West's human rights tactic doomed to fail

A Uygur family in Yuli county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, April 15, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

China pushed back on Wednesday against groundless accusations made by a handful of Western countries under the pretext of so-called human rights issues, saying that countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada would do better to reflect on their own poor human rights record.

"The facts have repeatedly proven that some Western countries are obsessed with fabricating lies and rumors about China with the real intention of containing China's development," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, adding that the Western countries' attempts are doomed to fail.

Zhao's remarks came after Canada, on behalf of some Western countries, attacked China on issues related to its Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Tibet autonomous region during the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday.

"Canada is not in a position to criticize China," Zhao said, mentioning that the remains of 215 indigenous Canadian children were recently discovered at the site of a former Indian residential school.

Despite calling the discovery "heartbreaking and shameful", the Canadian government instead shirked responsibility, Zhao said, which exposed its lack of sincerity and courage when faced with its own notorious human rights record.

Zhao also pointed out the systemic racial discrimination against other minorities in Canada, saying that Ottawa is "no better than its neighbor".

He echoed Jeffrey Sachs, a senior United Nations adviser, who said in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency that the US, instead of recognizing its own violations of human rights, criticizes other countries with its own "biased" human rights standards.

"Both history and reality have recorded its human rights violations from the large-scale race massacre of indigenous peoples to its prevalent, systemic and persistent racial discrimination," Zhao said.

A century ago, a prosperous black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, perished at the hands of a violent white mob. The event, which has come to be known as the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, is one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history.

"When the US weaponizes human rights issues and tries to fabricate lies to criticize other countries and seek political manipulation, it should not forget the lives of African Americans in Tulsa, which were wrongfully taken," Zhao said.

On Tuesday, a joint statement made in Geneva by 65 countries expressed support for China's stance on several issues. It pointed out that some Western countries' accusations against China are not backed by facts.

Zhao said the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have sent a letter supporting China's position and more than 20 countries are ready to support China by making statements in a national capacity.

The fact that more than 90 countries voiced their appeal for justice also exposed the hypocrisy of a few Western countries that interfere in other countries' internal affairs using human rights as an excuse, he added.