Walter Hutchens’ Blog

China today issued its annual “report” on human rights in the United States, a retaliatory action to annual US government reports about human rights in China (the US report was released yesterday, as described here on the website of the US Department of State).

China’s 2005 report accuses the US of pursuing international “unilateralism,” disregarding international norms, violating human rights and other nations’ sovereignty. The report claims US military actions routinely slaughter innocent civilians, citing reports in the Lancet that 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the war began in 2003, mostly women and children. Of course they also inveigh about US soldiers abusing prisoners of war. It also trumpets America’s failings in terms of racial equality and problems with violent crime, pointing out the large number of murders and gun-related crimes in the US.

The headline I’ve highlighted above is from the PRC government news agency Xinhua. It blares, “China Issues Report on US Human Rights, Points Out ‘Democracy’ is a Rich Person’s Game.”

The evidenced used to “show” that US democracy is just a rich man’s game includes the staggering cost of the New York City mayoral race and the New Jersey governor’s race and the scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

I’m no fan of George Bush’s foreign policy. I agree that the US has an unconscionable problem with violent crime. Although we tend to conceptualize human rights as freedom from government abuse (not as freedom from abuse by other citizens), I think it would be good for Americans to understand safety from violence as a human right that their government has a positive duty to assure.

In other words, China’s report is not wholly without merit. They make some good points, and much of it is factually correct.

However, some nice things about being a US rather than PRC citizen are that 1) I can read media not subject to government censorship and make up my own mind about the actions of my country and other nations (where, pray tell, are China’s crime statistics?), and 2) if I object to my government’s actions I can take a range of steps to try to stop them. I can exercise my not-just-on-paper free speech rights, vote, organize an opposition political party—all kinds of things that Chinese citizens are not permitted to do.

An irony of the report is that it cites lots of American government statistics and media sources to buttress its claims. This may “prove” that the accusations aren’t made up from whole cloth, but it also shows that the US political systems, like many political systems outside of China, has the kind of open discourse and government accountability that remains verboten in China, despite China’s efforts to become a modern nation.

A typical Chinese response to another nation’s criticisms is that such criticisms amount to “interference in China’s internal affairs” and “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.” My reaction to China’s report on US human rights is, Huanying, huanying—”Welcome to the arena of open political discourse; we dare you to take it seriously.” China has every right to comment critically on US failings.

However, despite our many failings, the US will win a battle of dueling human rights reports.

But of course China’s one-party government fears a free press and open political competition. China’s leaders haven’t been popularly elected. The PRC government will promote its views, censor contrary ones and therefore not be an example to anybody in the free world of what kind of government they want, despite China’s developmental success over recent decades.

The full text of China’s report, titled 《２００５年美国的人权纪录》 (2005 Nian Meiguo de Renquan Jilu), is available in Chinese here and translated into English here. China has now been issuing these retaliatory reports for seven years. The 2004 version is here in Chinese. The 2004 version (about 2003) is here in English.

The full text of the China portion of the annual US report on human rights is available here.