ABSTRACT
The external human-rights policies of most of the world's governments are not particularly robust. Given that the international human-rights regime lacks tough enforcement mechanisms, and economic sanctions are not much used, more often than not governmental attempts at enforcement involve rhetorical exhortation in the hope of shaming a state into changing its behaviour. The attacks of 11 September 2001 have not left this area of policymaking unscathed. These attacks have had important effects on America's willingness and capacity to promote an external human-rights policy, and on its commitment to protect the rights of those who live within its boundaries, or have been taken into captivity as a result of the struggle against terrorism. Human-rights questions have impinged on Sino-American relations since the late 1980s and have become a concern to many official and non-official actors in the US.
