Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T08:24:36.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

China and the Global Reach of Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2019

Yongjin Zhang  and
Barry Buzan
Yongjin Zhang*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol.
Barry Buzan
Affiliation:
London School of Economics. Email: b.g.buzan@lse.ac.uk.
*
Email yongjin.zhang@bristol.ac.uk (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the complex dialogical relationship between China and the global reach of human rights. It charts the transformation of China from a human rights exception and a human rights pariah state to an active participant in, and shaper of, global human rights governance. It looks at such transformation as dynamic social and political processes full of contradictions and the negotiated outcome of China's communicative engagement with “moral globalization” in a world morally divided on the meaning of human rights. It contends that the global reach of human rights understood as advancing rather than perfecting global justice will always remain contentious, as it is contingent on the possibility of open public reasoning across cultures and national boundaries in a global moral conversation. It also argues that China has resourcefully used the idiom of human rights for two specific purposes. One is to justify and rationalize its “developmental relativism” as an excuse for practices that condone continued political repression in China; the other is to internalize politics of contestation within the institutions of global human rights governance by shifting the centre of gravity of both the normative debate and the practical application of human rights.

摘要

摘要

本文研究中国与人权全球拓展之间复杂互动的对话关系, 探讨中国如何从一个人权例外国家和人权离弃国家转变为全球人权治理的积极参与者和塑造者。本文认为这一历史转变既是一个充满矛盾和活力的社会政治进程, 同时也是中国在一个因人权含义而出现道德分化的当今世界不断同 “道义全球化” 反复沟通、应对的协商性结果。本文提出两个重要观点。第一, 把人权的全球拓展理解为全球正义的进步而非完善将始终存有争议, 因为这种拓展有赖于全球道德对话中跨文化与跨国界的开放性大众思辩。第二, 中国巧妙地使用了人权习语以达到两个特定目的。一是利用人权习语将 “发展相对主义” 合理化, 成为北京继续实行人权政治压迫的托辞； 二是转移了人权规范的辩论及其实际运用的重心, 从而把有关人权的政治论争内化于全球人权治理机制之中。

Keywords

Chinaglobal reach of human rightsmoral globalizationglobal human rights governancenorm contestationpolitical legitimation中国人权全球拓展道义全球化全球人权治理规范争论政治合法化
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 241 , March 2020 , pp. 169 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London, 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahl, Björn. 2015. “The rise of China and international human rights law.” Human Rights Quarterly 37(3), 637–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alston, Philip. 2006. “Reconceiving the UN human rights regime: challenges confronting the new UN Human Rights Council.” Melbourne Journal of International Law 7(1), 185–224.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 2017. “China 2016/2017,” https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/china/report-china/.Google Scholar
Beitz, Charles. 2001. “Human rights as a common concern.” American Political Science Review 95(2), 269–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broder, John. 1998. “Clinton and Jiang debate views live on TV, clashing on rights.” The New York Times, 28 June.Google Scholar
Bull, Hedley. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. London: Macmillan.10.1007/978-1-349-24028-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bull, Hedley. 1984. “The revolt against the West.” In Bull, Hedley and Watson, Adam (eds.), The Expansion of International Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 217–228.Google Scholar
Buzan, Barry. 2004. From International to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buzan, Barry. 2014. An Introduction to the English School of International Relations: The Societal Approach. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Campbell, Charlie. 2016. “Five ways China has become more repressive under President Xi Jinping.” Time, 6 October, http://time.com/4519160/china-xi-jinping-cecc-human-rights-rule-of-law/.Google Scholar
Chen, Zheng. 2016. “China and the responsibility to protect.” Journal of Contemporary China 25(101), 686–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Jerome, and Gwertzman, Bernard. 2009. “China's ‘mixed record’ on human rights.” New York: Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/interview/chinas-mixed-record-human-rights.Google Scholar
Cohen, Roberta. 1987 “People's Republic of China: human rights exception.” Human Rights Quarterly 9(4), 447–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, Jack. 1998. “Human rights: a new standard of civilization?” International Affairs 74(1), 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, Michael W., and Gardner, Anne-Marie. 2003. “Introduction: human rights and international order.” In Coicaud, Jean-Marc, Doyle, Michael W. and Gardner, Anne-Marie (eds.), The Globalization of Human Rights. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 1–19.Google Scholar
Duan, Xiaolei. 2010. “Qiantan woguo guoji renquan huodong de chengguo he jiji yiyi” (China's international engagement with human rights norms and institutions: an assessment of its accomplishments). Renquan zazhi 1, http://www.humanrights.cn/cn/zt/qita/rqzz/2010/01/t20100427_579819.htm.Google Scholar
Dunne, Tim, and Hanson, Marianne. 2016. “Human rights in international relations.” In Goodhart, Michael (ed.), Human Rights: Politics and Practice (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 44–59.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth. 2013. “Protecting civilians responsibly.” Project Syndicate, 25 October, https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/gareth-evanson-moves-by-china-and-other-brics-countries-to-embrace-humanitarian-intervention.Google Scholar
Foot, Rosemary. 2000. China and the Global Struggle of Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Foot, Rosemary. 2010. “The Cold War and human rights.” In Leffler, Melvyn P. and Westad, Odd Arne (eds.), Cambridge History of the Cold War. Volume 3: Endings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 445–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foot, Rosemary. 2016. “The state, development, and humanitarianism: China's shaping of the trajectory of R2P.” In Bellamy, Alex J. and Dunne, Tim (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 932–947.Google Scholar
Foot, Rosemary, and Inboden, Rana Siu. 2016. “China's influence on Asian states during the creation of the UN Human Rights Council: 2005–2007.” In Goh, Evelyn (ed.), Rising China's Influence on Developing Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 237–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forsythe, David P. 2012. Human Rights in International Relations (3rd ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fung, Courtney J. 2018. “Separating intervention from regime change: China's diplomatic innovations at the UN Security Council regarding the Syria crisis.” The China Quarterly 235, 693–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaer, Felice. 2010. “Engaging China on human rights: the UN labyrinth.” Human Rights in China, http://www.hrichina.org/en/content/3261.Google Scholar
Garwood-Gowers, Andrew. 2015. “China's ‘responsible protection’ concept: re-interpreting the responsibility to protect (R2P) and military intervention for humanitarian purposes.” Asian Journal of International Law 6(1), 89–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodale, Mark. 2014. “Human rights after the post-Cold War.” In Goodale, Mark (ed.), Human Rights at the Crossroads. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gowan, Richard, and Brantner, Franziska. 2008. “A global force for human rights? An audit of European power at the UN.” European Council of Foreign Affairs Policy Paper, https://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR-08_A_GLOBAL_FORCE_FOR_HUMAN_RIGHTS-_AN_AUDIT_OF_EUROPEAN_POWER_AT_THE_UN.pdf.Google Scholar
Hafner-Burton, Emilie M., and Tsutsui, Kiyoteru. 2005. “Human rights in a globalizing world: the paradox of empty promises.” American Journal of Sociology 110(5), 1373–1411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hathaway, Oona. 2002. “Do human rights treaties make a difference?” Yale Law Journal 111, 1935–2042.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henkin, Louis. 1990. The Age of Rights. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Human Rights in China. 2016. “The China challenge to international human rights: what's at stake? A China UPR mid-term progress assessment,” http://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/hric_upr_mid_term_assessment_11.06.2016.pdf.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2017a. “World report 2017: China: events of 2016,” https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/china-and-tibet.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2017b. “The costs of international advocacy: China's interference in United Nations human rights mechanisms,” https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/09/05/costs-international-advocacy/chinas-interference-united-nations-human-rights.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2018. “World report 2018: China: events of 2017,” https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/china-and-tibet.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2019. “World report 2019: China: events of 2018,” https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/china-and-tibet#7934d0.Google Scholar
Hurrell, Andrew. 2007. On Global Order: Power, Values, and the Constitution of International Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael. 2017. “Human rights, global ethics, and the ordinary virtues.” Ethics & International Affairs 31(1), 3–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Federation of Journalists. 2017. “China press freedom report 2017 ten-year edition: a decade of decline,” 2 February, https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-releases/article/a-decade-of-decline-ifj-launches-10th-china-press-freedom-report.html.Google Scholar
Jackson, Robert. 2000. The Global Covenant: Human Conduct in a World of States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kent, Ann. 1999. China, the United Nations, and Human Rights: The Limits of Compliance. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinzelbach, Katrin. 2014. The EU's Human Rights Dialogue with China: Quiet Diplomacy and its Limits. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Knudsen, Tonny Brems, and Navari, Cornelia (eds.). 2018. International Organization in the Anarchical Society: The Institutional Structure of World Order. Cham: Palgrave/Springer.Google Scholar
Krumbein, Frédéric. 2015. “P.C. Chang – the Chinese father of human rights.” Journal of Human Rights 14(3), 332–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Tiewa. 2012. “China and responsibility to protect: maintenance and change of its policy for intervention.” Pacific Review 25(1), 153–173.Google Scholar
Liu, Tiewa. 2015. Baohu de zeren: guoji guifan jiangou zhong de Zhongguo shijiao (Responsibility to Protect: The Chinese Perspective on the Construction of a New International Norm). Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Liu, Tiewa, and Zhang, Haibin. 2014. “Debates in China about the responsibility to protect as a developing international norm: a general assessment.” Conflict, Security & Development 14(4), 403–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, Yanhua. 2014a. “Lianheguo renquan lishihui de sheli ji qi beihou de douzheng” (The establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council and struggles behind it). www.humanrights.cn, 11 June, http://www.humanrights.cn/html/2014/3_0611/403.html.Google Scholar
Luo, Yanhua. 2014b. “‘Baohu de zeren’ de fazhan lichen yu Zhongguo de lichang” (The evolution of “R2P” and China's policies towards it). Guoji zhengzhi yanjiu 3, 11–25.Google Scholar
Maizland, Lindsay. 2019. “China's crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang.” Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-crackdown-uighurs-xinjiang.Google Scholar
Mao, Zedong. 1963. “Zhichi Meiguo heiren fandui Meidiguozhuyi zongzu qishi de zhengyi douzheng de shengming” (Statement supporting the American negroes in their just struggle against racial discrimination by US imperialism). People's Daily, 9 August 1963.Google Scholar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRC. 2005. “Position paper of the People's Republic of China on the United Nations reforms,” http://www.china-un.org/eng/chinaandun/zzhgg/t199101.htm.Google Scholar
Morris, Justin. 2013. “Libya and Syria: R2P and the spectre of the swinging pendulum.” International Affairs 89(5), 1265–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathan, Andrew J. 1994. “Human rights in Chinese foreign policy.” The China Quarterly 139, 622–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathan, Andrew, and Andrew Scobell. 2009. “Human rights and China's soft power expansion.” Human Rights in China, http://www.hrichina.org/en/content/3174.Google Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall. 2005. “Assessing human rights in China: why the double standard.” Cornell International Law Journal 38(1), 71–172.Google Scholar
Poole, Teresa. 1998. “Clinton's words stun TV millions.” Independent, 28 June.Google Scholar
Prantl, Jochen, and Nakano, Ryoko. 2011. “Global norm diffusion in East Asia: how China and Japan implement the responsibility to protect.” International Relations 25(2), 204–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reus-Smit, Christian. 2011. “Human rights in a global ecumene.” International Affairs 87(5), 1205–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, Lucy. 2015. “Economic, social and cultural rights (and beyond) in the UN Human Rights Council.” Human Rights Law Review 15, 409–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, Thomas, and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1999. “The socialization of international human rights norms into domestic practices.” In Risse, Thomas, Ropp, Stephen C. and Sikkink, Kathryn (eds.), The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruan, Zongze. 2012. “Responsible protection: building a safer world.” China International Studies 34, May/June, http://www.ciis.org.cn/english/2012-06/15/content_5090912.htm.Google Scholar
Saich, Tony. 2000. “Globalization, governance, and the authoritarian Westphalian state: the case of China.” In Nye, Joseph S. and Donahue, John (eds.), Governance in a Globalizing World. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 208–228.Google Scholar
Sceat, Sonya, with Breslin, Shaun. 2012. “China and the international human rights system.” Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/International%20Law/r1012_sceatsbreslin.pdf.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 2009. The Idea of Justice. London: Allen Lane.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 2012. “The global reach of human rights.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 29(2), 91–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, James, and Wong, Patrick Yuk-tung. 2015. “China and the international human rights covenants.” Critical Asian Studies 47(4), 514–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Sarah. 2011. Human Rights Activism and the End of the Cold War: A Transnational History of the Helsinki Network. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
State Council Information Office. 1991. “Human rights in China,” http://china.org.cn/e-white/7/index.htm.Google Scholar
State Council Information Office. 2002. “The human rights record of the United States, 2001,” http://www.china-un.org/eng/zt/rqwt/t28696.htm.Google Scholar
State Council Information Office. 2012. “National human rights action plan of China (2012–2015),” http://www.china.org.cn/government/whitepaper/node_7156850.htm.Google Scholar
State Council Information Office. 2016. “The right to development: China's philosophy, practice and contribution,” http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2016-12/01/c_135873721.htm.Google Scholar
State Council Information Office. 2017. “New progress in the legal protection of human rights in China,” http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/15/c_136828822.htm.Google Scholar
Subedi, Surya P. 2015. “China's approach to human rights and the UN human rights agenda.” Chinese Journal of International Law 14(3), 437–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 1990. After the Rights Revolution: Reconceiving the Regulatory State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Teitt, Sarah. 2008. “China and the responsibility to protect.” Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, 19 December, http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/files/China_and_R2P%5B1%5D.pdf.Google Scholar
Teitt, Sarah. 2016. “Asia Pacific and South Asia.” In Bellamy, Alex J. and Dunne, Tim (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 373–390.Google Scholar
UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council). 2007. “Code of conduct for special procedures mandate-holders of the Human Rights Council,’ http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/SP/CodeOfConduct.pdf.Google Scholar
Wight, Martin. 1977. Systems of States. Leicester: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Worden, Andrea. 2017. “China pushes ‘human rights with Chinese characteristics’ at the UN.” China Change, 9 October, https://chinachange.org/2017/10/09/china-pushes-human-rights-with-chinese-characteristics-at-the-un/.Google Scholar
Yuan, Zhengqing, Li, Zhiyong and Zhufu, Xiaofei. 2017. “China and the remolding of international human rights norms.” Social Sciences in China 38(3), 25–46.Google Scholar
Zhang, Wei. 2014. “‘Renquan ruxian’ yinfa de zhidu hongli” (The dividend of the legal reform derived from the “constitutionalization of human rights”). Fazhi ribao, 29 December, http://www.humanrights.cn/html/2014/4_1229/4043.html.Google Scholar
Zhang, Yongjin. 1998. China in International Society since 1949. Basingstoke: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, Wenqi. 2013. “Responsibility to protect: a challenge to Chinese traditional diplomacy.” China Legal Science (English edition) 1, 97–120.Google Scholar