Bid in U.N. to Cite China on Human Rights Fails by 1 Vote : Diplomacy: West claims symbolic victory for having any ballot at all on Beijing’s record toward freedom.

In a hollow victory for Beijing, the U.N. Human Rights Commission on Wednesday narrowly rejected a resolution condemning China’s “continuing violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The resolution, sponsored by the European Union and supported by the United States, was an important--though largely symbolic--attempt by Western nations to again focus world attention on China’s human rights record. It had spawned an intense, international diplomatic battle between the Chinese government and the Clinton Administration at the sessions in Geneva.

That a resolution formally censuring China came up for a vote at all was something of a victory for Europe and the United States.

Since 1991, China has succeeded every year in blocking similar resolutions by invoking a procedural “no action” motion and winning support for it from the Third World majority on the 53-member U.N. panel.

But this year, China lost its “no action” motion, opening the way for the full vote. China won the full vote, 21-20, with 12 abstentions.

“Obviously, we were disappointed not to get that one vote,” said John H. Shattuck, U.S. assistant secretary of state for humanitarian affairs. “But the result still is a powerful signal to China and to the world that the Human Rights Commission will not allow any country--no matter how large--to block consideration of its human rights record.”

Shattuck, who led the U.S. lobbying effort in Geneva, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that the United States was particularly pleased that the resolution was supported by a broad range of countries from Asia to Africa to Latin America.

“The bottom line is that we see in the work of the commission a growing consensus, a growing majority of countries that are willing to press for international standards of human rights,” Shattuck said.

In Beijing, the Chinese government thanked the commission for defeating the resolution.

“The Chinese government expresses its admiration and gratitude to those countries who upheld justice and supported China,” a spokesman was quoted as saying on state radio.

Both China and the West had lobbied hard over the resolution during the commission’s annual six-week session, which concludes later this week.

The relatively mild resolution had formally expressed concern about “continuing reports of violations of human rights in China” and “severe restrictions” on political and religious freedom in China. It also called on the Chinese government to observe international standards on human rights.

The commission, the United Nations’ highest human rights forum, has no power to enforce its resolutions or deter persistent human rights violators. And, in fact, resolutions condemning abuses in Iran and Iraq were passed with little difficulty.

But China clearly cares deeply about what has become the annual debate on human rights on the panel. And it has exerted intense pressure on members of the Human Rights Commission, the majority of whom come from Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Many of the member countries benefit from economic aid and contracts with the Chinese government, which has built soccer stadiums all over Africa, for example.

In arguing against the resolution, Jin Yongjian, China’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told delegates that the draft text “was entirely a product of political confrontation practiced by the West with ulterior motives”--to prevent China’s growth and development.

The key vote that allowed China to again foil Western censure was cast by Russia. Although it sided with the West in forcing the resolution to a vote, it then sided with China in voting against the resolution itself.