Human Rights as a Policy Tool in Asia: Hypocrisy or Commitment?

Niklas Swanström
Introduction
The human rights situation in Asia has been in a steep decline over the last few years, from Myanmar’s attacks against students and the civilian population, China’s offensive against civilian and religious communities in Xinjiang and Tibet, Hong Kong, to longer-term concerns in North Korea, Laos, and several other countries. Recently, China has received a lot of attention in the media and in policy discussions, with a focus on the re-education camps and the deculturation of the Muslim communities in Xinjiang, the crackdown on the democracy movement in Hong Kong, and the plan to nominate its own Dalai Lama in an effort to delegitimize the exiled Tibetan government. This is, of course, something that the Chinese government has vigorously denied and referred to as China’s own domestic affairs.
The full paper is available on ISPI’s website.
Related Publications
-
The Dangers of a Stagnant China: The Necessity of Awkward Coexistence
Abstract: In the build-up to the 20th Party Congress, a series of essays emerged focusing on Xi Jinping cementing a third term as General Secretary of the Communist Party of […]
-
Europe’s Involvement in the Indo-Pacific Region: Determined on Paper, Timid in Reality
Introduction France adopted its Indo-Pacific strategy in 2018, Germany in 2020 and the EU in 2021. None of this comes a minute too soon as geo-political and geoeconomic competition in […]
-
The Dawn of the Digital Yuan: China’s Central Bank Digital Currency and Its Implications
Summary The COVID-19 pandemic has driven digital innovation and proved to be an enabling episode for the technology industry; the growing focus on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) comes within such a context. China has rushed to […]
-
The Problem of Whitsun Reef
Introduction More than a month has passed since a statement relating to the presence of Chinese fishing vessels at Whitsun Reef was released by the Philippine Coast Guard and the […]
-
Xi Jinping’s Anti-corruption Struggle: Eight Years On
Abstract Combating corruption has been an enduring priority for Chinese leaders who consider it crucial to safeguarding party-state legitimacy. Yet, despite repeated crackdowns over the past few decades, corruption is […]
-
Stable and in Control? China’s Party Regime and its Challenges
Abstract Despite domestic and international difficulties, the survival and stability of the Chinese Communist regime does not seem to be severely threatened. China’s successful domestic handling of the pandemic and […]