Coincidentally, the United States was voted off of the United Nations Human Rights Commission on Thursday, the first time it has not held a seat since the United Nations was formed in 1947. Sudan was among the nations added to the panel's member states. Bush, in an evening address before the American Jewish Committee, said the Chinese government ''continues to display an unreasonable and unworthy suspicion'' of religious freedom.
China aspires to national strength and greatness.
Bush's remarks are the latest sign that the administration is taking a harder line toward China. Beijing is sensitive to criticism of its human rights record, which it considers an internal matter. The latest criticism from Bush also came at a tense time in U.S.-China relations after the standoff over a downed U.S. spy plane and the announcement that the administration is prepared to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. The president also called Sudan ''a disaster area for human rights.'' More than 2 million Sudanese have died in an 18-year civil war marked by the brutal persecution of Christians and adherents of traditional Sudanese religions by the Islamic government. This is a first step.