Abuse Scandal May Change Sino-U.S. Rights Debate

China’s state-monitored Internet has been having a field day with the scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, even as some analysts here warned that the issue could alter the Sino-U.S. human rights debate.

“It could strengthen China’s position, putting the political dialogue between the U.S. government and the Chinese government at least on an equal footing,” said Yan Xuetong, an expert at Qinghua University here on relations between the nations.

The American government has long criticized China for torturing political prisoners, ignoring its own legal procedures, detaining people in labor camps without due process and exacting forced confessions.

Now, Chinese analysts say, the United States is on the defensive.

“The Iraq example shows that China’s position is essentially correct,” said Mei Renyi, a professor with Beijing Foreign Studies University. “We all have problems. No one’s perfect, and we can talk. But don’t assume you are the world’s judge, jury and prosecutor.”

China’s largest Internet discussion groups were buzzing this week over the abuses by American soldiers in Iraq. Sina.com posted more than 16,000 messages on the subject, and Sohu.com more than 7,000. Most news events draw anywhere from a few dozen to a couple of thousand postings.

The heavy traffic suggested that China’s cyber police had opened the spigots in a nation where the government controls the quantity and tone of many Web discussions.

“For all the accusations China has suffered over human rights, this is a chance to throw it back at the U.S.,” said Michael Iannini, general manager of Nicholas International Consulting Services, a technology consulting firm here in the capital.

The official New China News Agency website also hit the issue hard. “U.S. Human Rights: Wipe Yourself Clean First,” said the headline of a lead article.

Two-thirds of the postings on major news discussion groups appeared to be sharply critical of the U.S., including many who accused the world’s only superpower of hypocrisy.

“American human rights are only for Americans,” said a posting on Sina.com, left under the moniker JWJJT. “The most urgent thing for America isn’t to act like international police, but rather to behave itself,” said another, anonymous posting on Sohu.com.

But others expressed support for the U.S. ability to air its dirty laundry and make top officials accountable, and some used the opportunity to criticize their own government.

“The abuse in Chinese prisons is much worse and more shameless,” said an anonymous posting on Sohu.com. “Why are there no media reports exposing that? The greatness of America is that it can face itself.”

Such outpourings present the Chinese government with something of a dilemma, analysts said. On the one hand, nationalism directed against the U.S. -- or, at other times, Japan -- provides a way to release pressure in a society that faces enormous strains but remains bottled up politically.

“Anti-Americanism is one of the few places where negative emotion is allowed to come out,” said Cui Weiping, a professor at the Beijing Film Institute. “Young people have lots of complaints, many of which have nothing to do with politics. They’re angry or frustrated with their life or aspirations and have no other place to let it out.”

At the same time, the leadership is keenly aware that China’s prosperity is dependent on close relations with the U.S., avoiding a military scrap over Taiwan and maintaining access to America’s giant consumer market.

Some of the effort to find a balance was seen in the far more muted treatment of the prisoner abuse issue in official newspapers. The People’s Daily and the Guangming Daily made no mention of it on their front pages Tuesday, instead running stories inside that quoted Singaporean, French and U.S. papers on the topic.

Analysts said Chinese diplomats were not likely to bring the scandal up the next time the U.S. challenges their nation’s human rights record.

But the issue would almost certainly affect the give-and-take, they added.

“It’s already making top U.S. officials embarrassed,” said Mei, the Beijing Foreign Studies University professor. “You don’t want to put salt in their wounds.”

It could also make the U.S. less forceful for a while in pushing Beijing to change, others said.

“I don’t think America will try and raise the human rights issue so much in the next year,” said Yan of Qinghua University.