China | Freedoms and failures

China may face more embarrassment over its human-rights record

More countries appear willing to call out its treatment of the Uyghurs

A Chinese translator works during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) — Image: AP

Mar 23rd 2023|GENEVA

ON PAPER, CHINESE diplomacy was victorious. Last October the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC) voted by 19 to 17 against holding a debate on a long-delayed report which concluded that China may have committed “crimes against humanity” by mistreating Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The Chinese delegation expended extraordinary energy in seeking to persuade HRC members to vote against the resolution, which would merely have triggered a discussion in the council lasting a few hours.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Freedoms and failures”