If Chen Xu, Chinese ambassador to UN Geneva, is to be believed, the Chinese government is ready to get into the swing of the respect for human rights shared by (some) fellow diplomats at the United Nations and (some) persons around the world.
In response to the UN’s once-every-five-years review of how well human rights are being respected in China, Chen (shown above) told his UN colleagues: “The report just adopted is, in general, objective and balanced, and has reflected the statements and the recommendations during the meeting. We believe the majority of the comments and recommendations are constructive.”
Don’t exclaim “Hallelujah!” just yet, however.
To put these remarks in perspective, in addition to keeping in mind the last century of the history of China and the last ten years of rule by Chinese Dictator Xi Jinping, we should also keep in mind China’s efforts to sabotage the UN’s recent inquiry.
What happened prior to the issuance of the report?
Radio Free Asia reports (“China ‘gamed’ UN human rights review, experts say,” January 29, 2024):
Tuesday’s three-hour review session descended into farce, with the unusually high number of participating countries meaning each only had 45 seconds to provide an assessment of a country that has been accused of possible crimes against humanity by a U.N. body.
Under this process, each of the 193 U.N. member states has their rights record reviewed on a rolling five-year basis.
A report by Reuters said Chinese diplomats had in the lead-up to the session lobbied countries to turn up with soft-ball assessments.
On January 22, Reuters reported that China had been urging friendly non-Western countries to give China their moral support during the UN’s impending review of the Chinese record.
“In early January this year, a diplomatic note sent by China’s diplomatic mission to countries, seen by Reuters, read: “I would kindly request your delegation to render valuable support to China and make constructive recommendations in the interactive dialogue…taking into account the friendly relations and cooperation between our two countries.”
Other notes sent to three non-Western countries seen by Reuters included specific speaking points to raise, including comments praising China’s record on women’s rights and disability.
In response to the UN’s formal and farcical review, Chen Xu heralded his government’s ongoing achievements in the realm of rights. According to Chen, the Chinese government is already doing all it can for human rights—lots, really. For example, China has made headway getting rid of poverty, Chinese citizens enjoy “democratic elections,” and everybody’s religious beliefs are “safeguarded.”
Per Chen: “China upholds respect for and protection of human rights as a task of importance in state governance. We have embarked on a path of human rights development that is in keeping with the trend of the times and appropriate to China’s national conditions and so-called historic achievements in this process. We uphold the people-centered philosophy and strive to deliver a better life for all the people.”
This statement is half ambiguity, half negation by qualification, and a total lie.
Protecting human rights is important. Okay. What are rights? How does one violate somebody’s rights? Does incarcerating people for years for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party’s violations of human rights violate rights? Does continuous surveillance and reeducation of members of targeted groups violate rights? Does trying to coercively assimilate them and extirpate elements of their cultural heritage violate rights? Does forced labor violate rights? Does murdering people in prison violate rights? Does murdering people by ripping out their hearts so someone else can get a heart violate rights? Does an individual’s rights have any relationship to the requirements of that individual’s survival?
Chen says China is all in favor of proceeding along a path of “human rights development” that is a) “in keeping with the trend of the times” and b) “appropriate to China’s national conditions.”
The trends of the times are various and conflicting. China’s “national conditions” are the conditions under which the people-centered Chinese Communist Party has exercised one-party autocratic rule and been doing all it can for decades to shove people along the “right” political and cultural path, the CCP-dictated path.
If you have the “wrong” politics or culture, if you fail to adequately obey the state and subordinate yourself to the state, the CCP will, like any Torquemada eager to save your soul by burning you to a crisp, do everything it can to fix you. The CCP is happy to rebuild you, make you more ideologically pure, make you less of a threat to yourself and everybody else. If it turns out that achieving this requires an annihilative brainwashing, incarceration, torture, murder, the Party won’t hesitate.
