The Economist (2022-01-08)

The Economist January 8th 2022 China 37

rootsorganisationswereforcedtoclosein

2021.OnJanuary3rdmembersofanew

LegislativeCouncil wereswornin.Hong

Kong’semblem,thebauhiniaflower,was

replacedinthechamberbyChina’snation­

alcrest.A bandplayedtheChinesenation­

alanthem.Threenewmemberschoseto

taketheiroathsinMandarin,ratherthan

Cantonese, the traditional language of

HongKong.TheelectionsinDecemberhad

been radically different from previous

ones,withonly 20 ofthe 90 seatsdirectly

elected. After a vote in November 2019

whenthepro­democracycampwonnearly

90%oftheseats, thegovernmentover­

hauledtheelectoralsystem.Mostopposi­

tionpoliticiansarenoweitherinjailor

havegoneintoexile.

A record­lownumberofvoterscastbal­

lotsinDecember’s“patriots­only”race.All

butoneofthe 90 seatswerewonbycandi­

datesfromthepro­establishment camp.

Thegovernmentwarnedthatanyonecall­

ingonotherstocastinvalidvotesmaybe

inbreachofthesecuritylaw.Atleastten

peoplewerearrestedforviolatingelection

laws.ThegovernmentthreatenedtheWall

StreetJournalwithbeinginbreachofone

after it published an editorial entitled

“HongKongSaysVote—orElse”.

Citizen’s Chinateam,widelyregardedas

thebestinHongKong,releasedtheirlast

38­minuteepisodeonJanuary3rd..Itfol­

lowedZhangZhan,a citizenjournalistwho

coveredtheearlydaysofcovid­19inWu­

hanandisnowdyinginjailona hunger­

strike.“Ifthetruthdoesn’tcomeout,the

lieswin,”shesays,interviewedinacar.

“Theliars,”shegoeson,lookingoff­came­

ra,“willturnliesintotruth.”n

TheUNandhumanrights

Geneva discords

L

ast yeartheHumanRightsCouncilin

Geneva passed resolutions condemning

abuses  in  Afghanistan,  Burundi,  Eritrea,

Ethiopia,  Myanmar,  Sudan  and  Syria.  But

as in every other year since its creation in

2006,  the  United  Nations  body  was  silent

on China. Fearful of reprisal, and uncertain

of  victory,  member  governments  have

been reluctant even to propose resolutions

condemning, say, the erosion of civil liber­

ties in Hong Kong or the harsh repression

of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. 

With the new year comes the possibility

of  change.  On  January  1st  America  took  a

seat on the council for the first time since

2018,  when  Donald  Trump  left  it  in  a  huff

over  its  repeated  criticisms  of  Israel.  Hu­

man­rights activists hope that under Presi­

dent  Joe  Biden,  America  will  at  last  press

the unto shine a light on China. They may

be disappointed yet again. China also has a

seat on the council, and has a solid record

of staving off rebukes from the world body.

A  great­power  showdown  may  be  in  the

offing in Geneva, but it is far from clear that

America will win. 

China’s  Communist  rulers  have  long

made  stifling  criticism  of  themselves  a

central goal of foreign policy. That has be­

come harder in recent years. The regime’s

horrific  treatment  of  Uyghurs  and  the

crackdown  in  Hong  Kong  have  prompted

condemnation and sanctions from rich de­

mocracies (and retaliatory sanctions from

China). America went as far as to label Chi­

na’s actions in Xinjiang “genocide”, though

China’s  government  is  brutally  persecut­

ing  the  Uyghurs,  not  slaughtering  them.

Like a number of other countries, America

will  not  send  an  official  delegation  to  the

Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.

At  the  undozens  of  governments—in­

cluding  America’s,  Germany’s  and  Brit­

ain’s—have made annual joint statements

decrying China’s behaviour, and calling for

free access to Xinjiang for Michelle Bache­

let, the un’s high commissioner for human

rights. (She has had to investigate without

going  there.)  Independent  human­rights

experts  appointed  by  theunhave  also  is­

sued  a  rare  statement  deploring  China’s

abuses in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.

But uninstitutions have said and done

nothing about China. There has never been

any  chance  of  action  against  China  in  the

Security Council, where China holds a ve­

to. Under Xi Jinping, China has become ac­

tive  and  influential  in  the  organisation,

placing diplomats in senior and junior jobs

throughout the entire unsystem. And Chi­

na  is  now  the  second­largest  contributor,

after America, to the un’s general budget.

The  47­member  Human  Rights  Coun­

cil, in theory, is free to speak up. It has ro­

tating temporary members and no vetoes.

But  several  egregious  abusers  sit  on  the

council, as do many countries with strong

economic  ties  with  China.  Diplomats  say

China  often  threatens  retaliation  against

countries  that  criticise  it,  and  offers  re­

wards  for  taking  its  side—typically  aid,

loans  or  investment.  In  June  Ukraine

backed out of a joint statement criticising

China,  organised  in  Geneva  by  council

members, after Chinese diplomats report­

edly  threatened  to  withhold  coronavirus

vaccines from the country. John Fisher, the

head of the Geneva office of Human Rights

Watch,  an  ngo,  says  some  countries  that

publicly  back  China  are  “quite  frank  with

us in the corridors, that they can’t afford to

be seen to cross China”.

America’s  return  should  help  matters.

Under Mr Biden American diplomats again

took  an  active  role  in  Geneva  in  2021,  and

won a seat on the council for a three­year

term from 2022. (Michèle Taylor, appoint­

ed ambassador by Mr Biden to fill it, is still

awaiting  Senate  confirmation.)  In  2021

America’s friends in Geneva won some mi­

nor  symbolic  victories.  In  October  Britain

managed  to  amend  a  Chinese  resolution

about colonialism, which was intended as

a poke in the eye to Western powers, so that

it could be read also as implicit criticism of

China’s  treatment  of  Uyghurs.  America

and its allies are also busily urging Ms Ba­

chelet  to  produce  her  long­awaited  report

on Xinjiang, which would be useful fodder

for the council. 

But  it  remains  unclear  if  the  Biden  ad­

ministration will press ahead with a reso­

lution  against  China  in  its  first  year  back.

Some  governments  inclined  to  support

America  worry  that  a  confrontation  with

China  would  polarise  members  and  jeop­

ardise the council’s other work. And a reso­

lution might be defeated, which might em­

bolden  China.  “I  know  the  us diplomats

here  are  constantly  thinking  about  num­

bers,  about  would  they  get  something

through,”  says  Marc  Limon  of  Universal

Rights Group, a think­tank in Geneva. 

They  are  right  to  worry.  For  years  after

the  massacre  in  Beijing  in  1989,  America

and  its  allies  tried  to  get  a  resolution  on

China through the unCommission on Hu­

man Rights, the council’s predecessor. On­

ly once, in 1995, did one get as far as a vote

of the full commission; it failed by a mar­

gin of one. And these days China has much

more  weight  to  throw  around. “Nobody

likes a bully,” Mr Fisher says. Trueenough;

but bullies still often get their way.n

America may seek a human-rights

showdown with China