International humanitarian law is defined by the international red cross as a set of rules which seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects persons who are not or are no longer participating in the hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare. International humanitarian law is also known as the law of war or the law of armed conflict. China has agreements in place, in theory supporting international humanitarian law.  China is a party to major international humanitarian treaties, including the Geneva Conventions Convention of 1949 and two Additional Protocols of 1977. Additionally in 2007, China established the National Committee on International Humanitarian Law to promote the coordination, promotion and application of IHL throughout China. It has also hosted multiple International Committee of the Red Cross seminars to discuss International Humanitarian Law. However, in practice China is violating many human rights. They definitely have the asian view that values such as social and economic rights take precedence over civil and political rights. Also they have values such as rights are a matter of national sovereignty and other governments should not interfere. The treatment of the Uyghurs are China’s most obvious human right violations. They are putting them in modern day concentration camps and torturing them. This is a very clear ethnic genocide. China’s official policy of diluting and reducing the Uyghurs population obviously violates international human rights law. Furthermore, their treatment of the Uyghurs also violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICRD); and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), all ratified by China. To top it off, the campaign against the Uyghurs even violates China’s own constitution. So even though China technically has agreed to many human right and humanitarian law treaties, they are not following them at all. 

https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/what_is_ihl.pdf https://www.icrc.org/en/document/china-experts-renew-commitment-geneva-conventions-during-seminar-mark-70th-anniversary 

https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/63/Addtl_Prot_TEXT/China.pdf https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1125932 https://www.justsecurity.org/72074/how-china-is-violating-human-rights-treaties-and-its-own-constitution-in-xinjiang/

So ethnocentrism is the belief that the people, customs, and traditions of your own race or country are better than those of other races or countries: It also means believing that the way you’re used to doing things is the only right way to do them, and that people or cultures that do things differently are inherently wrong. China is a very nationalist country whose nationalism is ethnic based and built upon cultural superiority. Ever since Mao Zedong declared that “the Chinese people stood up” when the People’s Republic of China was founded, the story of foreign power humiliation has fueled Chinese nationalism. Although China has embraced some Western modernization and made English a compulsory subject in primary schools, the attachment to its historical power has largely remained. China’s nationalist narrative encourages double standards and racism. In cases of discrimination against Chinese people and cultures, the general basis for criticism is that the behavior offends China rather than talking about the moral basis of anti-racism. Also, the human rights situation is continuing to get worse in an increasingly communist China. Lawyers and human rights activists reported instances of harassment and intimidation; unfair trials; as well as torture and other ill-treatment solely for exercising their rights to free speech. The government continues to indoctrinate Muslims living in Xinjiang, mass arbitrary detainees, torture and forced cultural assimilation. There are thousands of Uyghur children separated from their parents. Furthermore, Hong Kong’s national security law has resulted in unprecedented human rights abuses since the special administrative region was established. Authorities have rapidly expanded Hong Kong’s national security legal system over the past year, further broadening the definition of a national security threat. In March 2021, the mainland legislature approved a decision to reduce the number of directly elected seats on the Hong Kong Legislative Council election committee and to allow the state security police to investigate all candidates before they run for election. There is also a huge amount of censoring from websites to movies to apps, China is restricting the amount of information allowed in.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ethnocentrismhttps://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/ethnocentrismhttps://thediplomat.com/2019/12/when-chinese-peoples-feelings-are-the-only-feelings-that-matter/https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/east-asia/china/report-china/

An endangered culture is a culture or indigenous group that is threatened with extinction. Chinese majority ethnic group, the Han, dominates over 90% of the population. There are 55 ethnic minority groups in China, but specifically one is being targeted right now. TheUyghurs, who I discussed last week, are an ethnic group of about 12 million people who live in Xinjiang. Several countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, have accused China of committing genocide, which is the attempt to destroy, in whole or in party, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The claims come amid reports that, in addition to imprisoning Uyghurs in campsites, China is using mass forced sterilization of Uyghur women in an attempt to suppress the population, separate children from their families and destroy cultural traditions of the group. This is a very critically endangered culture in China. Furthermore, a new study in 2021 found 25 languages or dialects in China are under threat of extinction, including one that has only an estimated 10 native speakers left. China is in a rush against time to save these endangered languages which are a huge part of culture. 

Along with this, current reports show that the rapid urbanization in China is a major factor in the growing ecological footprint. A study from 2010 showed that although China’s per capita is lower than the global average, the nation is already consuming more than double its biocapacity, causing significant impact on the environment, including, forest degradation, drought, soil erosion, water shortages, increasing carbon dioxide and biodiversity loss. Li Lin, program executive director of World Wide Fund (which works to protect biodiversity) said “Economic growth in China, beyond its environmental capacity and ecological biocapacity, is unsustainable.” The world wide fund believes china should use its “natural resources more efficiently, consuming energy more sustainably and responsibly growing its footprint in rural and urban areas.”

http://www.china.org.cn/english/2001/Jun/15169.htm https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-languages/chinas-minority-languages-face-threat-of-extinction-idUSTRE62B0EW20100312

https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?256230/Chinas%2Dbiodiversity%2Ddeclines%2Das%2Dhuman%2Dfootprint%2Dgrows

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3121562/chinese-minority-languages-among-those-risk-dying-out-no-one

Patriotism, nationalism, and christian nationalism are three ideologies we see in the world. Firstly, patriotism is the most respectful out of these. Patriotism is a feeling of love and pride for your country. Patriotism could also be toward your homeland or ethnic group. Nationalism is identification with a specific nation and support for its interest, especially to the exclusion or detriment to other nations. Nationalism can become dangerous because many times it includes excluding people like those of a different race or ethnic group. Similarly, Christian nationalism encompasses many of the ideologies of nationalism but also includes the formation of a Christian state. Christian nationalism is most prominent in the US and believes since we were formed as a Christian country there should be Christian values and beliefs influencing the government. Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” originally advocated the establishment of socio-cultural ties and respectful relations with the country’s neighboring states; this was pushed aside in favor of loyalty and devotion to the Chinese state. Now he has developed a becomingly ugly form of nationalism in China. With foreign ministers cutting ties with other countries and focusing on building China to become a more powerful state. There is also an ethnic cleansing going on within the country. The ethnic majority of China is the Han. The Uyghurs are an ethnic group of about 12 million people who live in Xinjiang. The group is mostly muslim and see themselves ethnically closest with other central asian groups. In recent decades, there has been a massive migration of Han Chinese (Chinese ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, allegedly organized by the state to dilute the minority there. China has also been accused of persecuting Muslim clerics and banning religious practices in the region, as well as destroying mosques and tombs. The government has also allegedly set up concentration style camps to imprison and torture the Uyghur peoples. Uyghur activists fear the group’s culture is in danger of being destroyed.

Additionally, economic inequality can be measured in several ways. A commonly used approach is the “Gini” coefficient, which estimates the income distribution in a country where 0 is equal and 1 is the worst possible result. The latest official data from China is from 2020, when the country had a Gini of 0.47, which is considered a highly unequal economy. However, experts say China’s official figures underestimate the problem. Using additional survey data, economists from Cornell University and Peking University released another Gini estimate for 2018, which found China’s inequality rate to be slightly above 0.52. China has an upper class that holds a significant amount of power and many lower class laborers who lack representation.

https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/how-chinese-nationalism-is-changing/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037

https://www.grid.news/story/global/2022/07/26/chinas-economic-inequality-is-worse-than-americas-and-the-pandemic-hasnt-helped/

China is put in between a rock and a hard place with the war on Ukraine. China does not want to take too big of a stance either way. On one side, China wants to support Russia. The Russians defeat could lead to a more western idea of democracy in Russia. China and Russia have long been known as the world’s oppressive communist countries and China does not want to see an ally like that fall. On the other hand, China does not want to straight out make a statement supporting Russia either. China would immediately get heavy sanctions harming their economy. The Chinese President Xi Jinping sees “Russia’s value as an ally against the U.S. and NATO, he does not want to alienate Washington or the EU to the extent that he could face sanctions or other economic problems for being seen to aid the Russian war effort”(Lau). China is practicing something called “distance diplomacy”. They are avoiding getting directly involved and instead advocating for a ceasefire on both sides. The war has in an odd way been beneficial for China. They are using the war to take notes. China has long wanted to reclaim Taiwan and is learning that forceful invasion may not be the most effective way to overtake them. China is realizing a gradual take over of the Taiwanese is

lands, including the mainland, would fit perfectly into the gray area tactics that China has applied for decades in the Taiwan Strait dispute. Instead of breaking out in a full fledged war, in the coming years we may see China begin to put political and economic pressure on Taiwan.

Stuart Lau – https://www.politico.eu/article/putin-admits-china-has-questions-and-concerns-about-ukraine-war/

https://thediplomat.com/2022/10/chinas-real-takeaway-from-the-war-in-ukraine-grey-zone-conflict-is-best/

Hello, my name is Sarah Shewaye. I am majoring in Political Science with a minor in Russian. I have traveled around the continental US along with Hawaii. Internationally, I have only been to Mexico and Cambodia. I do come from a very rich cultural background. My mother is half-Ukrainian, and half-Russian immigrating here when she was 21. My father is Ethiopian and immigrated here when he was 18. I am very interested in global studies and am excited to write about my East Asian country of choice, China. 

The country China, officially known as the People’s Republic of China, is the most populated country in the entire world. With a population 1.4 billion it is both racially and ethnically monogamous with 91%  of people being considered Han Chinese. Cosmopolitanism emphasizes an intercultural openness and a working together. However since China is so racially monogamous it can be difficult to fully practice cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism at root is a western idea, and western countries like the US also are extremely racially diverse. Inclusivity can be hard when 91% of your population is the same ethnic group and you simply aren’t used to other people. In our group discussion Danna also pointed out that Cosmopolitanism can sometimes be negative because it tries to force a one size fits all on other countries. Pushed by the western world it is an idea that might not always be the best for East Asian countries, even though it works for us. 

 That being said, however, historically China was a champion of cosmopolitanism. The Tang dynasty which ruled in China from 618-907 AD, also known as the golden age of China, promoted many cosmopolitan values. It was found that “during the Tang dynasty there was an ​​economic, social, and political stability, a flourishing artistic and literary culture, and increasing interaction with the outside world” (Barrett). This allowed for a huge boom of cosmopolitanism. There were new people, ideas, cultures, and opportunities. Over these 300 years China flourished in every aspect of society. There were many foreigners living in China during that time and “racial identity did not seem to limit the extent to which a person could ascend to great heights of power and status under Tang rule”(Barrett). In the past China had many cosmopolitan values. Now the middle class in cities like Shanghai are experiencing a renaissance of cosmopolitanism. Since Shanghai has so many different types of people, it has become a multicultural melting pot of China.There are aspects such as “the diffusion of the middle-class lifestyle, and the diffusion of consumerism and international norms” (Li) which are all strong cosmopolitan values. A small city like Shanghai is beginning to mirror the cosmopolitanism found in the great Tang Dynasty.

Sources:

Cheng Li – https://www.thecollector.com/tang-dynasty-golden-age-china/

Olivia Barrett – https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/07/30/the-shanghai-middle-class-embracing-cosmopolitanism-with-chinese-characteristics/