5/4/2000

BEIJING - A dozen years after China signed the UN Convention Against Torture, beating and torture of criminal suspects remains a widespread problem, according to a US group's report that is scheduled for release today.

In a 44-page brief, the group, Human Rights In China said that officials who torture people generally go undisciplined and courts continue to accept confessions extracted through beatings.

''Torture is rarely punished in China,'' said the report from the New York-based group.

''While providing impunity for officials who use physical violence, this reality also effectively encourages many law enforcement officials to rely on ill-treatment, rather than on proper investigative techniques to break cases.''

The organization has submitted the report to a UN committee that is beginning a review of China's compliance with the convention.

Later this month in Washington, the House of Representatives will vote on granting China permanent trading rights as a part of Beijing's bid to join the World Trade Organization, which sets global trading rules.

The bill's critics argue that Beijing should do more to improve its human rights record and labor safety conditions first.

The administration argues that passage of the measure will help integrate the most populous nation into the global community.

Torture has received more attention than usual in the past year as the regime cracked down on the banned spiritual meditation group, Falun Gong. The group enraged China's leaders by staging a 10,000-person protest a year ago outside the Communist Party's compound in the capital.

The regime has resorted to mass detention and torture in an attempt to break up the group.

Figures on torture in China remain sketchy. The Supreme People's Procuratorate reported that at least 241 people were tortured to death in 1993 and 1994, although human rights observers believe the number is far higher.

This story ran on page A25 of the Boston Globe on 5/4/2000.

(c) Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.