Clinton focuses on climate change, not human rights, in China

Wrapping up her tour of Asia with a visit to China:

The Obama administration hopes to make climate change the centerpiece of a broader, more vigorous engagement with China. For Mrs. Clinton, the two-day stop in Beijing at the end of a weeklong Asian tour, represents an effort to put her own stamp on a relationship that was dominated by the Treasury Department in the latter years of the Bush administration.

“The opportunities for us to work together are unmatched anywhere in the world,” Mrs. Clinton declared, on a hectic day filled with meetings with President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese officials.

Human rights groups have criticized Mrs. Clinton for soft-pedaling Tibet and other issues during her first visit as secretary of state. She said she did not want these disputes to interfere with critical challenges like climate change, the global economic crisis and security concerns.

It was a stark contrast to 1995, when Mrs. Clinton, then first lady, gave a speech in Beijing at a United Nations conference, in which she catalogued abuses against women and concluded by saying that “human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.”

Speaking after a meeting with the foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, Mrs. Clinton said she had raised the Tibet issue and other concerns. But she argued that the work of advocacy groups and people in civil society in this area was “at least as important” as that of government officials.

We're hardly in a position to dictate anything to China right now, even assuming that "dictating" was a good idea. It's clear to me that people around the world are likely to suffer in the short term from the economic crisis and in the long term from climate change. Drawing China into partnerships with the rest of the world to address both problems is probably the best way to put them on the path of further democratization.