24 Dec, 2014

Chinese commentary: In New World Order, U.S “Should Stop Trying to Play God”

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BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) — China on Tuesday conducted an interim review of the implementation of a government action plan on human rights protection, highlighting the considerable progress it has made since 2012 and pledging to strive for greater improvement.

The meeting, which gave floor to state organs and agencies at various levels to report in detail their respective achievements, shows that China has been working effectively toward goals set by the plan, with most quantitative targets at least half fulfilled in the past two years.

While Beijing is performing self-examination on human rights, by stark contrast, an unabashed Washington is probably, as usual, being busy preparing for its routine accusations against others, while turning a blind eye to the gloomy reality on its own soil.

It has become a notorious ritual of the United States to issue on a yearly basis a compilation of reports scrutinizing the “poor” human rights records of other countries and regions, mostly as a political tactic of shunning criticism at itself.

Though having achieved certain success in misleading the world to serve its own interests, the self-proclaimed human rights watchdog is apparently being reduced to nothing but a gigantic laughing stock.

Following the latest revealed mess on the U.S. soil, many people, both home and abroad, have been disillusioned by America’s hypocritical human rights rhetoric.

On human rights issues, the United States is obviously in dire need of the basic honesty to acknowledge the truth, the courage to let down self-pride and practice self-communion for improvement, not to mention the essential respect for other country’s internal affairs.

China, an old and easy prey of American ideological assaults, has actually set a good example.

With candidness and sincerity, Beijing has issued and carried out two phases of National Human Rights Action Plan since 2009, setting systematic goals in various aspects concerning the issue.

“On human rights, there is no best, but only better, and there is nothing that is finished, but only in progress,” said Cai Mingzhao, director of the State Council Information Office at the review meeting.

China’s human rights course has entered a stage of planned, sustainable, steady and comprehensive development, while the United States is obviously moving backwards.

According to Wikipedia, the term “human rights” generally refers to the inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being. The explanation accords with U.S. founding father Thomas Jefferson’s famous line in the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal”.

Unfortunately, over two centuries later, today’s America is drifting away from the fundamental ideology that has brought the country into being.

For many African-Americans and other ethic minorities that constitute a fairly large proportion of the U.S. society, the “American Dream”, a set of ideals that have encouraged their ancestors to arrive on the land and strive for a better future through hard work, is turning into a nightmare, just as manifested in the Ferguson incident, and many others to follow.

A revealing study by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy found that equal achievements can yield unequal wealth rewards for people of different colors. Most African Americans born into deprived circumstances do not have the capacity or support to break the vicious circle.

Besides, U.S. human rights flaws extend far beyond staggering racial inequalities. The hegemony the country has exercised in a large swathe of the world, the torture tactic it has practiced against foreign prisoners, and the repeated campus shooting sprees that have claimed numerous lives of innocent students, all point to the sheer hypocrisy of the United States as a defender of human rights.

On foreign soil, while U.S. troops are waving their proud American flags to shed “the light of civilization” to every corner of the world, their colleagues back home are stretching their tentacles into emails and mobile phones of ordinary Americans as well as leaders of other countries, including traditional U.S. allies like Germany.

The list can definitely go on.

The United States loves to decorate itself as the ultimate human rights judge and a perfect citizen of the world. But when it comes to human rights, or any other issue, there is no such thing as perfection.

It is highly advisable that Washington face its own maladies squarely and enhance communication and cooperation with other countries like China to learn from each other’s experiences and make improvement, rather than relentlessly point fingers at others.

In fact, beneath the camouflage of human rights is America’s deeply-rooted, long-held world-leader mindset that has been formed after World War II as the country became the principal architect of global order, resulting in U.S. hegemony worldwide.

Thus, the United State might need to be further reminded that in a new era of globalization and multi-polarization, no one, not even the mighty Uncle Sam, could continue to boss around and play the role of God.