One can’t help but see the grim irony in a United Nations event on human rights being held in Hangzhou, a major Chinese city known for its technological hubs, co-hosted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Perhaps the invitations were printed on forced-labor cotton paper, and the keynote address brainstormed over a surveillance feed of political prisoners. Leave it to the UN to turn hypocrisy into a high art.
This past December, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the PRC co-hosted the Hernán Santa Cruz Dialogue on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Hangzhou, China. The forum, ostensibly focused on promoting economic rights and collective development, included participation from various UN representatives and Chinese officials. It showcased Beijing’s attempts to position itself as a global leader in advancing redistributionist schemes under the guise of human rights. Shockingly—though perhaps unsurprisingly—not a single mention was made of the PRC’s ongoing human rights abuses, from the Uyghur concentration camps to the crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy movement. Instead, the event served as a platform for Beijing to rehabilitate its image and present itself as a champion of global solidarity, while avoiding even the faintest hint of criticism.
The PRC’s abuses go far beyond its disregard for civil and political rights. Beijing has become a global pioneer in leveraging technology to suppress dissent, surveil its citizens, and export authoritarian practices. Through tools like facial recognition systems, social credit schemes, and censorship platforms, the PRC uses technological development to tighten its grip domestically while spreading its influence internationally. Even platforms like TikTok, promoted by the PRC internationally, are tightly censored domestically and serve as instruments of surveillance and control. These tools show the stark contrast between the PRC’s claims of advancing human rights and its reality of pervasive repression.
The forum marks yet another instance of the UN bending over backward to accommodate the PRC, allowing it to use the UN system as a propaganda tool. Instead of exposing the PRC’s violations, the UN gave Beijing a stage to rewrite the narrative, celebrating its so-called contributions to human rights in technology—an especially absurd notion given that the PRC is a global pioneer in using technology for surveillance and repression.
The PRC: Poster Child for Oppression
Let’s review the PRC’s qualifications to host a human rights gathering, shall we? The regime of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which controls the PRC, is arguably the world’s most prolific violator of basic human dignity. Its rap sheet reads like the worst kind of dystopian novel, except it is all horrifyingly real.
Start with the genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Over a million ethnic minorities have been detained in what Beijing euphemistically calls “vocational training centers.” These are concentration camps where individuals are subjected to torture, forced sterilization, and relentless indoctrination aimed at erasing their faith, culture, and identity. The goal is not just oppression; it is annihilation—a textbook case of genocide. Survivors tell of unimaginable suffering: families ripped apart, mosques demolished, and Uyghur women forced to undergo sterilization procedures designed to eliminate a people, one generation at a time.
Then there is forced labor, where Uyghurs and other minorities are coerced into factories producing goods that end up on shelves worldwide. Every time you see a “Made in China” label, there is a nonzero chance it was stitched, assembled, or glued under duress. These are not isolated abuses—they are state-sponsored exploitation on an industrial scale, unprecedented in history.
The PRC’s human rights violations are not limited to ethnic minorities. The regime also targets religious groups with ruthless precision. Christians are jailed for unapproved worship services, Buddhist temples are demolished for not pledging loyalty to the CCP, and Falun Gong practitioners face unspeakable horrors, including reports of forced organ harvesting. This is a government that views faith, culture, and individuality as threats to its absolute control—and moves swiftly to crush them.
And let us not forget Beijing’s use of technology to expand its oppressive reach. Through cutting-edge technology, the PRC has perfected its surveillance state, integrating facial recognition systems, social credit schemes, and censorship tools into a broader apparatus of control and repression. Ordinary Chinese citizens are denied access to platforms like TikTok (Douyin, the domestic version, is tightly censored and monitored), while the international version of TikTok operates as a tool of PRC influence abroad. Meanwhile, the PRC leverages technology in the West and other rival nations to conduct surveillance, espionage, and disinformation campaigns, sowing discord and chaos—all in pursuit of its ultimate goal: global domination.
Yet this was the country chosen to host a dialogue on economic, social, and cultural rights—a regime that systematically violates the very principles the conference and the UN claim to champion.
The UN’s Great Abdication
If you thought the UN might challenge these atrocities at its Hangzhou event, think again. The organization’s Human Rights Council already includes members like Cuba and Sudan, so the PRC’s growing influence in its ranks feels less like a shock and more like business as usual. The forum is the culmination of years of the UN bending to Beijing’s will. Instead of acting as a check on tyranny, it has become a convenient platform for rehabilitating the PRC’s global reputation and redefining human rights to align with Beijing’s authoritarian agenda.
How did Joe Biden respond over the last four years? Let’s just say as vigorously as his naps. Since taking office in January 2021, the administration failed to build the coalitions necessary to push for reform of the Human Rights Council or challenge the PRC’s growing dominance within the UN system. While the U.S. does not have unilateral power to overhaul these institutions, it does have the tools to lead and expose Beijing’s agenda. Instead, it has allowed the PRC to turn the UN into a public relations machine for some of the world’s worst regimes.
If Beijing Can Do It, Why Can’t Others?
If the PRC can commit genocide while hosting a UN event, why shouldn’t Iran or North Korea ramp up their abuses? Beijing’s success in reframing its actions sends a dangerous signal to other bad actors: brutality works, and accountability is little more than an empty threat.
The victims of these atrocities are not just statistics or headlines. They are casualties whose stories demand not just compassion but action. They are people of faith and culture, longing for the freedom to live their lives in peace and harmony, free from the suffocating grip of oppression. To see their suffering ignored while the UN smiles and shakes hands with their oppressors is a betrayal of everything the international community claims to stand for.
The Cost of Cowardice
The Biden administration’s failure to act not only emboldened the PRC; it encourages every other authoritarian regime to sharpen its tools of oppression. Beijing’s growing power within global institutions does not just undermine efforts to secure justice—it undermines the freedoms and prosperity of nations that allow tyranny to flourish unchecked. Every day these atrocities go unanswered, the message to tyrants worldwide becomes clearer: brutality pays, and silence from the free world is practically guaranteed.
This is not just a failure of moral leadership. The strategic consequences are equally dire. Allowing Beijing to manipulate the UN and expand its global influence threatens the balance of power in the world, leaving nations vulnerable to an emboldened PRC. From military buildups in the South China Sea to economic coercion through its Belt and Road Initiative, the PRC is playing a long game, and Washington has been content to play checkers.
Time for Real Leadership
President Trump has his hands full undoing the damage caused by the incompetence and failures of Biden and his team of incompetents. It will take more than strongly worded press releases to restore America’s leadership. Bold actions—sanctions, trade policies, and serious diplomatic efforts—will be needed to counter Beijing’s abuses and its infiltration of international institutions.
For now, the UN’s human rights gala in Hangzhou stands as a grim reminder of how far the world has fallen from its ideals. It is a call to action for those bold enough to defend liberty and justice. With strong leadership, America can chart a course back to standing against tyranny—and ensure the PRC’s atrocities no longer go unanswered.
Charlton Allen is an attorney and former chief executive officer and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He is the founder and editor of The American Salient and the host of the Modern Federalist podcast.
image, Pixabay license.
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