CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ THE ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TOWARD INTERNATIONAL LAW has given China greater leverage over the United States. This has become a major national security concern for the United States. China can also exercise its veto power in the Security Council to block any resolution against it. Even the United States and the EU have not been as critical of China’s human rights policies as they have been in the past. Several EU states have compromised their values and have refrained from calling out Beijing to secure lucrative Chinese investment. China protested after President Obama met with the Dalai Lama at the White House. China also objected to the Dalai Lama being invited to meet the former UK Prime Minister, David Cameroon. The expectation that China would improve its human rights record as its economy grew has evaporated. Under Xi’s leadership, China has taken an extremely hard line against human rights. Xi has shown little tolerance for those who advocate for human rights in China. He has imprisoned all human rights advocates and lawyers and silenced all political dissent. Xi has also sanctioned foreign companies that indirectly support human rights in China or Hong Kong. 122 After the Noble Prize Committee awarded the Noble Peace Prize to Chinese dissent, Liu Xiaobo, China retaliated by recalling its ambassador and canceling trade ties with Norway. 123 Xiaobo was never freed or allowed to travel to Oslo to receive his award. He subsequently died in detention, after the government refused to allow him to travel abroad for medical treatment. Under Xi, media freedom has been curtailed and the government does not allow for any negative press coverage of President Xi or the Chinese Communist Party from within China or externally. A shift in China’s human rights policy is not likely to happen under Xi’s presidency. China’s International Legal Responsibility for the Covid-19 Pandemic The Chinese government’s response to the Coronavirus is typical of the Chinese approach to negative publicity. The Chinese government was so concerned about the impact the revelation of the virus would have on its economy; that it silenced the doctor who first revealed the pandemic by notifying his colleagues via social media. He was called in by the local authorities and forced to retract the tweet and reprimanded. The doctor subsequently contracted the virus and suspiciously died in the hospital. 124 This is a vivid demonstration of how the Chinese authorities deal with those who do not conform to the Communist Party line. China is a totalitarian state where all information is scrutinized and synchronized by the Communist Party before being made public. China has not been forthcoming about the severity of the virus and has not disclosed the accurate number of people who contracted the virus or succumbed to the disease. China has also refused to allow an independent team of experts to investigate the origin of the virus and to make an objective assessment without state interference. China agreed to allow a WHO delegation to investigate, but China had to approve its finding and the team could not operate independently. They were closely monitored and were not granted access to certain sites. The Chinese Communist Party is more concerned about the economic and political impact of the virus on its grip on power and its economic standing in the world than being transparent about the origin of the virus. 122 GAY, A. NBA China Woes Force Nike onto Defensive, Fin. Times (10/11/2019), p. 12; RACHMAN, G. China Spreads its Web of Censorship, Fin. Times , (Oct.15, 2019), p. 9. 123 GIBBS W. & FOUCHE, G. China Steps up Retaliation Against Norway for Nobel, at https://www.reuters. com/article/us-nobel-peace-china-steps-up-retaliation-against-norway-for-nobel-idUSTRE6971XY20101012. 124 WEINLAND, D. Party Paranoia Explains Rise and Fall of Two Heroes , Fin. Times (Feb. 5, 2020), p. 4.

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