Rev. Danny Fisher

To send a message to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to “reconsider the timing of [his] proposal to send an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan…[and] exhaust all other possible options before putting more American troops in harm’s way,” follow this link.

“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to an audience at the Asia Society in New York February 13, 2009.” Photo by Shannon Stapleton for Reuters.
Speaking to reporters on her way to Beijing this week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that human rights concerns in the country will take a back seat to other issues. She continued:

Now, that doesn’t mean that questions of Taiwan, Tibet, human rights, the whole range of challenges that we often engage on with the Chinese, are not part of the agenda, but we pretty much know what they are going to say. We have to continue to press them but our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises. We have to have a dialogue that leads to an understanding and cooperation on each of those.

The statements drew immediate reactions from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other human rights organizations. These groups jointly sent a letter to the Secretary, urging her to state publicly that human rights are central to U.S.-China relations before she leaves Beijing. Amnesty’s T. Kumar, AI-USA’s advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific, also issued the following statement:

Amnesty International is shocked and extremely disappointed by U.S. Secretary Clinton’s comments that human rights will not be a priority in her diplomatic engagement with China.

The United States is one of the only countries that can meaningfully stand up to China on human rights issues. But by commenting that human rights will not interfere with other priorities, Secretary Clinton damages future U.S. initiatives to protect those rights in China.

The Chinese people face a dire situation. Crackdowns on Tibetans, Uighurs and religious groups such as the Falun Gong are widespread, resulting in thousands of political prisoners–some of whom have been executed. Half a million people are currently in labor camps. Women face forced abortion and sterilization as part of China’s enforcement of its one-child policy.

It’s not too late for Secretary Clinton to do the right thing for the Chinese people. Amnesty International urges the Secretary Clinton to repair the damage caused by her statement by publicly declaring that human rights are central to U.S.-China relations before she leaves Beijing.

“Chinese security officers monitored a group of monks last week at a temple in Lhasa, Tibet.” Photo by Kyodo News, via the Associated Press.
Here’s the latest on Tibet:

Reuters reports that UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana, who visited Burma this week, has told journalists that the human rights situation there “had not improved since his last visit seven months ago, but he hoped the [ruling military junta] would listen to his recommendations this time.”

Via Barbara’s Buddhism Blog: The eminent Dr. B. Alan Wallace–Buddhist scholar, translator, and teacher–discusses Buddhism and atheism at skeptico.