U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf said the human rights talks between Washington and Beijing have failed to improve the deteriorating rights condition in the communist country.
The statement from the U.S. key lawmaker and co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission follows the annual human rights dialogue held this week in China between Beijing and Washington.
"It is striking that the human rights dialogue with the Chinese government rarely produces real results or changes. The content of these discussions is cloaked in secrecy, even with other policy makers, including Congress, and the broader human rights community," said the U.S. lawmaker in a press release, Tuesday.
"We are assured that behind closed doors the administration gave an impassioned defense of basic freedoms and human dignity. We are told that, privately, specific cases were raised. This approach has, time and again, failed to produce meaningful results," said Frank Wolf. "The imprisoned Catholic bishop, the detained blogger and the beleaguered human rights lawyer deserve far more than this administration has given them."
Delegations from the two countries kicked off the rights talks in the Southern Chinese city of Kunming Tuesday and continued through Wednesday. However, the results of the discussion are yet to be disclosed.
Urging the U.S. delegation to insist on rights benchmarks during the talks with the Chinese government, the international rights group, Human Rights Watch Tuesday said, "Many of the United States' and other governments' past human rights dialogues with China have been largely a rhetorical shell, lacking in accountability, transparency, and clear benchmarks for progress."
"The Chinese government often points to these dialogues as a human rights 'deliverable,' an end in itself, or insists that human rights issues can only be discussed in the context of a dialogue. None of the governments that pursue these dialogues with the Chinese government have established benchmarks to ensure meaningful progress," said the Human Rights Watch.
