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China: Third Term for Xi Threatens Rights



Governments around the world should commit to pressing Beijing to respect human rights inside and outside China during President Xi Jinping’s new term, Human Rights Watch said today. The ruling Chinese Communist Party is set to convene its 20th Party Congress starting on October 16, 2022, during which Xi is expected to further consolidate power and secure a landmark third term as the party leader.To get more China news, you can visit shine news official website.

“President Xi’s precedent-breaking third term bodes ill for human rights in China and around the world,” said Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “As the space for civil society activism further shrinks in China, it is imperative for the international community to take consequential actions to constrain Xi’s abuses.”

In a key example of the impact of authoritarian rule on rights, even as effective therapeutics and vaccines for Covid-19 became available, the Chinese government doubled down on its Covid-19 restrictions, imposing repeated, unpredictable lockdowns on hundreds of millions of people under its abusive “zero-Covid” policy.

The draconian measures have impeded people’s access to health care, food, and other life necessities. An unknown number of people died after being denied medical treatment for their non-Covid-related illnesses. Some jumped to their death from mass quarantine sites or residential buildings under lockdown. The lockdowns also caused economic harm, forcing businesses to downsize or close, cutting jobs and wages. Nevertheless, there is little sign that the authorities are lifting restrictions such as lockdowns and prolonged quarantines.

In the 10 years since Xi came to power in late 2012, the authorities have decimated Chinese civil society, imprisoned numerous government critics, severely restricted freedom of speech, and deployed mass surveillance technology to monitor and control citizens. Authorities’ cultural persecution, arbitrary detention of a million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, and other abuses since 2017 amount to crimes against humanity. In Hong Kong, the government imposed draconian national security legislation in 2020 and systematically dismantled the city’s freedoms. All these have made it difficult for citizens to hold the government accountable and there is virtually no room for them to participate in government decision-making.

In July, China’s unemployment rate for youth aged 16 to 24 reached a record high of 20 percent. The National Bureau of Statistics’ announcement that the population of “flexible employment” workers had risen to 200 million in 2021 was met with widespread derision. Netizens accused the government of twisting the reality of lack of employment opportunities and social protection into a narrative about personal choice.

Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned about the impact of Xi’s unpredictable Covid-19 policies on the economic and social rights of those already in precarious economic situations, who are often more exposed to financial shocks because of socioeconomic inequalities and discrimination.

Many migrant workers are already in dire need, as a lack of employment often means they have no income if they are not enrolled in social insurance programs, which protect against lack of work-related income, or insufficient income, caused by sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, among other things.

Workers in the “gig” economy usually do not sign formal labor contracts, and many employers do not make social insurance payments on their behalf, even though it is required by law. Companies rarely face penalties for not making these payments because local authorities have long avoided investigating noncompliance, driven by economic development concerns.

In 2021, unemployment benefits were paid to just 6.1 million workers, while the official urban unemployment population is about 24 million workers, and this does not include the tens of millions of workers who were underemployed or on unpaid leave because of the pandemic.