As Americans prepared to celebrate our nation's founding and the God-given rights that are protected by the US Constitution, China's illegal and outrageous crackdown in Hong Kong officially escalated last week. As expected, the rubber-stamp communist "legislature" in Beijing passed a "security" law that effectively cripples the 'one country, two systems' arrangement to which China is bound by treaty until at least 2047. Pro-freedom activists have been rounded up and arrested, with concerns swirling that at least some show trials will take place on the Chinese mainland. What the regime is doing is patently illegal under international law. It is an abuse of human rights and a brazen affront to human liberty. And yet, the hopelessly corrupt "Human Rights" Council at the United Nations voted to bestow its blessing on the Communist government's anti-freedom power grab. They didn't stay neutral, mind you. They explicitly endorsed the abuse:
The 53 countries supporting China's crackdown on Hong Konghttps://t.co/U8z5DarLfZ pic.twitter.com/VFq1d5YDQV
— The Foreign Desk (@ForeignDeskNews) July 3, 2020
China's Foreign Ministry and state media declared victory after 53 countries backed Beijing's new national security law for Hong Kong. Just 27 criticized the law, which imposes harsh penalties for vaguely defined political crimes and is widely viewed as the death knell for Hong Kong's autonomy. The two statements were read back to back in Tuesday's session, with Cuba supporting China and the U.K. representing the critics. China's other allies weren't named publicly until Axios obtained the list this morning. This is one of the clearest indications to date of which countries are challenging a rising superpower, at least on human rights, and which are lining up behind it. China's critics are concentrated in Europe and also include major democracies like Australia, Canada and Japan. All 27 are considered "free" in Freedom House's global ratings.
Among the HRC member nations giving China the thumbs-up are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, "Palestine," Syria, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Yes, each of those counties is represented on the UN's human rights body. Why isn't the United States colored gold on the map above, given the government's harsh public condemnations of these abuses? Because, quite rightly, the Trump administration pulled the US out of this farcical commission two years ago. I'll remind you that the UN's committee on women's rights added...Iran last year. It's all so ludicrous. When the HRC isn't busy doing Communist China's bidding, it spends much of its time condemning Israel for sport. And this disgusting Beijing lackeyism on the Hong Kong matter doesn't come in a vacuum; it arrives in the context of ongoing and egregious human rights violations elsewhere in China:
The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children. While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of “demographic genocide.” The state regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks, and forces intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands, the interviews and data show. Even while the use of IUDs and sterilization has fallen nationwide, it is rising sharply in Xinjiang. The population control measures are backed by mass detention both as a threat and as a punishment for failure to comply. Having too many children is a major reason people are sent to detention camps...
This is literally the racist ethnic cleansing of a minority group, yet the large majority of the UN's HRC lined up behind Xi's regime as it extinguishes freedom in Hong Kong. I'll also note that some of America's wokest preeners have little or nothing to say about any of this, especially those who have major financial interests in China -- which is gutless, preening, self-serving cravenness at its worst. Some people are too busy toppling statues, canceling brands, and renaming things to be bothered to notice a genuine enemy of freedom obliterating democracy, subjugating minorities, and disappearing dissenters:
Xu Zhangrun, a prominent law professor who harshly criticized Xi Jinping in a series of essays written in elegant Chinese, has been detained, supposedly on charges of soliciting prostitution - a move straight out of the authoritarian playbook https://t.co/g4Azce3Dsa
— Amy Qin (@amyyqin) July 6, 2020
Meanwhile, the Brits have put more teeth in their pushback against China, finally reversing their position on Huawei's role in the UK's 5G infrastructure. Boris Johnson's government has also extended an offer of a path to citizenship for Hong Kongers wishing to escape China's jackboot of oppression. The US should do something similar. I'll leave you with George Will's column on Beijing's brutality:
China extends its reign of random fear https://t.co/SNb1gHJBW7
— George F. Will (@GeorgeWill) July 5, 2020
UPDATES - Chilling:
China won't rule out blocking Hong Kong citizens from leaving to take up Boris Johnson’s offer of a new home in the U.K. https://t.co/jHcXvz53By
— Bloomberg (@business) July 6, 2020
This is some serious Orwellian sh*t https://t.co/Lutnefb94m
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) July 7, 2020
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