Conflicts over human rights between China and the US

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 27, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 105-124

  Qi, Zhou ^a,b  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES   (China)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HUMAN RIGHTS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; POLITICAL SYSTEM; SOVEREIGNTY; STATE ROLE;

ASIA; CHINA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; FAR EAST; NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 15744401972     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. Steven I. Levine, Sino-American Relations: Practicing Damage Control in China and the World, Chinese Foreign Policy Faces the New Millennium 94-95 (Samuel S. Kim ed., 1998).
2. For example, the Reagan administration granted political asylum to a tennis player, Hu Na in 1983.
3. See also Robert S. Ross, Foreword, in After the Cold War: Domestic Factors and the U.S.-China Relations vii-x (Robert Ross ed., 1998);
4. Harry Harding, Breaking the Impasse over Human Rights, in Living With China: US-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century 168 (Ezra F. Vogel ed., 1997).
5. David P. Forsythe, Human Rights and World Politics 112, 115 (1983);
6. Tamar Jacoby, The Reagan Turnaround on Human Rights, 64 For. Aff. 1072 (1986).
7. Robert L. Suettinger, Beyond Tiananmen, The Politics of U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000 (2003).
8. Harry Harding, supra note 2, at 169.
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10. John R. Faust & Judith F. Kornberg, China in the World Politics 145-46 (1995);
11. David S. Cloud, Renewal of China's MFN Status Angers Some Lawmakers Cong. Q. Wkly., 28 May 1994, at 1372;
12. Warren Christopher, In the Stream of History, Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era 160, 162 (1998).
13. David P. Forsythe, Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy, Congress Reconsidered 74-77 (1988);
14. Jessica Korn, The Power of Separation: American Constitutionalism and the Myth of the Legislative Veto 94-98 (1996).
15. Zouxiang 21 Shije de Zhongmei Guanxi (The Sino-American Relations Towards the 21th Century) 143 (Xia Xudong & Wang Shuzhong ed., 1996).
16. See available at www.rfkmemorial.org/CENTER /Geneva_2001_Item_9.htm.
17. There was no US resolution introduced in 1991 or 1998.
18. Chinese Information Agency of the State Council, Zhonggou Renquan Nianjian (Chinese Hum. Rts. Y. B.) 1735-38 (1999).)
19. In 1995, regardless of the Chinese government's strong protest, the Clinton administration broke its promise to China and issued a visa to Taiwan "president" Li Denghui, who was pursuing a "Taiwan independence" policy, for his "private visit," under pressure of the Congress. In order to influence Taiwan's first presidential election in March 1996, China conducted a ground-to-ground missile launching training in the Taiwan Strait. The US government rapidly responded by deploying two carrier battle groups in the region: the Nimitz deploying west of the Philippines, the Independence off the east coast of Taiwan. See Robert L. Suettinger, supra note 4, at 255.
20. See generally, Patrick E. Tyler, U.S. and Chinese Seen Near a Deal on Human Rights, N.Y. Times, 24 Feb. 1997.
21. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State China Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998, at 1 (26 Feb. 1999), available at www.state.gov/ www/global/humang̊hts/ 1998_hrp_report/china.html.
22. Economic and Social Council Resumed 2001 Organizational Session 7th and 8th Meetings (AM and PM), Press Release ECOSOC/5944, available at www.photius.com/ feminocracy/unℓection.html. The US had been removed from the UN Commission by the May 3 vote in the fifty-four member Economic and Social Council of the UN to fill fourteen vacancies on the commission, including three seats reserved for industrialized countries.
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24. USIA, President Clinton, Jiang Debate Rights, Tiananmen, 20 June 1998 (on file with author).
25. Michel Oksenberg, Taiwan, Tibet, and Hong Kong in Sino-American Relations, in Living with China, U.S.-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century, supra note 2, at 84.
26. Liu Liandi, Zhongmie Guanxi de Guiji, 1993-2000 Dashi Zonglan (The Track of the Sino-American Relations, 1993-2000) 7-8, 37 (2001).
27. Li Yunlong, Zhongmie Guanzi Zhong the Renquan Wenti (Human Rights in China-U.S. Relations) 85 (1998).
28. President William J. Clinton, president Clinton on U.S. China Trade Relations 7 (8 Mar. 2000) (transcript available from the White House Office of the Press Secretary).
29. Pub. L. 106-286, 106th Cong. 2d. Sess, convened 24 Jan. 2000 (West Group 2000).
30. Washington and Beijing were both searching for an opportunity for rapprochement between China and the United States after Nixon took power and the Sino-Soviet border clash in 1969. On 6 April 1971, Mao made a decision to invite the US ping-pong team to visit China. The invitation was immediately approved by the Nixon administration. The US ping-pong players' activities were widely televised and reported in China. In April, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai met the US team at the Great Hall of the People. Zhou announced that "[y]our visit has opened a new chapter in the history of the relations between Chinese and American people." Only a few hours after this meeting, the Nixon Administration announced policy changes towards China, including ending the twenty-two year trade embargo.
31. See Chen Jian Mao's China and the Cold War 257-62 (2000). Zhou later commented that "A small ball shakes the big ball (global)." Li Zhisui, The Private Life of Chairman Mao 558 (1994). Thus, Ping-Pong diplomacy was used by Mao to change the political atmosphere between China and the United States in order to promote the Sino-American rapprochement.
32. Luo Yanhua, American Human Rights Diplomacy towards the Soviet Union 4 Waigou Wenti Yanjiu (Foreign Countries Studies) 72 (1991).
33. Zong Lishi, Meiguo Renquan Waijiao de Qinluoxing ji Ruodian, (The Aggressiveness and Weakness of American Human Rights Diplomacy), in Meigou de Renquan yu Meigou Renquan Waijao (Human Rights in the U.S. and American Human Rights Diplomacy) 57 (Zhang Hongyi ed., 1993).
34. See David Callahan, Between Two Worlds Realism, Idealism and American Foreign Policy after the Cold War 37 (1994);
35. Mark L. Schneider, A New Administration's New Policy: The Rise to Power of Human Rights, in Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy, Principles and Applications 3 (Peter G. Brown & Douglas Maclean eds., 1979);
36. Sara Steinmetz, Democratic Transition and Human Rights, Perspectives on U.S. Foreign Policy 3 (1994);
37. James M. McCormick, American Foreign Policy and Process (2d ed. 1992).
38. This opinion is also held by many US authors, such as A. Glenn Mower Jr., Human Rights and American Foreign Policy: The Carter and Reagan Experiences (1987).
39. Kenneth Minogue, The History of the Idea of Human Rights, in The Human Rights Reader 5-17 (Walter Laqueur & Barry Rubin eds., 1979);
40. Paul Gordon Lauren, The Evolution of International Human Rights, Visions Seen ch. 1 (1998).
41. Jack Donnelly, Human Rights and Asian Values: A Defense of "Western" Universalism, in The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights 69 (Joanne R. Bauer & Daniel A. Bell eds., 1999).
42. William Theodore de Bary, Introduction, in Confucianism and Human Rights 9 (William Theodore de Bary & Tu Weiming eds., 1998).
43. Such as a Tu Weiming, the Director of Harvard-Yenching Institute, and a Chinese scholar, Xia Yong, Three Points of Philosophy of Human Rights, in Contemporary Human Rights: Theories and Practices 54-55 (Li Lin ed., 1996).
44. Xifang Renquan Xueshou Vol. I (Western Theories on Humans Rights Vol. I) 482 (Huang Dansen & Shen Zongling eds., 1994).
45. Susan Mendus, Human Rights in Political Theory, in Politics and Human Rights 12 (David Beetham ed., 1995).
46. Xifang Renquan Xueshou Vol. II (Western Theories on Humans Rights Vol. II) 73 (Huang Dansen & Shen Zongling eds., 1994).
47. You Xiling, The Liberal Arts and its Significance in Moern Times 208 (1996).
48. See, for instance, Mengzi, Gongsuichou Shang; Gaozi Shang; Lianghuiwang Xia; Lilou Xia, in Mengzi (Mencius). Mengzi (Mencius) is the most important representative of Confucianism next to Confucius in China. Mengzi, an ancient collection of Mencius' discourses, like Konzi's (Confucius), Lunyu, a collection of Confucius' discourses, is also regarded as one of the most significant classical books in Confucianist philosophy and political thought in China.
49. Confucianism and Human Rights, supra note 33, at 8.
50. Some Chinese scholars do not agree with this point, for instance, Zhang Qingxiong argues that in Confucianism there are no such relations of equality even among friends. Only in the sense of duty is there room for equality in Confucianism, in Zheng Qingxiong's discussion with the author. Zhang Qingxiong is an expert on New Confucianism. Letter to author from Zhang Qingxiong, Oct. 1998 (on file with author).
51. Chun-ying Cheng, Transforming Confucian Virtues into Human Rights: A Study of Human Agency and Potency in Confucian Ethics, in Confucianism and Human Rights, supra note 33, at 46.
52. Li Yunlong, Dangdai Zhonguo Renquan Zhengce de Tedian ji Fazhan Fangxiang (The Characteristics and Developmental Direction of Contemporary Chinese Human Rights Policy), in Human Rights and Diplomacy 250-54 (Qi Zhou ed., 2001).
53. Randall Peerenboom, Confucian Harmony and Freedom of Thought, in Confucianism and Human Rights, supra note 33, at 247-52. Peerenboom refers to "rights" within Confucianism as "rites".
54. Ibid. Id.
55. Jack Donnelly, supra note 32, at 67.
56. Ibid. Id.
57. Id. at 79-80.
58. Tu Weiming, Implication of the Rise of "Confucian" East Asia, in Multiple Moderneties 199-200 (2000).
59. Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy, supra note 29, at xx.
60. Natalie Henever Kaufman, Human Rights Treaties and the Senate: A History of Opposition 75 (1996).
61. John Humphrey, The International Law of Human Rights 78 (1989) (the Chinese version).
62. David Beetham, What Future for Economic and Social Rigths?, in Politics and Human Rights, Political Studies, supra note 36, at 41.
63. Liu Nanlai, Fazhanzhong Guojia yu Renquan (The Developing Countries and Human Rights), in Dangdai Renquan Lilun yu Shijian (Contemporary Theories and Pracrice in Human Rights) 310 (Li Lin ed., 1996).
64. Joanne R. Bauer & Daniel A. Bell, Introduction, The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights, supra note 32, at 7.
65. Ming Wan , Human Rights in Chinese Foreign Relations 16 (2001).
66. Erik Eckholm, So Many Liberties, So Little Freedom, N.Y. Times, 3 Jan. 1999, at 4.1.
67. Zhang Zhizhou, An Analysis on Relationship Between Human Rights and Sovereignty, Paper to the conference on Human Rights and International Relations, 17 May 2000.
68. Zhao Xiaoling, On the Relationship Between Human Rights and Sovereignty-A Comment on Supremacy of Human Rights to Sovereignty, Paper to the conference on Renquan yu Guoji Guanxi (Human Rights and International Relations), 17 May 1999.
69. Inoue Tatsuo, Liberal Democracy and Asian Orientalism, in The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights, supra note 32, at 30.
70. Michael Akehurst, A Modern Introduction to International Law 16 (1987).
71. Xie Weiyang, Zhonggou Zaoqi Goujia (The Chinese State in Its Early Stage) ch. 7 (1996).
72. Cited in Shijing Xiaoya Beishan Twenty-six, Shijing (The Book of Poetry) is the oldest poetry in China, compiled in Spring-Autumn period (B.C. 841-476), consisting of 305 poems. Shijing is well known as the classics of Confucianism.
73. See James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Volume IV, The She King (Shijing) or The book of Poetry 360 (1970).
74. Michael Akehurst, supra note 61, at 15.
75. Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy 24 (1994).
76. Human Rights in the World Community, Issues and Action 3 (Richard Pierre Claude & Burns H. Weston eds., 1989);
77. J. Bryan Hehir, The Ethics of Intervention: Two Normative Traditions, Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy, Principles and Applications 131 (1979).
78. The "tianxia" (everything under heaven) usually means all lands in the range of China in the ancient time, or the world. The word was first recorded in Lunyu Xianwen. For more interpretation see Cihai (Encyclopedias), Vol. II 2799 (Shanghai: People's Publishing House in Shanghai, 1978). As for its meaning for Chinese international relations, see Chang Pao-Min, Chinese Perspective on Nation, State and the World 5 World Aff. (Jan.-Mar 2001) available at www.ciaonet.org/olj/wa/wa_jan01pac01.html;
79. Q. Edward Wang, History, Space, and Ethnicity: The Chinese Worldview 10 J. World Hist. 285 (1999).
80. Michael D. Swaine & Ashley J. Tellis, Interpreting China's Grand Strategy, Pas, Present, and Future 57 (2000);
81. Michael Hunt, Chinese Foreign Relations in Historical Perspective, in China's Foreign Policy in the 1980s 5 (Harry Harding ed., 1984).
82. Henry Kissinger, supra note 65, at 25. Kissinger also comments, generally, "empires have no interest in operation within an international system; they aspired to be the international system." this is how China has conducted its foreign policy "through most of its history in Asia." Id. at 21. As a matter of fact, being a unified nation for over 2000 years, a special factor in China strengthened this aspiration, that is, the Chinese mentality of "tianxia."
83. Michael Hunt, supra note 68, at 5.
84. Chunming Jin, Zhonghua Renmin Gonghegou Jianshi (An Outline of the History of the People's Republic of China) 1-3 (1997);
85. Hu Sheng, Degoushuyi he Zhonggou Zhengzhi (Imperialism and Chinese Polictics) (6th ed. 1977);
86. Lie Danian, Zhonggou Jindaishi Wenti (Issue in Recent Chinese History) 68-69 (2d ed. 1978).
87. According to Chinese historical geologist Ge Jianxiong's survey, as a country established on agricultural economy, China's domain, or "tianxia," has always been condensed in the regions that are applicable to agriculture, never expanding in nature, or changing greatly from Qin Dynasty to Qing Dynasty (the first and the last dynasties).
88. Andrew J. Ross & Robert S. Ross, The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security 34 (1997);
89. Michael Hunt, supra note 68, at 5, 19-27.
90. Michael D. Swaine & Ashley J. Tellis, supra note 68, at x.
91. Harry Harding, supra note 2, at 173.
92. Cao Yanhua, Zhongguo Waijiao Zhanluo Tiaozheng zhong de Renquan Wenti, (Human Rights Issues in the Chinese Foreign Strategic Adjustment), in Renquan yu Waijiao (Human Rights and Diplomacy), supra note 43, at 261-68.
93. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976).
94. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976).