The "People's Republic" of China has been lately a constant source of issues due to the human rights abuses observed in its territories, and the more it tries to assume influence and later hegemony, the more such concerns are highlighted. When the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) erupted, calls for enquiries on the condition's origins were raised, and the PRC, being the ground zero nation, was implicated by its critics. But as more events occurred, such as the enactment of the Xianggang (Hong Kong) "National Security Law" (NSL) and the resulting arrests, the imposition of the "bilingual education system" in Inner Mongolia that endangers the Mongolian language and was met by public opposition, continued reports of repression in occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang) that is tantamount to genocide, the incursions into RO China's aerospace, continued encroachment of the Spratly Islands and nearby shoals, and the crackdown against Chinese activists, pressure on the regime of the Chinese Communist Party increased, and so did its tantrums in the international community.
It then attempts to discredit its critics-- particularly the native English-speaking powers: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States, all forming the Five Eyes security alliance (FVEY)-- pointing out to their previous policies and atrocities which deserve attention and addressing by the international community. PRC claims that its critics has no right to bash the state as their reputation is tainted by their crimes thus they have no credibility over their claims.
This portion serves as a continuation of the previous discussion on the Australia-PRC relations. During the start of the trade war, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) published a report (widely known as the Brereton Report) last November 2020, highlighting the war crimes the ADF committed in the post-9/11 War in Afghanistan. It had high potential to be misused and abused by the PRC, and day later Zhao Lijian, one of the spokespersons of the country's foreign ministry, tweeted (this should have been deleted by Twitter) citing the Report and sharing a computer graphics art piece depicting an Australian soldier and a dead Afghan child over Australian and Afghan flags. The incident further stirred the already-tense situation and infuriated Australian politicians, who accepted and were appalled by the findings before PRC gate-crashed. Prime minister Scott Morrison demanded that Zhao apologise and the tweet be taken down, but Zhao audaciously pinned the tweet in his page instead. Australia has been critical towards PRC after the pandemic, NSL and Uyghur reports issues, which PRC treats as "internal matters" other countries should not meddle in.
PRC is still seething and searched for its critics' crimes against humanity, and Canada became its next major victim. A major episode in Canada-PRC relations that helped its deterioration is the detention of the deputy chair of the board and chief financial officer (CFO) of PRC-based Huawei Technologies, Meng Wanzhou, in December 2018, at the request of the USA (for the company's circumvention of sanctions against Iran's "Islamic Republic"). Huawei is struggling to provide 5G technology in the country, as it has another issue concerning cybersecurity (PRC's National Intelligence Law of 2017 obliges citizens and agencies to participate in upholding state security, thus the state's critics refuse services by Huawei and other PRC companies due to fears of cybersecurity compromise). Canada has been also vocal against PRC over its human rights violations such as in East Turkestan and HK.
Canada has a dark past, particularly those boarding/residential schools (also present in the USA) where indigenous children separated from their parents by authorities were placed to change their identity from a local to someone acceptable in the colonialists' European norms. There were records of abuse in these schools. Last month, 215 bodies of children were found in the Kamloops school, followed by dozens of potential graves in the Brandon school on 04 June, and 751 unmarked graves in the Marieval school last week. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) was set up in 2015 for these investigations, which are underway. When Canada led 43 other nations in giving a statement on China on the opening of the 47th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), PRC then hit back and referred to these findings on the boarding schools, as it also called for an enquiry thereon; this had extensive coverage in PRC media.
Furious, prime minister Justin Trudeau lashed out against PRC's refusal to initiate investigations on its own right abuses as his country does: "In Canada, we had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (i.e., the precursor of NCTR). Where is China's truth and reconciliation commission? Where is their truth? Where is the openness that Canada has always shown and the responsibility that Canada has taken for the terrible mistakes of the past, and indeed, many of which continue into the present?", he noted in a speech of his; "The journey of reconciliation is a long one, but it is a journey we are on. China is not recognizing even that there is a problem. That is a pretty fundamental difference....". PRC media were speechless as these did not cover this portion.
PRC acts here like a troll, engaging in tu quoque/whataboutism arguments (or in local language, "stinky bug arguments"), emphasising the hypocrisies of its critics as they have also committed atrocities against humanity (also read here). Some defend this kind of logical fallacy to point out at others' mistakes, rejecting their authority to speak on such matter that they have to clean their own backyards first. In certain times I had discussions with my family regarding this matter, and I opined in the case against this behaviour and the defence thereof, as I believe that, since all humans are hypocrites in one way or another, and humans are free to express their thoughts, hypocrites can still speak on the matters they criticise and their hypocrisies affect their credibility over their claims by no means (otherwise, such issues can never be solved at all), making whataboutism and tu quoque logical fallacies in general. The concern regarding parties like PRC critics should be still addressed but are an entirely different matter-- meaning their hypocrisies are, despite requiring action, never an excuse to divert from the atrocities the CCP regime is doing.
But, concerning the cases of Australia and Canada, what invalidates PRC's stances is the same source of its claims: the Brereton Report is released by the ADF's Inspector-General, so it's part of the Australian authorities, whereas getting the findings of graves in Canadian indigenous residential schools was made possible by the NCTR, backed by the Canadian government. PRC used such discoveries unearthed by critics themselves to discredit them, but these were done so they will be answering their own crimes and provide justice to their victims, and this is Trudeau's point: PRC " is not recognizing even that there is a problem".
CCP is celebrating its centenary: 100 years of lies and hypocrisy; its backyard is filthy. Its critics (particularly Western powers) also have dirty yards, but they are cleaning it; this, plus the Regime's unwillingness to answer the questions on its rights abuses, makes it having the dirtiest backyard, and cleaning it necessitates dissolving the CCP because it's the cause of such dirt.
Article posted on 01 July 2021, 05:00 (UTC +08:00). Part of the CCP@100 series.
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