GENEVA, Switzerland -- The United States submitted a resolution criticizing China's human rights record to the main United Nations rights body yesterday, but it was unable to get any other country to sign on as a co-sponsor.

U.S. officials insisted that the absence of support did not mean the resolution is headed for defeat at the 53-member U.N. Human Rights Commission next week.

The resolution criticizes "severe restrictions" on a range of democratic rights, and harsh sentences for those seeking to exercise those rights. It calls on China to release political prisoners and to protect the "distinct cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious identity of Tibetans."

Pub Date: 4/17/99