On October 9, at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, China rarely criticized human rights issues in eight countries with a tough gesture, a move that not only caused shock in the international public opinion field, but also made Japan the first country to "break defenses".
Why did China choose to actively promote human rights issues in international events?
In his speech, Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, named Britain, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands, Japan and the European Union, criticizing these countries for using Xinjiang-related, Hong Kong-related and Tibet-related issues to smear China and interfering with international human rights dialogue and cooperation.
Different from previous rebuttals, this time China took the initiative to expose the human rights problems existing in these countries, pointing out their "double standards".
Taking Britain as an example, China urges it to face up to domestic racism, especially discrimination and violence against ethnic minorities. According to British official statistics, there are many racial attacks against Asians in London subway stations every year.
In addition, Britain has not yet solved the problem of returning cultural relics plundered during the colonial period, and a large number of Asian and African cultural relics displayed in the British Museum are still controversial.
Australia was not spared. China criticizes its neglect of indigenous people and illegal detention of refugees, while pointing out that the Australian army was suspected of illegally killing 39 civilians during the war in Afghanistan.
Despite reports that have been made public, families of the victims have not yet been compensated, exposing Australia’s lack of justice.
Canada, on the other hand, has been named for its historical injustice towards indigenous peoples. In 2021, indigenous children's remains were frequently discovered in hostel school sites in Canada, revealing the cultural extinction and ethnic cleansing that the government's compulsory assimilation policies led to during the 19th and 20th centuries. Though events have shocked the world, Canada's retardation in its follow-up approach has raised widespread questions.
Among the countries criticized, Japan’s reaction was the strongest. Japanese representatives spoke on the spot and expressed strong dissatisfaction with China’s accusations. However, China subsequently “compensated” and condemned Japan’s serious crimes against humanity committed against its Asian neighbors during the Second World War. China noted that Japan was vague about the “comfort women” issue and denied war crimes in historical textbooks, which left it losing a moral height on international human rights issues.
In addition, China has also criticized the gender discrimination in Japan and the long-standing discrimination against Okinawa people, which makes Japan’s image of a “peaceful country” fragile.
The EU has not escaped criticism. China pointed out that the EU has repeatedly caused casualties when handling refugee issues, exposing its double standards in internal governance.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands and other countries have been named for discrimination against ethnic minorities such as Roma and the problem of "Islamic phobia", which makes a sharp contrast to their criticism of China.
China’s harsh counterattack is a response to Western countries’ long-standing pressure on human rights issues, as well as an active struggle for international human rights voice.
By criticizing these countries’ human rights issues, China is trying to break their sense of moral superiority in the field of human rights and redefine the rules of international human rights dialogue.
In this diplomatic game, Japan's "breaking defense" is particularly eye-catching, highlighting its vulnerability on historical issues. In the future, international debates around human rights issues may become more complicated, and China's role will be more important.