Agence France Presse
BEIJING, April 18 (AFP) - China on Tuesday thanked the countries that helped it defeat a US draft resolution to condemn its controversial human rights record, state media reported.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi was quoted by Xinhua news agency as expressing his "admiration and thanks" to the 22 countries that voted for a procedural motion blocking the US-backed resolution.
He charged the resolution had been driven by domestic US politics and was a pretext for interfering in the country's internal affairs.
"The move can lead nowhere but self-isolation and self-defeat of the United States," he said, also accusing the United States of wanting to tarnish China's international image.
He said China's human rights record was the best in its history and it was willing to respond to calls for improvements, but through dialogue and exchanges.
"We are ready to work with other members of the international community in a joint effort to promote a sound development of the international human rights cause in accordance with the purpose and principles of the UN Charter," he said.
To block the resolution, China resorted to a "no-action motion" -- a move which prevented the issue from being aired at annual UN Human Rights Commission sessions for the past decade, with the exception of 1995.
Twenty-two members of the 53-member panel voted for the no-action motion, 18 opposed, 12 abstained, and one delegate was absent.
Among those who voted in favour of the Chinese motion were Russia, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco and Venezuela.
Those who abstained included Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador.
Xinhua took pains to point out it was the ninth time since 1990 the commission has rejected similar draft resolutions, and the fact the US resolution did not have a co-sponsor.
It quoted an unnamed official of the China Society for the Study of Human Rights as saying Washington had refused to recognise improvements in Chinese human rights conditions over the past decade.
"This shows that the United States does not really care about human rights in China but rather intends to reach its ulterior political goals under the pretext of human rights," he said.
He said the failed motion was part of attempts to promote Western values and hegemonism following the breakup of the former Soviet Union.
Earlier Tuesday, independent human rights groups cited China's ongoing detentions of political dissdents and followers of religious groups, as well as its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, as examples of rights abuses.
UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson visited China in February and publicly stated that the situation in China had deteriorated since her 1998 visit.:
