BOSTON — China's satisfaction with the American loss of a seat at the 53-member United Nations Commission on Human Rights reveals how important the United States has been at the commission in dealing with China's human rights abuses. Now there will be no nation willing to sponsor resolutions critical of China — at a time of intensifying repression of religious groups, notably the Falun Gong movement, and democratic reformers. In addition, we have lost a forum to call attention to the arrest of two American citizens, Wu Jianmin and Li Shaomin, who have been detained for several months without charges.
Since 1990, in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the United States has sponsored resolutions at the human rights commission critical of China's abuses. And virtually every year, China has been able to block a vote on the resolution because it has the support of many developing nations that agree with its assertion that, for less developed countries, priority should be given to economic rights and to rights of sovereignty — that is, noninterference in a country's internal affairs.
Despite these regular defeats, debates within the United Nations human rights commission have been far more effective than Congressional denunciations or criticism by human rights and other groups in moving China toward compliance with international norms. The multilateral nature of the commission, many of whose members have been hostile to the United States, has made it difficult for China — itself currently on the commission — to dismiss criticisms as merely manifestations of domestic American power politics or overreaching "hegemonism."
For example, the desire to avoid censure by the human rights commission has led China to affirm certain principles that, until the 1990's, it totally rejected. In 1997, China signed the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights after several of our allies — France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada and Australia — had decided not to cosponsor an American resolution aimed at China. The following year, in return for the United States' not sponsoring a critical resolution, Beijing signed the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It is true that these advances came in the context of quiet diplomacy, as advocated by China; but it is equally true that the threat of public censure at the United Nations commission was critical to China's acceptance of the two covenants.
In this year's commission meeting, the United States could get no other Western country to join it in sponsoring a resolution critical of China and had to sponsor one on its own. Nevertheless, prevention of that resolution's passing was so important to China that President Jiang Zemin toured Latin America in part to line up votes against it.
The loss of our commission seat seems to have been due to many factors, including neglect of our European allies, a resurgent unilateralism in the Bush administration and a certain inattention to diplomatic detail. In any case, we have now lost the most effective forum for bringing pressure on China with regard to human rights. Some will say that United Nations human rights resolutions are meaningless because there is no way to enforce them. But because China wants to be a major global player, it has increasingly, though reluctantly, complied with or signed onto norms recognized by the world community. These universal norms may not always temper the actions of China's leaders, but they encourage and inspire those in China who seek to gain political and religious rights and fight against their government's abuse of human rights.
Merle Goldman, professor of history at Boston University, was an American delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1993 and is author of ``Sowing the Seeds of Democracy in China.''