Just as it seemed that top U.S. officials were publicly sending the same signals to China on human rights, namely that China should improve its record not just because it is morally right, but because it will help the Beijing government achieve its goal of social stability, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dropped a bombshell. In a long interview with the Atlantic, Clinton called China’s human rights record “deplorable,” adding, “They’re worried, and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool’s errand. They cannot do it. But they’re going to hold it off as long as possible.”
China’s recent crackdown on dissent, which was touched off by calls for Arab Spring-type demonstrations in major Chinese cities, has also been influenced by Chinese fears that Western powers are hoping to encourage regime change in Beijing. So it is likely that Clinton’s comments will be seen as revealing the true intentions of the U.S. (James Fallows describes this as “the Dave Chappelle Factor,” referring to the comedian’s jokes about what white people say when no blacks are around.)When Clinton made her first trip to Beijing as secretary of state in early 2009, she told reporters the U.S. wouldn’t allow human rights concerns to harm cooperation with China on issues like climate change and economic recovery. Over the past year, she’s gradually toughened her stance. In her January 2010 speech on Internet freedom she named China as a country that has stepped up online censorship. In July 2010 she offered U.S. assistance in discussions over disputed islands in the South China Sea, over which China and several southeast Asian nations have rivaling territorial claims. That prompted anger from China, which accused the U.S. of interfering in a regional issue. Now, with her latest comments on China’s rights record, she seems to have completed a reversal of her earlier, softer approach to China.
