Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner was apologizing to China,last week about Arizona's immigration law during a discussion on human rights in Washington saying he was actually "standing up" for America by describing how debate functions in a "civil society."
Posner told reporters on Friday that the U.S. delegation brought up the Arizona law "early and often," as an example of a trouble spot Americans need to work on.
The two-day talks were held in Washington and meant to ease the way for similar discussions in the future. The delegations discussed concerns with U.S. and Chinese rights issues, including Tibet and the Chinese treatment of dissidents. The United States was represented by officials from several Cabinet agencies including the Justice Department, Commerce Department and Internal Revenue Service.
Arizona Republican Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain sent a letter to Posner on Tuesday demanding he retract his statement and issue an apology. They cited the 2009 Human Rights Report produced by Posner's bureau as a reminder of the arbitrary arrests, detention and harassment of Chinese citizens by the Chinese regime.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a longtime critic of China's human rights record, told Fox News he's "tired" of seeing comments like this, particularly to a delegation from "one of the most repressive societies in the world." (Source: FOXNews.com, May 18, 2010).