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'Human rights' a winner for China


China says the 24 U.S. plane crew are released out of humanitarian reasons

In this story:

Detailed instructions

'Ordinary solider important'

RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Willy Lam
CNN Senior China Analyst

(CNN) -- The spy plane incident is the first instance where the Beijing leadership has deployed so-called human rights diplomacy in dealing with hostile or competitive countries.

A Beijing political source said it was President Jiang Zemin who came up with the new concept.

"We must learn from the West in waging human rights-oriented diplomacy," Jiang reportedly told his advisers in a meeting last month.

"Playing the card of humanitarianism will improve China's global image and deprive Western countries of a pretext to attack us."

Thus soon after the EP-3E spy plane landed in Hainan island, the Foreign Ministry said China had allowed the plane to land and given proper accommodation to the 24 crew members out of humanitarian reasons.

While explaining on Wednesday Beijing's decision to allow them to leave Hainan, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan cited two reasons: Washington's expression of being "very sorry," and humanitarian principles.

And in his first public statement on the crisis on Thursday, Premier Zhu Rongji said: "Out of humanitarian considerations, the Chinese government has allowed the crew members to leave the country."

Detailed instructions

It is no coincidence that Beijing released a long White Paper on Human Rights in China one day before the agreement on the spy plane incident was reached with the U.S.

Both before and after his departure from China for a South American tour, President Jiang gave detailed instructions on efforts to locate and save downed Chinese jetfighter pilot Wang Wei.

Aides to Jiang pointed out that for humanitarian reasons, search parties consisting of the navy, air force and civilian vessels had to carry on the rescue operation long after it was assumed by most people that Wang must have died and his body drifted far away from Hainan.

It is understood the elaborate reporting in the official media about the plight of Wang's wife and her letter to President George W. Bush was meant to highlight Washington's alleged failure to consider the human rights of both Wang and his wife.

'Ordinary solider important'

A source close to the Jiang Zemin office quoted the president as saying: "We must let the Western world know that in China, the life of an ordinary soldier is very, very important to us."

"We take human life as importantly and seriously as it is in the West, if not more so," Jiang is said to have added.

The source said China had been repeatedly hurt by efforts by foreign countries, particularly the U.S., to use the country's human rights record to attack the Beijing leadership.

He said while it is unlikely Beijing will improve its treatment of dissidents, attempts by leaders to demonstrate humanitarian concern for both Chinese residents and foreigners would help the leadership improve its image in diplomatic circles and in the world media.

In the case of the 24-member crew, Beijing's purported observation of international humanitarian standards would also help the leadership explain to its people why it had let the Americans go without having secured concrete concessions from the U.S.