The nations in between remain shrouded in Seventh Floor mystery at State because China and France, which conspired against the U.S., should have voted for us. There is an unwritten rule that permanent Security Council members must vote for each other's candidacy on such groups. If it became public that the rule was broken, the faithless member would lose much diplomatic leverage.

To throw nosy journalists off the scent, U.N. delegates explain that not all votes are instructed by foreign ministries in national capitals, whose exchanges can be read or overheard. Thanks to the U.N.'s unconscionable cloak of secrecy, delegates in New York can easily be induced to switch their votes by a swap of diplomatic favors or a promise of lucrative trade or more personal emoluments with their capitals none the wiser.

In preventing the U.S. from again daring to question the human rights abuses in China, France had to persuade its neighbors not to agree on a ''lean slate'' of three nations to be elected from the ''Western European and other'' grouping, which includes us. Accordingly, four nations competed; when our European allies delightedly chose Austria over the U.S., we were out on our ear. (If Russian tanks roll, call Vienna.)

The blame-America set here promptly suggested we deserved payback for opposing the treaty to allow dictators to haul Americans into a global court. And yesterday -- even as Chinese and Cuban Communists moved to strip human rights groups like Freedom House of accreditation -- Amnesty International celebrated the U.N. silencing of the U.S. by equating our use of land mines to protect our troops in Korea with China's torture of its dissidents.

Our House of Representatives reacted in a measured way, not withholding our arrears but signaling a hard look at next year's dues: No play, no pay. Most Americans who care are disgusted with Western Europe's craven cave-in on human rights after China's threat to ''smash a rock'' on brave Danes who dared a few years ago to criticize its repression.