In yet another rip in the fabric of US-Chinese relations, the Clinton administration has announced that it will introduce a resolution at a UN conference formally accusing China of violating human rights.
The move signals that, even though President Clinton favours a policy of engagement with China, he intends to keep focused on China's mistreatment of its own people, administration officials said.
Until last year, for seven consecutive years the United States had sponsored a resolution condemning China at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. The US cited a marked improvement in China's record in suspending the practice last year.
The latest resolution will reflect the administration's "sense of deep concern" about the human rights situation in China, which has "deteriorated sharply", according to a State Department spokesman.
Specifically, the resolution will outline recent repression in Tibet and a crackdown on political dissent throughout China. It will also call on Beijing to improve those conditions.
The decision further frays Sino-US relations, which have been unravelling over disputes about issues ranging from trade to espionage.
Reverberations from the decision are likely to be felt during the first official visit to the US of the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Zhu Rongji, next month. Mr Zhu plans to meet Mr Clinton at the White House on April 8th, midway through a weeklong visit to several American cities.
The EU foreign ministers agreed last week not to support a resolution in Geneva which specifically condemns China. The EU was a co-sponsor of earlier resolutions.
Relations between Washington and China have deteriorated since last summer, when Mr Clinton met President Jiang Zemin in Beijing.
Since that meeting, criticism has focused on alleged Chinese espionage of nuclear weapons design secrets, while Beijing is deeply unhappy with US plans to deploy a regional missile defence shield for Taiwan.
Reuters adds:
Mr Jiang discussed human rights and economic relations with President Thomas Klestil in Vienna at the start of a state visit to Austria yesterday.