by Tom Rogan
It was an embarrassing display from Beijing, but one that encapsulates the fundamental nature of the United States-China struggle for the 21st century. A struggle between forces of freedom and agents of oppression.
On one side was Germany, which tabled an official U.N. statement expressing deep concern over what China is doing to its citizens. The statement referenced China's disregard for its binding legal obligations in Hong Kong, its genocidal campaign against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, and its continued repression of Tibet. Germany rightly found support from many democracies, including Australian, Britain, Canada, much of the European Union, and the U.S.
China had warned these nations that they risked political and trade ties were they to support the statement (a typical Chinese intimidation tactic on international votes). Much to Beijing's chagrin, its bullying didn't work. So instead, China sought to form its own alliance to counter the democracies. The result was as pathetic as it was predictable. As Human Rights Watch noted, "China rounded up several dozen countries to praise it in two separate statements, one on Xinjiang read out by Cuba, and another on Hong Kong delivered by Pakistan. China’s support list reads like a virtual Who’s Who of leading rights abusers, including Russia, Syria, and Venezuela."
More amusing, albeit even more pathetic, China's diplomats clearly wrote at least part of the Pakistani statement.
Take this Chinese foreign ministry statement that "Hong Kong affairs are purely China's internal affairs that brook no foreign interference." Now, compare those words with the Pakistani Ambassador's remark that "Hong Kong affairs are China's internal affairs that brook no interference by foreign forces." Then there was the Pakistani Ambassador's following remark that China's new Hong Kong security law is "a legitimate measure that ensures one country, two systems goes steady and enduring." That bears a somewhat striking resemblance with Beijing's assertion that its law will support Hong Kong's "steady and enduring" growth.
As I say, it's really quite pathetic. Pakistan, which holds itself up as an archon of Islamic democracy, has quite literally turned itself into a Communist Party of China press shop. But as Prime Minister Imran Khan receives his hard-earned Chinese investments, his people should ask themselves a simple question. Namely, how is their government fulfilling its Islamic moral obligations by prostrating for a regime that is waging a genocidal campaign against innocent Muslims?
The broader lesson for the world?
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