Senior U.S. Diplomat Announces that the United States Will Not Offer a "China Resolution" in Geneva

March 18, 2005

Acknowledging some limited progress in the Chinese government’s human rights performance, a senior U.S. diplomat announced March 17 that the United States would not offer a resolution criticizing China’s human rights record at the annual U.N. Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Kozak told a House International Relations subcommittee that the Administration remains "deeply concerned about China’s poor human rights record." Kozak emphasized, however, that, as in previous years, the United States had informed the Chinese government that a U.S. decision to pursue or forego on a UNHRC resolution on China would depend on whether concrete steps had been taken to improve human rights conditions. Ambassador Kozak then listed several limited areas of progress, noting that the Chinese government:

Assistant Secretary Kozak acknowledged that these steps did not change China’s generally repressive system and he pledged that the United States would continue to press the Chinese government for additional progress.