What the Xinjiang Letters Tell Us About China’s Global Influence

On July 8, the Geneva-based UN representatives of 22 countries submitted a letter to the president and high commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Council expressing concern “about credible reports of arbitrary detention… as well as widespread surveillance and restrictions, particularly targeting Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, China.”

“We call on China to uphold its national law and international obligations and to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, in Xinjiang and across China,” the letter added.

Four days later, on July 12, 37 countries signed a rival letter, also addressed to the UNHRC president and high commissioner. This letter praised China for its “success in the development of human rights in Xinjiang and achievements in anti-terrorism and eradicating extremism,” according to a summary posted on the website of China’s permanent mission to the UN office in Geneva. The letter made liberal use of China’s preferred rhetoric: that it advances human rights through economic development and that “terrorism, splittism, and religious extremism” threaten the “basic human rights” to life, health, and development of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Thus China’s countermeasures, according to the letter summary, are justified as a way to “effectively safeguard the basic human rights of all ethnicities in Xinjiang.”

China’s own permanent representative to the UN mission in Geneva, Li Song, expressed his appreciation for the 37 countries’ support.

China has often faced international criticism for its human rights practices, but it is rare for Beijing to counter with such an organized display of support for its own position. One of the few previous examples was the display of support meticulously gathered for China’s South China Sea claims in the immediate aftermath of an international arbitration case that went against Beijing. Even that took the form of a public media release, rather than a formal letter to an international body. Whether this extraordinary letter is a sign of China’s growing willingness to defend its positions at international fora or a mark of the sensitivity of the Xinjiang issue – or both – it’s a highly unusual step.

And as such, the two dueling letters provide a fascinating glimpse into who is on “team China” and who is not.

The countries that signed the original letter expressing concern about rights abuses in Xinjiang are all broadly identified with “the West”: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. A glance at a map of these countries makes the geographical clustering around western Europe clear.