Beijing Caves

 Published in The Wall Street Journal, Saturday, May 3, 2008, p. A9

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120977705104464315.html

The Chinese government's decision this month to recall the ship named the An Yue Jiang -- loaded with weapons, bound for Zimbabwe -- may bring little genuine relief to those who suffer at the hands of the Mugabe government. Nevertheless, it decisively answers a question much debated in recent weeks by governments, activists and the international media: Is China susceptible to international pressure in the run-up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing?

"It's counterproductive to make Chinese officials lose face by publicly embarrassing them." "China will never give in, especially with a wave of nationalist sentiment." "Who are we to judge Beijing's behavior?" So argues those who say the world should not press China to live up to its freely-made obligations concerning human rights. An Yue Jiang proves the opposite.

An impromptu coalition of South African and international human-rights organizations, along with church groups, widely publicized the issue after South African dockworkers refused to unload the ship's cargo. After several days of growing international revulsion, Beijing reversed the ship's course. Had the activists bowed to the conventional wisdom about "face" or fallen prey to absurd relativism about their own countries' shortcomings, the arms could have ended up in the hands of Mugabe's ZANU-PF thugs pursuing their political opponents.

Although the orchestrated nationalist outrage over international attention to Tibet is meant to mask this fact, the Chinese leadership is desperate to ensure the participation of world leaders at the Summer Games. In the wake of An Yue Jiang, world leaders planning to attend the Olympics should insist on a sea change for durable human rights improvements inside China, too.

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Ms. Richardson is the Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.