China and Human Rights Violations

I'm with Rick in applauding H. Res. 821.  However, at the end of his post, Rick suggests that engagement may be a better course than condemnation. 

The problem with that is we have had years of engagement with little positive effect.  China pledged when it was bidding to host the 2008 Olympics was that it would improve human rights.  It clearly has not made good on that promise.  Indeed, as the House findings suggest, things have gotten worse there.  China's big achievement (although this was prior to its most recent crackdown on Tibetan dissidents) was that is was dropped from the list of the 10 most egregious human rights violators, which simply says it is not quite as bad as places like Myanmar and the Sudan.  That's not much to brag about.

I'm not sure I think boycotting the Olympics is that best course of action, although I think the decision to allow China to host the Olympics was a bad one.  I admit to being less than unbiased on this subject; the time I spent living in Tibetan communities has made me somwhat sensitive to China's treatment of the Tibetans in particular.  But, from any standpoint, I think it hard to come to a conclusion other than that the engagement strategy has been a failure.