Chinese leaders should be encouraged whenever they show increased respect for human rights standards which apply elsewhere around the world, especially if they also indicate added support for the concept of the rule of law. Thus the visit to Beijing of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is something to welcome, even if it does not represent a major breakthrough on any front.
Mrs Robinson is there to sign a rather technical agreement which will make it easier for China to apply two pending human rights treaties which it has signed but not yet ratified. These are the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, signed three years ago, and a second covenant on civil and political rights signed two years ago. They provide for basic civil liberties protection on such things as the freedoms of association and expression, often denied by Chinese authorities.
The agreement signed yesterday won't bring about quick or major changes to China's legal system, or grant new freedoms to ordinary citizens in the near term.
In fact, some critics denounce the whole thing as a cosmetic sham. But if terms are applied, the new agreement will start programmes that can make a difference in a society where law is applied erratically, and sometimes bent to suit the convenience of those in charge.
Among other things, China has promised, by signing the agreement, to upgrade police training, revise certain laws to meet international standards and promote human rights education in its schools. In addition, it has said it will change some extralegal ways of punishing people it brands as wrongdoers. Chief among them is 'reform through labour', a practice - not even authorised by Chinese law - that lets the police assign suspects to up to three years of forced labour without trial, something developed nations would not tolerate.
However, the new agreement won't bridge the fundamental gap between Chinese and Western concepts of human rights. Beijing insists that, by raising living standards, it is meeting the most basic human right of all. And it refuses to grant civil freedoms - such as the right to read and write freely about social and political issues - which might erode one-party rule. This caused Mrs Robinson to repeat earlier complaints about a lack of progress in several areas, though she called the new pact 'significant'.
