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China and Human Rights

Selected e-articles

Abstract by the author: As a promising Social Science Methodology, Structural/Mechanism Explanation (SME) retains the advantages of mechanism-based explanation (ME), particularly its focus on “identifying causal patterns from micro-level social phenomena.” It also acknowledging the role of “structure”—seen as “macro-level conditions”—in incentivizing or disincentivizing key mechanisms, thus proving valuable for forecasting their emergence and decline. This article explores the theory of SME and applies it to examine how a revitalized “Legalist political structure coupled with a Confucianist ideological structure” can forecast the mechanisms by which China’s National Social Credit System disciplines and punishes the citizens. This is observed across domains of legislation, administration, judiciary, and propaganda.

Abstract by the author: Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the People's Republic of China has been on a mission to break what it describes as ‘Western hegemony’ around global norms. Beijing is engaged in a struggle to strengthen its influence in global governance and has identified increasing China's ‘discourse power’ at the United Nations (UN) as key to achieving this goal. Focused on human rights, this paper examines China's project to enhance its discourse power at the UN. It assesses how successful Beijing has been in shaping language, concepts and norms at the UN and to what extent there has been a power shift in line with China's aspirations. It concludes that in China's efforts to enhance its power over meaning at the UN, it relies less on its powers of persuasion to effect what Barnett and Duvall term productive power and more on compulsory power. China's vision for global governance and its growing clout at the UN has great implications for international order. In essence, China seeks to reshape international norms so that human rights become each member state's ‘internal affairs’ rather than a legitimate concern of the international community.

Abstract by the authors: Despite China's growing participation and accession to international human rights treaties, there exists a wide perception that China violates international human rights norms. When empirically assessing whether China adheres to international human rights norms outlined in international human rights law, we find that there is variation across treaties and across time—China shows relatively higher adherence to norms pertaining to gender equality, economic rights, social and cultural rights, compared to rights to freedom from torture. Improvements in adherence to gender equality, economic rights, social and cultural rights have shown relative improvement over time compared to rights to freedom from torture due to previous efforts to improve welfare under Hu-Wen administration (2002–2012). We additionally find that the variation in adherence across treaties stems from China's distinct human rights norms, which prioritize economic development and national sovereignty over indivisibility of human rights. Our findings contribute to furthering existing understanding of China's relationship with the international human rights regime.

Abstract by the author: Decades of social science research on human rights has mapped the conditions under which states sign and ratify treaties, abide by their conditions, and promote or criticize human rights in other states. Some norms contained in the core human rights treaties, particularly civil and political rights, are seen by authoritarian states as politically threatening. Autocracies can reshape human rights through international institutions and seek to change their content over time. This article investigates China's engagement in the UN Human Rights Council, focusing on both the content and practices of the People's Republic of China's approach. In terms of content, it examines China's voting record to determine the issues it prioritizes. In terms of practices, it identifies four modes of pursuing normative change: mobilizing like-mindedness, implied coercion, tactical deception, and repression of critical voices. These modes capture a range of activity in and around multilateral institutions, some of which usually does not draw scholarly attention in studies of normative change. The findings provide insights into the future of human rights norms in the United Nations and beyond

Abstract by the authors:  This article revisits long-standing debates about the appropriate relationship between international trade law and policy, and fair labour standards. Section 1 provides a brief historical context for both the institutional dimensions of this interface and the evolving normative rationales for conditioning trade policy on adherence to core labour standards. Section 2 reviews evidence from various sources of unfair labour practices and broader human rights abuses imposed on the Uyghur minority population in China. Section 3 reviews the responses to date of supranational institutions and states to this evidence, as well as how China has responded to allegations of Uyghur mistreatment. Section 4 focuses on unilateral trade sanctions imposed on products imported from China or via third countries that have been produced by forced labour in China. Section 5 concludes by assessing the likely efficacy of private and public measures to address the issue of Uyghur forced labour in China.

Publisher's note: What is the impact of China’s official human rights stance on international human rights discourses/norms? Will China’s ambition to change the international human rights framework succeed, resulting in a new normative order in the world of human rights? The article attempts to address these questions. First, it identifies the state’s practice pursuing different standards when dealing with human rights issues internationally and domestically. Second, it argues that China is no different from other states when it behaves in a double standard way. The paper maintains, however, that China’s double-standard human rights approach is critical for the future development of the international human rights regime since the CCP leadership intends to redefine human rights in its own interests. While China’s interests align with most states in the third world, its pursuit of normative design is a threat to the current notion of universal human rights.

Abstract by the author: This article assesses the effectiveness of religious freedom as a framework in international relations for its ability to define the issue in Xinjiang and propose solutions. In defining the problem, religious minorities other than Muslims, such as Christians, are ignored. This prevents social awareness and policy from addressing the issue, and fosters the Muslim majority to appropriate the Uyghur identity, marginalizing the non-Muslim religious minorities. Moreover, other identities (e.g. national, ethnic or linguistic) and causes of the conflict (e.g. socio-economic inequalities or historical resentment) are often overlooked. In solving the problem, no solutions are proposed to the underlying issue (separatist movements). On the other hand, China’s alternative framework defines the problem (terrorism, separatism, and extremism) and provides the basis from which to propose (savage) solutions: sinicization.

Abstract by the author: The distressing state of global democracy and religious liberty provides scholars and foreign policy practitioners an opportunity to rethink national security analysis by considering religious freedom as a national security lens. This article reprises the primary author's framework, published ten years ago in The Review of Faith & International Affairs, assessing "what they say and do" on religious freedom as a means to understand threats and challenges to global peace and U.S. national security. This article analyzes a specific case-how China treats religion at home, among its neighbors, on the international stage, and in its political ideology.

Abstract by the authors: This article looks at the linkages between export to the European Union (EU), export to china and human rights policies. The article argues that countries that export to the EU at high rates are more likely to converge towards its policies than countries that don't export to the EU. The article also argues that the rise of China as a significant economic actor does not undermine this process. The article tests these arguments by analysing the links between human rights protection in the EU and in China, and export to the EU and to China, on the one hand, and human rights protection in all the countries for which there are data, on the other. The results indicate that countries' human rights policies are positively associated with the EU's human rights policies and this association is conditioned by countries' levels of export to the EU. The results further indicate that export to China does not undermine this pattern. The article draws conceptual and policy implications.

Publisher's note: This article examines two key trends: China’s collaboration with other authoritarian nations and its expanding ambitions in the international human rights system. These developments fuel questions about China’s vision for the international human rights system and how China works with other repressive governments to realize its vision. In examining these questions, this article chronicles the emergence of the Like-Minded Group (LMG) in the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR or Commission) in 1999 and investigates China’s relationship with this group. The author documents that under Xi’s leadership China has shifted from a lower-profile role in which the PRC rarely attempted to weaken the international human rights architecture on its own to a now more forceful posture. Since 2017 the PRC has begun to sponsor resolutions in the Human Rights Council (HRC) to propagate its human rights views, with LMG countries as a key source of support.

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