China’s human rights violations are a problem
But the CCP has a great solution
Marxist human rights.
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
You know, the Chinese Communist Party is pretty great…
At completely fooling people.
The Party has tricked people into thinking that they’re totally peaceful.
Or that they’ve lifted 800 million people out of poverty.
Or that China is still a compelling investment opportunity.
Yeah, let’s keep pumping money into an authoritarian regime…
That uses rape as a form of torture.
But the whole rape as torture thing is actually a problem for the Party.
Not in a moral sense.
They’re fine with that.
But it makes it harder for the Chinese regime to completely convince people that it’s
time for China to take over the world.
Even with all of their totally peaceful investment opportunities!
For some reason, there are still people who look at China’s Zero-Covid lockdowns
And think, you know, I don’t want to live like that.
And over the last few years, countries around the world have slowly gone from just condemning
China’s human rights violations, to actually doing something about it.
Like sanctioning Chinese officials.
Or passing laws against using slave labor from China.
Or supporting people fleeing political repression in Hong Kong.
The Chinese Communist Party hates this.
They long for the days of accommodating leaders like Bill Clinton, who were more willing to
sweep human rights under the rug for some of that sweet, sweet China trade.
But not to worry: the Chinese Communist Party has a solution for their human rights problems.
The Communist Party is going to be the best at human rights.
Not by changing their actions.
No, no, they’ll still lock up human rights lawyers and accuse them of subverting state
power.
They’ll still torture Tibetan monks in jail.
They’ll still use surgeons to kill political prisoners by harvesting their organs.
Why change your actions when you can change the definition of human rights?
That’s so much easier.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
China is redefining human rights.
This isn’t the first time they’ve done something like this.
Last year they decided to redefine democracy, for a similar reason.
The Communist Party was facing too much criticism for its authoritarianism.
For years, the Party fought this criticism by portraying democracy as weak and chaotic
and inefficient.
And it kind of worked.
A lot of people admired China’s authoritarianism for being able to get stuff done.
I mean, democracy is all well and good, but the Chinese Communist Party sure makes the
high-speed trains run on time!
But as the Party’s repression became more visible, as it started to build up its military
and influence countries around the world, high-speed rails weren't enough anymore.
So instead of criticizing democracy, the Communist Party said, hey, we are a democracy, too.
In fact we’re the best democracy.
Yeah, the Communist Party basically identified as a democracy.
And told other countries if they said China wasn’t a democracy, that makes them the
bully.
I did an entire episode about this, including how this all started with Chairman Mao.
Check it out.
And now it’s time for China to not just have the best democracy, but to have the best
human rights, too.
That’s what Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in a speech that was just published in Qiushi,
the Chinese Communist Party’s official theoretical journal.
Qiushi means “seeking truth.”
Which is kind of like vegans naming their official journal “Meat is delicious.”
Xi Jinping’s article is called “unswervingly follow China's human rights development path
and advance the development of China's human rights cause.”
Which gives you an idea of how fun it is to read Communist theory.
I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes version.
The most important message is that China has the best human rights.
Which means the Chinese Communist Party must win the international human rights struggle.
Because that’s what human rights are about: beating other countries, especially America.
Xi Jinping says China must “occupy the moral high ground of human rights.”
You might think that’s hard for a country that uses rape as a form of torture and kills
dissidents for their organs.
But no!
Because Western countries are the real ones with terrible human rights.
And even worse, Western countries are using so-called universal human rights to interfere
with China.
This is key.
The Chinese Communist Party cannot accept the common definition of universal human rights,
like freedom of expression, or belief, or even thought.
Instead they want their own definition of human rights.
In his speech, Xi talks about Marxist human rights, and how the Party has combined Marxist
human rights with China’s socialist system to really protect human rights.
So for the best human rights, everyone must follow the leadership of the Chinese Communist
Party.
And the Party is about to make a major propaganda push about its great human rights.
Like by adding Marxist human rights to China’s national education system.
Xi also wants to set up think tanks, research centers, and experts to push the Party’s
version of human rights.
As well as have Chinese state-run media “enhance the attractiveness, appeal, and influence”
of the Party’s views.
Xi also wants to increase the Party’s influence over the UN.
By “actively participating in UN human rights affairs.”
And by increasing the influence of Chinese human rights organizations over the UN.
Of course, these organizations are actually run by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Communist Party also wants to influence other developing countries and their
human rights ideas as well.
Now, the Chinese Communist Party is already changing the definition of human rights.
And it’s been successful.
Just look at UN Human Rights Commissioner Michele Bachelet’s recent visit to China.
She basically accepted the Chinese regime’s version of its persecution of the Uyghurs.
She didn’t call it genocide.
Instead, “she parroted Beijing’s language about ‘counter-terrorism’ and ‘de-radicalization,’
praised China’s role in ‘multilateralism,’ and trumpeted the CCP’s achievements in
eradicating poverty.”
Bachelet swallowed the Party’s propaganda and whitewashed their human rights atrocities.
What a win for the CCP.
That’s what they want to happen around the world.
To never be questioned or held accountable for their human rights atrocities.
To have their definition of human rights accepted.
That way the Chinese Communist Party can export their digital authoritarianism to Latin America.
They can train police in the Solomon Islands to squash protests.
They can exploit workers in Africa.
And that’s not the kind of world any of us want to live in.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
See you next time.