Mass. gov urged on China worker rights

Mass. gov urged on China worker rights

	Published : Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:33 By : Agencies Print this Story

BOSTON (AP) - When Gov. Deval Patrick tours China as part of a trade mission, human rights activists say they hope he brings with him more than just promises of improved economic relations.

They say that even more important than encouraging the flow of goods and services between Massachusetts and China is the need to stand up for bedrock principles of workers' rights and political freedoms in a country where they are in short supply.

Tenzin Dorjee, a Tibetan who moved from India to attend college in Massachusetts in 1998, is the deputy director of Students for a Free Tibet, an international grass roots organization. He says Patrick is in a unique position to raise human rights issues while in China.

'As a Tibetan and as a resident of Massachusetts, my greatest expectation and hope is that Governor Patrick will uphold the values of freedom, human rights and democracy, not least because he is the governor of Massachusetts,' Dorjee said.

Patrick, who left for China Friday for the week-long trip, has touted the trip as a chance to build 'trust and credibility in the growing relationship between Massachusetts and China.'

But he said he's also aware of China's problematic record on human rights, and plans to raise the issues when the time is right.

'I'm very sensitive to the issues of human rights around the world and in China,' he said. 'I have some invitations to meet with senior government officials and I have no doubt that those issues will come up.'

Patrick declined to say what he planned to say in those private meetings.

The human rights concerns in China include media censorship, harassment of activists and corruption, according to Sharon Hom, executive director of the group Human Rights in China.

Since the focus of the trip is improving trade, Patrick also should drive home the need to give workers more freedom to organize and the importance of Chinese companies to adhere to the country's own labor laws, advocates said.

'They (workers) are on their own. They are completely abandoned,' said Charles Kernaghan, director, for the National Labor Committee, a human rights organization. 'For the workers, the situation is terrible.

Massachusetts adopted a law in the wake of government suppression of the pro-democracy students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 that requires any Massachusetts company that receives aid from the state and does business in China to agree to certain standards, including refusing to knowingly use forced labor and discouraging discrimination or compulsory political indoctrination in the workplace.

State Rep. Byron Rushing helped write the law and said he gave Patrick a copy for the trip. Rushing said he has no problem with Patrick making a trade mission to China as long as he doesn't shy away from human rights issues.

Patrick and a delegation of Massachusetts state officials, business leaders and academics plan to visit Beijing and Shanghai as part of a seven-day trip.

The trade mission will focus on strengthening collaborations on areas including clean energy, life sciences, education and transportation. Massachusetts generated $1.3 billion in manufactured goods exports to China in 2006.

Relations between China and the United States have become strained over human rights issues, including China's rule in Tibet.

In October, China warned the United States that its honoring of the Dalai Lama 'gravely undermined' relations between the two countries, demanding Washington stop supporting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

China claims Tibet has been its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were self-ruled for most of that period. Chinese communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951, and Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand.