At a UN review, China basks in the flattery of friendly countries

Once every five years or so, each UN member state has to have its human-rights record examined under a so-called Universal Periodic Review (UPR) overseen by the body’s Human Rights Council. Every country in the UN may pose questions and recommendations to the state under review. This week China had its turn. The event merely illustrated its success in creating a split between most countries in the global south, which tended to flatter China with friendly questions, and Western democracies, which castigated it.