By P.K. Balachandran
COLOMBO – The United States is now in a no-holds-barred fight with its current principal adversary, China. Just as the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill resolved in 1940 to fight Nazi Germany to the finish “on land, sea and air”, the US is now taking on Communist China in every available theatre, be it in the oceans, trade, technology or the UN. The ‘War on Terror’ has been put on the backburner to give undivided attention to the ‘War on Xi’s China’.
The US is making no secret of its goal – a regime change in Beijing. “We must also engage and empower the Chinese people—a dynamic, freedom-loving people who are completely distinct from the Chinese Communist Party,” said US Secretary State Mike Pompeo in a talk on July 25. Recently he told Nikkei that the US will engage China not to sustain Communist rule, as it did in the past. Going on one’s knees has not paid, he asserted.
The US and its allies are fully using the on-going sessions of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to name and shame China. And China is paying back in kind. The Third Committee deals with human rights, humanitarian affairs and social matters.
US Permanent Representative Kelly Craft told the committee: “I cannot help but remember Li-Meng Yan, the Chinese doctor who was reprimanded for trying to warn the world about a troubling cluster of infection in Wuhan, and later succumbed to the coronavirus. The systemic repression of freedom of association, assembly, and expression, stunts the capacity of society to respond to COVID. Indeed, the Chinese Communist Party’s stifling of such freedoms transformed a local epidemic into a global pandemic which threatens to set back decades of developmental and economic gains. The Chinese people simply deserve better.
“More than 50 independent UN experts have called for collective action to ensure China abides by its human rights obligations. We are alarmed by the Chinese Communist Party’s continued arbitrary detention of over one million Uighurs and other minority groups. The Chinese government’s claim it provided so-called vocational training to nearly 7.8 million workers in Xinjiang in the last six years is concerning, given the pervasive nature of State-sponsored forced labour schemes in Xinjiang.
“We are also deeply disturbed by the reports that the Chinese Communist Party is using sterilization, forced abortion, and coercive family planning as part of its continuing campaign of repression. The Chinese Communist Party has eroded autonomy and liberty in Hong Kong and perpetrated a wide range of human rights abuses against members of minority communities, including Africans and Tibetans, as well as lawyers and human rights defenders across China.”
European Union’s Ambassador to the UN, Olof Skoog said: “The EU continues to be gravely concerned about the existence of a large network of political re-education camps, widespread surveillance, and systemic restrictions on freedom of religion or belief against Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and against Christians across China, as well as about reports on forced labour and forced birth control.
“We reiterate our call on China to allow meaningful access to the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region for independent observers, including for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The EU urges China to ensure rule of law, establish fair trial guarantees and investigate thoroughly reported cases of arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment, and torture and harassment of human rights defenders and their families, in order to put an end to such practices. The EU considers the national security legislation for Hong Kong adopted by China recently to be a matter of grave concern. The EU is particularly concerned about the extensive erosion of rights and freedoms that were supposed to remain protected until at least 2047.”
German Ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, speaking on behalf of 39 countries said: “In June 2020, 50 UN Special Procedures mandate holders issued an exceptional letter of concern, calling on the People’s Republic of China to respect human rights. We share their grave concerns. On Xinjiang, we are gravely concerned about the existence of a large network of “political re-education” camps where credible reports indicate that over a million people have been arbitrarily detained. Widespread surveillance disproportionately continues to target Uighurs and other minorities and more reports are emerging of forced labour and forced birth control including sterilization.”
On Hong Kong, Heusgen said: “We have deep concerns about elements of the National Security Law that allow for certain cases to be transferred for prosecution to the Chinese mainland.”
Cuba takes up China’s cause
Speaking on behalf of 45 countries the Cuban representative on October 6 said the group “firmly opposes the politicization of human rights issues.” The joint statement praised the Chinese government for its pursuit of a people-centred philosophy in advancing economic and social sustainable development, eradicating poverty, increasing employment, improving people’s living standards and promoting and protecting human rights.
“There have been no terrorist attacks in Xinjiang in the past three years. People of all ethnic groups enjoy their happy lives in a peaceful and stable environment. China maintains openness and transparency by, among other things, inviting more than 1,000 diplomats, officials of international organizations, journalists and religious personages to visit Xinjiang, who witnessed Xinjiang’s remarkable achievements,” the joint statement said.
Support from Pakistan too
A joint statement made by Pakistan on behalf of 55 countries pointed out that non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states is an important principle enshrined in the UN Charter and a basic norm of international relations.
The statement further said the Chinese government has extended an invitation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Xinjiang and the two sides are keeping contact on the matter .On Xinjiang-related issues, it is imperative to respect the basic facts and refrain from making unfounded allegations against China and interfering out of political motivation and bias, it added.
China’s defence
China’s permanent representative to the UN, Zhang Jun, pointed out that more than 70 countries were on China’s side on this issue. He stressed that China will resolutely resist any interference in its internal affairs and any attempt to provoke confrontations among member states of the UN.
Zhang pointed that China has many human rights achievements to its credit which the West has been ignoring. China has lifted 850 million people out of poverty. Giving top priority to life, China has adopted the most stringent and thorough epidemic prevention and control measures and achieved major victories in the fight against COVID-19, he said. The way it treats its citizens, irrespective of ethnicity and fights terrorism, is as per international practice. He asserted that “no matter what others say or do, China will unswervingly move forward along this path.”
Rights violations in US
On the US, Zhang said: “I would like to tell the United States, ‘Your political scheme will never succeed. Developing countries have the right to defend their sovereignty, achieve development and maintain security. Blaming others won’t solve your problems, nor hide your failures.”
“Blaming China cannot cover up your poor human rights record. It is the US that should work to protect the basic rights of its people,” Zhang stressed, noting that over 200,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19.
“What the US government needs to do is treat the sick and save lives, not spread its political virus and make trouble everywhere,” the Chinese diplomat said.
“It is the US that should eliminate racial discrimination and allow its people to breathe,” he said. “The Third Committee should pay attention to racial discrimination and police brutality in the United States and adopt a resolution on it,” he proposed.
-P K. Balachandran is a senior Colombo-based journalist who in the past two decades, has reported for The Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express and the Economist
