According to experts and advocates, China’s communist regime is increasingly undermining human rights procedures and norms at global forums, including the United Nations. The regime aims to advance its own agenda and minimize scrutiny of its human rights violations. TseringPassang, the founder and chairman of the advocacy group Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities, stated that Beijing will shape its own narratives, including on human rights, diverging from the perspectives of U.S.-led allies in the coming years.
While Chinese state-run media and online resources promote China’s endorsement of human rights forums and global advocacy, reports from the free world, including testimonies from individuals who have fled China, highlight the state-perpetuated violations within and outside the country.Experts point out the narrative warfare occurring in multilateral forums, where the Chinese regime portrays any attempt by the West to hold it or its allies accountable for human rights violations as an attack on Beijing’s foreign policy. Although the regime incorporates the language of human rights in its narratives, its true goal is to defend its communist policies and criticize the free world.
Benedict Rogers, co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, and author of “The China Nexus,” believes that global human rights are to some extent subject to Chinese foreign policy agendas. As a member of the United Nations Security Council’s P5 countries, China can utilize its veto power, resulting in limited attention to crises such as those in Myanmar and North Korea due to China’s diplomatic and political protection of its allies.
The Chinese regime has consistently protected its allies despite their human rights records. For instance, Beijing vetoed the United Nations Security Council’s draft resolutions against the Syrian regime 16 times until 2020, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR). The SNHR alleged that these vetoes led to the deaths of nearly a quarter of a million Syrians, the arrest of nearly 150,000 others, and widespread impunity.
Sophie Richardson, China director of Human Rights Watch, explained in a paper that China aims not only to neutralize scrutiny of its human rights record by U.N. mechanisms but also to undermine the system’s ability to hold any government accountable for serious human rights violations. Richardson emphasized that China promotes a “rights-free development” approach domestically and globally, seeking to impose its worldview and silence critics by exploiting the openness of institutions in democracies.
Passang drew attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strategic utilization of its veto power to obstruct international intervention in matters it considers as internal affairs, including Tibet and Xinjiang. He expressed concern that the U.N. system has lost sight of its original noble objectives and appears to work in favor of more powerful nations. He pointed out that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has benefited significantly since being granted the U.N. permanent seat, replacing the Republic of China (Taiwan), which was a founding member of the United Nations after World War II.
Dubbed as ‘A Chinese Slush Fund,’ China holds the position of the second-largest donor to the United Nations, following the United States. Critics argue that Beijing exploits these funding channels to further its own agendas, particularly in winning over countries that rely on China economically.According to the book “The China Nexus” by Benedict Rogers, in 2016, China pledged a billion dollars to the United Nations, with an annual payment of $20 million designated for peace, security, and development efforts. Rogers highlighted statements from former U.S. Ambassador Kelley Currie, who revealed that $10 million of this donation goes directly into the office of the U.N. secretary-general, giving him complete discretion over its use without external oversight except from his office and the Chinese government. Rogers further noted that Ambassador Currie described the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs as a “Chinese fiefdom,” which has been under the control of a Chinese official for many years.
The remaining $10 million per year from China’s donation is directed to the same department to advance China’s Belt and Road Initiative within the U.N. system. Rogers quoted Ambassador Currie, who referred to this allocation as “a Chinese slush fund.” Moreover, China has mastered the art of manipulating the G77 caucus, which consists of 134 developing countries, granting it a majority in the General Assembly. This enables China to mobilize resistance against resolutions critical of its human rights record and manipulate the system to its advantage.
In a report by the Atlantic Council, China’s strategies in the Global South, including sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, were examined. The report highlighted China’s efforts to shape a global discourse that aligns with its own agendas, garnering support from regional leaders for Chinese-defined norms. These norms prioritize “non-interference” in other countries’ internal affairs and emphasize state-centered economic development at the expense of personal and civic freedoms. China portrays this as an alternative to the Western human rights framework, which it criticizes for being used as a tool for intervention in past conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to TseringPassang, Beijing also interferes in the domestic affairs of countries that rely on Chinese aid and investment. For instance, Chinese monetary assistance to Nepal comes with conditions that prohibit any political, human rights, and religious activities related to Tibet and the Dalai Lama, as Beijing considers them political. Passang noted that even wearing a “Free Tibet” t-shirt in Nepal has become an issue, mirroring the daily experiences of Tibetans living in China-occupied Tibet. Passang emphasized that there is still an opportunity for the international community, under the leadership of the United States, to take prompt action and ensure genuine justice for all member nations of the United Nations, as well as regions like Tibet and East Turkestan that have been annexed by the Chinese regime.
He warned that if the unchecked behavior of rogue regimes such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is allowed to persist and the status quo remains unchanged, the world will become increasingly perilous in the coming decades. Urging decisive action, Passang stated, “We must act—act soon.”