Hypocrisy and selective myopia

US and other Western countries are using double standards on human rights to advance their own political agenda

On April 19, the State Department of the United States released its Annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices. In the report, the US points an accusing finger at over 190 countries, while turning a blind eye to its own human rights malpractices. It is no surprise that China is again the victim of groundless US accusations; they are not even worth refuting. What the US is doing is a clear demonstration that some Western countries are still employing so-called human rights diplomacy, no matter how inaccurate and biased, for their own ends. Besides fabricating distorted human rights reports, they also resort to the naming-and-shaming of developing countries in the UN Human Rights Council and other international arenas, and, under the pretext of promoting and protecting human rights, they meddle in other countries' domestic affairs.

It should be pointed out that there is nothing wrong with promoting respect for human rights as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments. The problem is some Western countries are politicizing human rights issues and conducting human rights policy in an unjustified and selective manner.