Chinese officials are playing a vociferous anti-Israel role in the crisis in Gaza in an attempt to deflect attention from their atrocities against Uyghur Muslims.
“This has presented an opportunity for cynical actors like [the] Chinese government to play whataboutism and distract from their ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people,” Uyghur Human Rights Project Executive Director Omer Kanat told the Washington Examiner. “As Uyghurs, we reject any attempt to play the Uyghurs and the Palestinians against each other.”
This particular diplomatic strategy arose out of a confluence of factors, as the Israeli-Palestinian crisis erupted just as Beijing faced unusual public pressure at the United Nations due to a virtual meeting convened by Western diplomats and human rights activists. China pivoted to denouncing the Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in Gaza and demanding that the United States put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“So far, it doesn’t seem to resonate, and it seems a bit unclear who could be the target audience precisely,” a Western official who has been following China’s approach to these controversies told the Washington Examiner. “It’s not a consistent topic they raised before, but it looks rather to be something very new and very loud.”
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Chinese officials haven’t hidden their view that the Palestinian issue gives them a useful opening in the Uyghur-related debates.
“Why has the US been so callous about the Palestinian people’s human rights while it keeps talking about upholding Muslims’ human rights?” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday. “The U.S. only cares about favoritism and interests, not the merit of the matter itself.”
Kanat rejected the comparison between the two situations. “The Chinese government intent is to eliminate the Uyghur people,” he said.
President Joe Biden’s administration has called for a “de-escalation” and ceasefire since the violence erupted earlier this month, but the magnitude of the Palestinian rocket barrages against Israel bought Netanyahu the political space to retaliate.
“Israel has, I think by last count, launched about 2,000 attacks on terrorist targets in Gaza. There were more than 3,000 rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza into Israel,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week. “Having said that, I think Israel has an extra burden as a democracy to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, especially to look out for children, and of course to make sure that journalists, medical personnel are not harmed. And so, that’s vital. And we also want to see this de-escalate.”
China’s message is designed to drive a wedge between the U.S. and any Muslim-majority countries inclined to condemn the abuse of the Uyghurs, according to Kanat.
“Many Muslim countries are still silent on [the] Uyghur issue, and [Chinese officials] want to use this opportunity to distract attention and say that ‘oh, the U.S. government is not sincere when it says China should respect the human rights of the Uyghur people, religious rights of the Uyghur people,’” Kanat said.
That analysis is consistent with the signals sent by Chinese diplomats in recent days. China, which holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council, has been attempting to capitalize on U.S. opposition to a draft Security Council statement that fails to condemn the unprecedented waves of rocket attacks against Israel from Hamas and other militants.
“Regrettably, the UN Security Council has not been able to reach a consensus, as the U.S. has taken a position that stands on the opposite side of international justice,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday.
That denunciation was delivered in a phone call with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi before its public airing. Pakistan, of course, is one of China’s closest clients. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has acknowledged that his country’s economic dependence on China secured his silence about the oppression of the Uyghurs, just as the Organization for Islamic Cooperation has drawn fire from American Muslim activists for ignoring the plight of the Uyghurs due to Beijing’s economic clout.
“Absolutely every government must respect human rights,” Kanat said. “If the U.S. government is not perfect on the human rights that doesn’t … justify China’s horrific oppression of Uyghurs.”
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Nonetheless, Chinese officials seem to think they’re riding high just days after their embarrassment last week at the U.N.
“Arab and Islamic states have commended China for adhering to international rules and justice and fairness, believing that China’s position and proposition have shown China’s responsibility as a major country and its adherence to justice on the Palestinian question, and struck a chord with the people of these countries,” Zhao, the foreign ministry spokesman, said Wednesday.
