Human rights activist are upset over these remarks Sec. Clinton

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Amnesty International and a pro-Tibet group voiced shock Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed not to let human rights concerns hinder cooperation with China.

Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet.

“But our pressing on those issues can’t interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis,” Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.

T. Kumar of Amnesty International USA said the global rights lobby was “shocked and extremely disappointed” by Clinton’s remarks.

“The United States is one of the only countries that can meaningfully stand up to China on human rights issues,” he said.

“But by commenting that human rights will not interfere with other priorities, Secretary Clinton damages future US initiatives to protect those rights in China,” he said.

Guess where North Korean refugees is ranked among the human rights causes in China?

The Olympics showed that incentives do encourage China to respect human rights. So what options do other countries have? A trade war is not an option, given the economic climate. “Pressure”, whatever the hell that is, doesn’t work.

What I never see is human rights groups making their case to the Chinese people themselves. One pattern I see is to paint all Chinese as enablers of human rights violations. I don’t think that accusation is false, but it’s not a way to make yourselves heard in the country.

I consider North Korean Human Rights to be a non-divisive issue (at least outside of South Korea). I believe LiNK and other groups could start making their case among overseas Chinese, many of whom have ties to China, in places like Taiwan and Hong Kong where they can operate freely, and, lastly, the Chinese internet population.

Despite the lack of political freedoms, Chinese people do have means to force change within their government. Groups will have to convince them that respect for human rights is an inherently Chinese trait.

While that does not make you a favorite within the Chinese government, but you might have the ear of the Chinese people.

We are witnessing the limits of the international community, it’s time to look domestically.

Everyone’s favorite balloonman is sending leaflets stuffed with North Korean currency for KJI’s birthday

SEOUL, South Korea: Activists who send leaflets to North Korea by balloon to denounce its totalitarian government said Monday they plan to include local currency as an incentive to pick up new propaganda to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong Il.

Sending North Korean money would be a new ploy for activists in South Korea in their attempts to urge their poverty-stricken neighbors to rise up against Kim’s regime, though they previously have tucked U.S. dollars or Chinese yuan into such leaflets.

The new plan has caused concern by South Korea’s government that it could provoke the North amid high tension between the sides, which technically remain in a state of conflict because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon renewed a warning Monday that the activists could face jail or fines if they send North Korea money without government permission.

But the activists said they were ready for any punishment, adding leaflets and currency would be dispatched near the birthday of Kim Jong Il, which is Feb. 16.

Fines and jail time? Considering that most defectors risked torture and death getting to the south, that is nothing to them. This is the difference between these activists and their Pro-North counterparts, willing to deal with the consequences for their actions instead of trying to weasel out of it.