China Goes on the Human Rights Offensive

At the latest session of United Nations Human Rights Council, China experimented with a full-throated denunciation of human rights violations in other countries. It was an unusual role reversal for China, a long-time champion of non-interference, but in the long term this may come to be seen as a new normal.

China has traditionally been a vocal proponent of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. No less an authority than Xi Jinping himself has repeatedly invoked the promise that “China would adhere to the path of peaceful development and unwaveringly safeguard world peace and security, and refrain from seeking hegemony, engaging in expansion, or interfering in the internal affairs of others” (emphasis added). Beijing has long sought to make non-interference a major plank of international relations, hoping that the rest of the world will extend Beijing the same freedom to do as it likes within its borders.

At the same time, China has a long history of working to reshape the very concept of human rights to one more in line with its strengths. As part of that effort, China has led the “Like Minded Countries Group” (LMG), which seeks to promote the “voice of developing countries,” since 2004. The LMG shows up at a variety of U.N. mechanisms, but in the context of the HRC specifically, the group’s stated goal is to “advance human rights governance in a balanced way.” In practice, that means giving more focus to China’s preferred emphasis on development and “economic rights” while also “respect[ing] the right of every country to choose its own path to achieve peace and development” (a more long-winded definition of non-interference).

But there are signs that China is changing its tactics, perhaps recognizing that its strategy to date has not fulfilled its goal of insulating Beijing from criticism. Non-interference aside, China has been taking the offensive, leading the charge of criticizing human rights violations in countries that frequently slam China for the same. And it is not acting alone: Beijing has been working to build up groups that will help question its rivals’ human rights records.

This is a marked departure from China’s previous modus operandi, when Beijing would only gather its allies to defend itself from criticism, rather than go on the attack.

This is not to say that China has never criticized other countries’ rights records before. Beijing began issuing reports on U.S. human rights violations all the way back in 1998, for instance. But the purpose of these reports was manifestly defensive: Their arrival each year was timed to the release of the U.S. State Department’s annual human rights review of the world, and the goal was clearly aimed at selling China’s narrative about the U.S. “double standard” on human rights. Today, Beijing has become more and more comfortable dispensing with the defensive framework and assuming the posture of a truly concerned champion of human rights – in essence, hiding motives that were once openly declared.

China’s record at the HRC is a telling example of the change in tactics. China has been a member of the U.N. body since it was established in 2006, but was largely quiet on the topic of other countries’ human rights records for much of that time. For example, in 2010, China-U.S. relations were at a nadir over a recent arms sale to Taiwan, yet Beijing’s comments on the United States’ Universal Periodic Review at the HRC were remarkably anodyne:

“China noted the [U.S.] Government’s efforts in past years to promote and protect human rights and to make progress in health care and education. However, China expressed concern about the gaps in human rights legislation and the fact that the United States had not become a party to a number of core international human rights instruments. It was also concerned, inter alia, that the law enforcement agencies tended to use excessive force and that the incidence of poverty was higher among Afro-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.”

Even just a few years ago, China’s representatives at the HRC kept a low profile. The website of China’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. Office at Geneva, which covers the HRC, posted six statements to the Council in 2016 and seven in 2017. In 2018, there were just two.

That changed markedly in 2019, when China issued 14 statements. Even then, however, 10 of the statement can be categorized as defensive: They were directly defending China’s own human rights record, notably in Xinjiang or Hong Kong. Just four are “offensive”: criticizing human rights violations in other countries or actively promoting China’s own definition of human rights.

In 2020, China posted a similar number of statements, but the balance between attack and defense was radically different. Of the 15 statements issued last year, eight were “defensive” and seven were “offensive” – nearly a 50-50 split.

China’s new approach was on full display this summer, during the 47th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council from June 21 to July 13.

Beijing was especially vocal about Australia’s human rights record, as the country was undergoing its Universal Periodic Review this year. The Chinese representative went on a lengthy diatribe against “Australia's numerous human rights violations,” including oppression of and discrimination against Aboriginal peoples, war crimes committed by Australian soldiers abroad, and hate crimes against Asian Australians.

China made six recommendations to Australia during the review process, including: “Take actions to combat racial discrimination, hate speech and violence, and protect the rights of ethnic minorities”; “Eliminate systematic discrimination against Aboriginals and combat violence against them”; “Investigate comprehensively and thoroughly the war crimes committed by Australian military personnel in overseas military operations”; “Protect the rights of migrants and close offshore detention centers for migrants”; and the very pointed advice to “Stop using false information to make baseless accusations against other countries for political purposes.”

“China urges Australia to take the universal periodic review as an opportunity to face up to and repent its own severe problems on human rights, stop various violations of human rights, and take concrete measures to protect human rights,” China’s representative said at the session.

By contrast, back in 2011, China had zero formal recommendations for Australia during its Universal Periodic Review. Instead, its representative “commended Australia’s positive efforts for protecting and promoting human rights and welcomed the measures adopted to protect the rights of indigenous peoples, women, children and the disabled.”

Also at the 47th session of the HRC, China took part in a special dialogue “on the protection of Africans and African descendants,” where Beijing issued a joint statement on behalf of over 50 countries denouncing “systemic racism and structural racial discrimination.” The statement called on global human rights bodies to “eliminate legacies of slavery, transatlantic slave trade, colonialism and labor trafficking,” with China’s representative particularly pointing to “the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and EU member countries” as major offenders.

“Relevant countries should take concrete measures, change discriminatory systems and measures, hold perpetrators accountable for racism crimes and provide reparations to victims to realize racial justice and equality at an early date,” the statement added.

“We urge relevant Western countries to address the international concerns seriously, deeply reflect upon their issues of systemic racism and racial discrimination and take concrete measures to resolve them,” China’s Foreign Ministry said when asked about the anti-racism dialogue. “By doing this they will be making tangible contributions to domestic protection and promotion of human rights and also to the progress of the international human rights cause.”

On the sidelines of the session, China, Belarus, Russia, and Venezuela – all members of the larger Like-Minded Countries Group – co-hosted a video session on “Human rights in the West: lack of international control and response to violations of human rights.” The session was devoted to underlining human rights issues “such as racial discrimination, forced labor, and gun violence” in the West, while drawing attention to the lack of attention paid to those problems by international bodies.

It was in this area where China’s new mask slipped a bit, revealing that while Beijing’s approach has changed, the motive for its new human rights advocacy remains the same.

“Those Western countries have serious racial and human rights problems, and committed crimes in history,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on July 12, commenting on the special video session. “I wonder what gives them the confidence to boss others around and tell them off.”