Mr. Chair,

Following the successful convocation of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese people of all ethnicities, brimming with vigour, pride and confidence, are embarking on a new journey to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects. We are committed to furthering the Chinese-style modernisation process and shaping a more prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful China, in the service of our people’s happiness. We are ready to work with the peoples in the rest of the world to promote the universal values of peace, development, equity, justice, freedom and democracy, in the service of humanity’s progress.

Mr. Chair,

Promoting and protecting human rights is what the CPC, the Chinese Government and the Chinese people have been tirelessly pursuing. On many occasions in the Third Committee of the current GA session, the Chinese delegation has presented a full picture of China’s efforts in promoting and protecting human rights and the tremendous achievements so accomplished, which are fully acknowledged and applauded by the vast majority of Member States. However, a minority of countries, such as Canada and the United States, in their intractable bigotry, has once again misused the forum of the Third Committee by ganging up into a clique, bent on instigating political confrontations with attacks and a smear campaign against China, to which China registers its firm objection and stern rejection.

A few moments ago, the distinguished representative of Cuba made a joint statement on behalf of 66 countries, and so did the distinguished representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on behalf of member states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and others, in which they spoke unequivocally against the politicisation of human rights issues, the application of double standards and interference in China’s internal affairs in the name human rights. Many developing countries have also taken the floor to comment positively on what China has achieved in human rights development. The statement of the Non-Aligned Movement made at this committee on behalf of 120 developing countries opposes, in no uncertain terms, selectivity and politicisation, as well as country-specific human rights mechanisms and/or resolutions targeting developing countries. What is right and what is wrong is all too clear; so is the sentiment of the international community. No matter how the United States and a handful of other Western countries package their anti-China joint statement, the malicious political intentions contained therein cannot be kept under wraps, and their machinations are doomed to failure. No matter how those countries, the United States in particular, hype up the stories they fabricated to keep the farcical show going, they cannot obliterate the progress of the human rights cause in China’s Xinjiang region, which is a fact and the truth. What’s in store for them is nothing but self-inflicted humiliation.

Mr. Chair,

I wish to point out that the real purpose of the United States and some other Western countries creating a furore about Xinjiang is to destabilise China, obstruct her development and maintain their hegemony by exploiting human rights issues. The United States and some other Western countries coerced the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into releasing a so-called “assessment” on Xinjiang a mere fifteen minutes before her term expired. The Human Rights Council subsequently voted down a proposal to recognise this so-called “assessment” that is unlawful, untrue and null and void. They were defeated in Geneva, but being the sore losers that they are, they have now funnelled the flames of belligerence to the Third Committee. The United States has launched 9 times of spiteful attacks against China with no regard for time and place. Their impetulant and desperate behaviour is - may I say - quite unbecoming. It’s plainly visible to all that caring about human rights in Xinjiang is just a façade, behind which lies their true intent, namely, to contain China by making and spreading lies about Xinjiang and to maintain their hegemony. Today, it’s China that’s in the crosshairs of their punitive flak; tomorrow, it would be some other developing country.

I wish to point out that by applying double standards on human rights, the United States and some other Western countries have set the bar for hypocrisy. A minority of countries, including the United States and EU, have named and shamed dozens of UN Member States, but they feign ignorance of their own vile human rights records and those of their allies. When George Floyd whimpered “I can’t breathe”, they chose silence and refused to help him. When the US, British and NATO forces gunned down innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, they turned a blind eye and, in doing so, became accomplices. When the inmates of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons were tortured and abused, they gagged the press and silenced calls for accountability.

I wish to point out also that the core group of countries that signed the anti-China joint statement essentially belong to the club of former colonial powers. They consider themselves “human rights drillmasters”. They seem to have forgotten the bloodbath, slave trade, plunder of resources and ethnocide that they once visited upon Asia, Africa and Latin America. Time has changed and the world has moved on, but today the people in their own countries are deeply mired in societal divisions and economic recessions, their livelihood woes exacerbated by skyrocketing prices and an energy crisis. Many of them have taken to the street in despair. But a minority of Western politicians are only interested in governing their countries with slogans and engaging in grandstanding under the banner of human rights, in an attempt to decompress their domestic tensions by diverting the public’s attention. They are not even capable of helping their own people have a better life. Who would buy their story that they genuinely care about human rights in other countries?

Mr. Chair,

The Chinese people of all ethnicities, including the Uyghurs, are embarking on a new journey towards Chinese-style modernisation, their hearts swelling with hope. We look forward to working with all peoples of the world to uphold true multilateralism, safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core, help move global governance forward on a more just, sound and coherent course, advance the achievement of human rights for all and galvanise the development of a community with a shared future for all humanity.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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