America’s Must Be One of the Voices : China: Silence on human rights during Baker’s visit would be a betrayal of those who have suffered for democratic ideals.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III is going to China during his visit to the Far East this month. Official statements from Beijing make it clear that China’s leaders are very anxious to have him there and they have actively induced him to come.

The Chinese government has hinted at a number of concessions on trade relations and the use of prison labor in the production of goods for export to the United States. Their efforts are hardly surprising: Baker will be the highest level American visitor to China since the government massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in June, 1989. Premier Li Peng, Deng Xiaoping and others hope that Baker’s presence will put an end to any suggestion of U.S. condemnation for that incident. They believe that it will provide the needed stamp of approval to end a period of international isolation.

But the Baker visit is occurring against a backdrop of ongoing and serious human-rights abuses in China. The practices that so horrified the world in June, 1989, have been institutionalized. After the massacre in Beijing, thousands of pro-democracy activists were arrested. They were held for long periods without charge or trial. Many were tortured in prison. In February, 1991, when world attention was focused on events in the Persian Gulf, a number of prominent activists, including social scientists Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming and student leaders Liu Gang and Wang Dan, were rushed through summary trials and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment. They joined the Democracy Wall activists who were imprisoned 13 years ago for publishing unofficial journals calling for democratic reform and respect for individual liberties.

For two years the Bush Administration has adopted a “constructive engagement” approach toward China’s human-rights violations. U.S. policy-makers have repeatedly declared human rights to be a “sensitive” issue that they want to handle delicately so as not to anger the Chinese leadership. At the same time, the Administration has a long list of bilateral policy issues that it prefers to raise with the Chinese, including missile sales, trade barriers to American exports and copyright infringement. Aside from occasionally releasing a prisoner and permitting the families of exiled dissidents to leave the country, there has been no improvement in China’s record. The practical effect of our government’s approach has been to condone the Chinese leadership’s practices. From the standpoint of human-rights values, the Administration’s policy has been a spectacular failure.

While we have taken strong exception to this policy, Baker’s Beijing visit raises the stakes considerably because he has the opportunity to emphasize the importance of human rights. For the secretary of state to go to Beijing and downplay human-rights concerns would be a stunning betrayal of the Chinese prisoners who have suffered so much for democratic ideals.

Baker must take the opportunity to send a clear message on human rights while in Beijing, and he will be in a strong position to do so: The Chinese clearly want him there. Whether or not he succeeds in obtaining results in the short run is beside the point. What is important is that he use the occasion to make progress on human rights. The visit of British Prime Minister John Major to Beijing in early September is a model for Baker. After much political criticism for visiting China, Major, to his credit, raised the cases of Wang Juntao, Chen Ziming and others directly with the Chinese leadership. This led to some improvement in their treatment.

There are certain specific prisoner-related issues that Baker must raise when he meets with China’s leaders:

-- He should press for access by U.S. embassy personnel or independent observers to long-term political prisoners including, but not limited to, Wei Jingsheng, Ren Wanding, Bao Zunxin, Wang Juntao, Chen Ziming, Liu Gang and Wang Dan.

-- He should invite former political prisoners such as writer Wang Ruowang, journalist Dai Qing and labor leader Han Dongfang, as well as Hou Xiaotian, the wife of Wang Juntao, to a meeting at the U.S. embassy.

-- He should aggressively press for the release of individuals imprisoned because of the nonviolent expression of their political beliefs during the pro-democracy movements of 1979 and 1989.

Baker’s silence or indifference on human rights during his visit to Beijing would be heard very clearly by China’s leadership. But China’s political prisoners deserve a chorus of international voices raised on their behalf, including that of the United States.