Human rights cards expose American double standards

Some U.S. politicians including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been unscrupulously cooking up stories in recent days, pointing fingers at China for Xinjiang and Hong Kong affairs. They even described the regular business operation of Chinese enterprises as providing “material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses.”

However, it no secret to the world that these lies made by Pompeo and the likes are nothing but a disguise covering the deeply rooted social problems of the U.S., and a blame game to pass the buck for the White House’s failure in domestic governance.

They probably don’t know that the more disguise they wear, the worse results they will get.

The human rights cards played by these U.S. politicians have long been a notorious signboard of the “American double standards.”

At present, the right to life and health of the U.S. citizens is being seriously threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused over 5 million infections and 160,000 deaths in the country. However, these U.S. politicians’ indifference to the situation is really astonishing.

U.K. newspaper The Independent pointed out that some U.S. politicians are always saying human rights, but they neglect their own obligations to protect human rights and ignore the lives of the people. African Americans are dying at 2.5 times the rate of white people, which exposed the long-existing racial inequality in the U.S. In Michigan, black people make up only 14% of the population and account for roughly 39% of deaths. Governor of the state Gretchen Whitmer recently noted that the pandemic has confirmed and highlighted the deadly nature of these pre-existing inequalities caused by systemic racism.

The 43rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution strongly condemning the continuing racially discriminatory and violent practices perpetrated by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African descent. Website Politico noted that the U.S. is more and more considered as a villain, not a hero, on the subject of human rights.

It is pointed out that the U.S., as the most warlike country in the history, has left tens of millions displaced who tried to escape the hell that the U.S. has helped to create. It has been refusing to ratify multiple key international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The White House declared to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) this year when COVID-19 was still rampant, a move considered by the world as a “crime against humanity.”

Pompeo shamelessly announced that to protect human rights is the conscience of a country, but what did he do when American citizens were saying they “can’t breathe?” The sharp contrast well explains the hypocrisy and double standards of Pompeo and the likes on human rights issues.

Adopting double standards and taking human rights as a political tool to suppress other countries, the U.S. has totally violated the principles of human rights. Robert Malley, head of the Washington-based International Crisis Group，said bluntly that the U.S. had credibility gaps when it came to promoting human rights, and human rights seem to be treated purely as a transactional currency. Sarah Snyder, a human rights historian teaching at American University criticized White House’s rejection of the idea that the U.S. should be bound by any of the international agreements.

The evil intention behind the human rights cards played by these U.S. politicians is never a secret. Senior researcher Stephen Roach with Yale University believes that these politicians’ arguments are all based on conspiracy theories and analysis that lacks the support of facts.

Michael Swaine, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointed out that Pompeo’s remarks were a kind of political opportunism and ideological mania. He said Pompeo is the worst secretary of state ever, and the U.S. politician is proving this point everyday with his remarks and practices. The Guardian called Pompeo a “dangerous man” feeding prejudices, fears and schisms.

Practice is the sole criterion of truth, and the happy life of the people is the largest human right. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, China’s per capita GDP surged from less than $200 forty years ago to today’s over $10,000, and more than 800 million people have shaken off poverty. In China’s fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, the country has always put people and their lives in the first place, and tried everything possible to protect their rights to life and health. In Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China is resolute in fighting violent terrorist, separatist and religious extremist forces and in promoting Xinjiang’s development, ethnic unity, and social stability. In Hong Kong, China cracks down on a very narrow category of criminal acts and activities that endanger national security and protects the safety and rights and freedoms the vast majority of the Hong Kong residents enjoy in accordance with the law, so as to maintain prosperity and stability of the special administrative region. Besides, China has approved and joined 26 international human rights document. In the face of facts, any attempt of the U.S. politicians to attack China’s human rights protection will end up in vain.

The Chinese people has long seen through the plot of Pompeo and the likes who violently interferes in China’s domestic affairs under the excuse of human rights and contain China’s development with supremacy. By concentrating on its own path and affairs, China is responding forcefully to those who impede the country’s development.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)