U.S. smear campaign against Xinjiang reveals true face of hegemony

Recently, the US and its allies from the Five Eyes, the British and Canadian governments, and the European Union (EU) have taken coordinated steps to gang up on China, imposing unilateral sanctions on some Chinese individuals and entities for so-called human rights violations in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The way they are acting is reminiscent of the Eight-Power Allied Forces.

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a non-governmental organization that aims to promote better standards in cotton farming, has persuaded some international retail giants including H&M and Nike not to source cotton from the region.

A reaper harvests cotton in a field in Manas County of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

While stating that they “cared” about the human rights of people in Xinjiang, some Western countries attempted to destroy the livelihoods of about 7 million farmers engaged in the cotton industry in the region by boycotting the cotton produced there. This farce of “human rights sanctions”, like “a slap on the face”, only reveals their ridiculous logic.

But paradoxically, they didn’t impose sanctions when ethnic minorities in the US were the targets of racial bullying, when the COVID-19 epidemic spiralled out of control in the US and killed more than 500,000 Americans due to the US government’s reckless response, and when 41,500 people were killed in shooting incidents across the US in a year.

However, they sanctioned Chinese individuals and entities even though counter-terrorism efforts have yielded significant results in Xinjiang, where people of all ethnic groups in the region enjoy security, stability, and prosperity.

This kind of “human rights sanctions” based on absurd logic is the greatest humiliation to human rights.

"Western countries do not like Muslims and China, but they care about Chinese Muslims," reads a comment below a YouTube video, laying bare some Western countries' ridiculous logic.

In 2019, the ambassadors of 37 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kuwait sent a joint letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council to show their support for China's Xinjiang policy.

Diplomatic envoys posted in China from 20 Arab states and the Arab League toured Xinjiang in October 2020 and spoke highly of the region's achievements in counter-terrorism and protecting citizens' freedom of religious belief. But EU diplomatic envoys to China rejected China's invitations to see Xinjiang and delayed the visits in every possible way citing a variety of reasons.

The US has a bad record when it comes to its treatment of Muslims. The US government issued a Muslim ban for Muslim-majority countries and didn’t take any active approach to cope with soaring hate crimes against Muslims after the 9/11 terror attacks. It also used washing powder as "evidence" for invading Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of people and forcing many to flee their homes.

While America neglects its own human rights issues, it turns its eyes to Xinjiang and colluded with its allies in showing unprecedented "care" for Muslims in the region in a high profile manner. That's not a decision of conscience, but is a move driven by hidden motives.

The Biden administration described China as America's "most serious competitor." In 2017, the national security strategy released by the Trump administration was regarded as a comprehensive document for dealing with China's rise.

By hyping up so-called Xinjiang-related issues, the US is attempting to smear China, and is kidnapping the EU to drive a wedge between China and Islamic countries, so as to destabilize China and contain its development. Such a motive is consistent with America's national strategy.

It's obvious that the US doesn't care about human rights in Xinjiang at all. Instead, the superpower only wants to maintain its supremacy.

The entire world should be laughing at America for pretending to care about Muslims in China, independent Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone wrote on the Russia Today news website.

“Once again we heard the US empire babbling about the plight of Muslims in China. Just ask any Muslim-majority country bombed by the US,” Johnstone said.

Johnstone noted that the US government has a standing policy of dishonestly weaponizing ‘human rights’ concerns against nations like China in order to strategically undermine them. It does not care about the plight of Uygurs in China. It doesn’t care that the allegations regarding the abuse of their rights are riddled with glaring plot holes. All it cares about is undermining its chief geostrategic rival on the world stage, truth be damned.

Johnstone’s remarks were to the point.