. In his unceasing efforts to please everyone, he not only fools America, but he fails it. The President has shown courage in small but important places - the Middle East, Ireland, Haiti, and Bosnia, albeit several years late and only after thousands of lives have been lost. And he displays a genuine understanding of racism and its legacy in the United States. Why can't his genuine moments of courage blossom into the fruits of international human rights? Human rights, after all, is the centerpiece of our Constitution. It should be the centerpiece of our foreign policy as well.
A policy to increase trade without a policy to improve human rights favors only the rich and powerful who will never know what it's like to experience torture or the politically motivated "disappearance" of a loved one. If the President needs a few ideas, let him ponder these for starters:
*Send a Voice of America ship - a floating international radio station - to the coast of China to broadcast information about human-rights abuses everywhere;
*Encourage Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to visit dissidents in Chinese jails the way U.S. officials visited those in the Soviet Union;
*Demand that human-rights defenders such as Amnesty International be allowed to monitor human rights in China without the threat of harassment or intimidation;
*Demand that the Chinese government allow the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet with the freedom to travel and speak out as he wishes.
This is not about the West telling the East what to do. It is about the promise of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was written for every citizen on the planet half a century ago. The tragedy is that if a Chinese citizen had written these words today, he or she would be in jail. And if other Chinese citizens said they liked this article, they would too. It's time for all of us to get busy to ensure that human rights are, indeed, universal.
Jack Healey is executive director of the Human Rights Action Center. For information, write the Center at 451 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003. The recently released compilation Generations I: A Punk Look at Human Rights, is the first in a series of benefit albums for the Center