China’s Contributions to South-South Human Rights Governance: Concept and Practice
—In the Vision of Global Human Rights Governance
ZHAO Shukun* & MAO Kui**
Keywords: global human rights governance non-traditional hu- man rights challenges a community with a shared future for mankind the Belt and Road
No human rights are best. To realize human rights is not just related to the domes- tic affairs of a country, it is also an undertaking of the whole world. The predicament now troubling human rights governance in the Global South has gone beyond particu- lar countries or specific regions and has become a challenge and topic for all human- kind. The non-traditional human rights challenges such as wars, terrorism, poverty and ecological crises resulting from interwoven “developing” characteristics and the conflicts between religion and civilization are severe challenges to the social devel- opment of developing countries, the less-developed countries especially. President Xi Jinping’s call for countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind and his Belt and Road advocate transnational and cross-regional human rights governance from the perspective of all humans, which provides a new concept and approach to solve the non-traditional human rights challenges confronting developing countries and directly pinpointing the crucial reasons for the human rights governance problems
Ⅰ. News Challenges for Human Rights Governance in Developing Countries: Non-traditional Human Rights Governance Crises
The Global South countries are exposed to the following challenges concerning human rights governance: On the one hand, they are confronted with the common worldwide challenges regarding human rights governance, for instance, the problems of traditional civil and political rights and the economic, social and cultural rights. On the other hand, the characteristics of them being developing countries decide the wide-ranging involvement of the non-traditional human rights governance crises under the backdrop of globalization in addition to the traditional human rights challenges.
Presently, the developing countries are chiefly exposed to the following non-tra- ditional human rights challenges: local chaos caused by war, financial crises, lack of material resources, terrorism and environmental crises.
Local chaos caused by war. Local conflicts often occur between South-South countries and North-South countries. Local armed conflicts have not just caused casu- alties, destitution, homelessness and huge numbers of people fleeing into surrounding areas, they have also brought negative impacts on the stability and development of the surrounding area and countries in war. Furthermore, high and new technologies have been applied in local wars, which have not only caused more casualties but also caused severe damaged to the environment.
Financial crises. A global financial crisis will inevitably pose a threat to the glob- al economy and financial security. Global South countries have a weak capability to resist a financial crisis. The problems that would be caused by a financial crisis, such as large-scale unemployment, poverty aggravation and rising crime, would pose grave threats to human rights governance in the Global South.
Lack of material resources. Resource shortages are a primary factor troubling and jeopardizing the existence and development of human rights. Due to the drastic growth of the global population, especially the population in the Global South, such material resources as food, water, energy and medicines are in short supply. The limit- ed supply of resources and the inequality of distribution have a negative influence on Global South countries.
Terrorism. Terrorism, which has been called the “political pestilence of the 21st century” is spreading worldwide. It is creating growing challenges for the Global South countries in particular and exerting a negative influence on the rights of all the human beings to exist and benefit from development.
Environmental crisis. The global environmental crisis, principally global warm- ing, air pollution, land desertification and the loss of biodiversity, has become another grave threat to the existence and development of the Global South.
In addition, the new technical revolution, featuring big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, is creating new uncertainties and challenges. Information and the information technology revolution are transforming people’s lives at an unprecedented rate and to unprecedented degree. The nature of the new technological revolu- tion decides that it may have a negative influence on human society.
That “everyone can enjoy human rights” is the lofty objective long pursued by the mankind and the protection of human rights is a pivotal point in building a com- munity with a shared future for mankind. On the one hand, the traditional “liberalistic human rights outlook” of Western countries is based on individuals and liberty, and as such it lacks due respect for collective human rights. On the other hand, a minority of countries control the right of speech, and they politicize and narrow the sense of hu- man rights to use them as tools, placing one-sided emphasis on the political rights of individuals, neglect their rights to exist and develop and implement double standards.2 With the vertical development of globalization and globalism, “hegemony gover- nance” or “institution governance” have caused globalization to be actually that of the modernization of Western countries. Due to its intrinsic characteristics of imbalance and inequality, it has resulted in such serious problems as the failure of global governance and global development disorders and imbalances.3 Against such a backdrop, the practice of global human rights governance, including human rights governance in the Global South needs new human rights governance concepts that are inclusive, equal and fair.
The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind has surpassed the limitations of the liberalistic human rights outlook of Western countries, by stressing the rights of both individuals and the collective. It promotes cooperation and inclu- siveness and takes the overall development of people as the core concept of human rights, the community as the main carrier of human rights and joint discussion, joint construction and sharing as the fundamental principles of human rights governance.
A. The integrity and equality of the main body of human rights are the foundation for the South-South countries to cope with non-traditional human rights challenges
Karl Marx held the view that the human beings have an “anthropological exis- tence”4 and “Only in the community can the individuals acquire the methods for their all-round development. That is to say, only in the community may individuals have freedom”.5 The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind complies with this, stressing a common community for all humans, changing “I” and “you” into “we” and requires that all the countries and all peoples in the world have equal rights and opportunities. Meanwhile, it discards the logic of “Western Central- ism” and the binary “civilization-brutality” mode of thinking based on the traditions of developed Western countries and advocates building an equal partnership between the North and South countries, enhancing cooperation and sharing the latest achieve- ments in human rights development.
“Peace and development are the two major themes of the modern world”. The famous conclusion proposed by Comrade Deng Xiaoping in the last century still ex- erts great influence in the present international society. The essence of the themes of peace and development has not changed, especially in the Global South countries. Non-traditional human rights challenges such as local wars and conflicts, the global spread of terrorism and the shortage of material resources can be concluded to be the result of the deterioration of the secure environment and weak motive development. The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind requires eliminating the confrontations and conflicts between different sorts of civilization and terrorism endangering the welfare of all humanity on the basis of building equal partnerships and achieving inclusiveness and mutual learning of different civilizations to finally accomplish the happiness of all humankind.
C. Global South countries must pursue mutual benefits and mutual learning of human rights values to cope with non-traditional human rights challenges
“The world belongs to all the human beings and the people with lofty morality and extraordinary competence should be elected to build an ideal, harmonious soci- ety.” Building a community with a shared future for mankind is aimed at pursuing an open, innovative, inclusive and mutually beneficial prospect of development. Mutual benefit is the motive power to realize human rights development. The profits of only individual countries or minorities will not last long and only win-win and sharing can promise continuous progress. “There are no two identical leaves in the world.” The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind rejects the liberalistic global human rights governance dominated by Western hegemonism and upholds that such a community should be a vibrant, open and inclusive system. The diversity of civili- zation and institution decides that there is not a uniform human rights development road and governance pattern in the world. Only when we seek common ground while shelving differences, pursuing harmony in diversity, enhance cooperation and seek all- win can we practically promote global human rights governance.
D. The joint responsibility and sustainability of human rights guarantee the Global South countries can cope with non-traditional human rights challenges
That everyone can benefit from development is the condition for the develop- ment of a community with a shared future. The community with a shared future for mankind is not merely a community of shared interests but also one of obligations and responsibilities. There is no “retreat from the world” in a country, a place or a nation- ality in this era of globalization. No country can remain aloof from the world or seek stability and development amid the turmoil of other countries. A community with a shared future for mankind requires all countries to reign in their self-serving behaviors and assume their international obligations within their capabilities. It is also a “com- munity of life” and the existence and development of the mankind cannot continue if it is not green and sustainable. The present global environmental crises including global warming, air pollution, land desertification and loss of biodiversity pose se- vere threats to the sustainable development of human civilization. The environment and ecosystems know no borders. The construction of a global ecological civilization needs the joint efforts of all countries to pursue green development and enhance inter- national cooperation in global ecological governance.
Ⅲ. China’s Practice and Exploration of South-South Cooperation Joint Construction of the Belt and Road
If building a community with a shared future for mankind is the top-level design and strategic guidance China has contributed to global human rights governance, then the Belt and Road is the practical program of China to promote the all-round devel- opment of the countries along the Belt and Road and to promote human rights governance.
Development is the key to all problems. President Xi Jinping pointed out at the UN Development Summit 2015: “We must focus on development, the key to all prob- lems in this course. Only development can solve the source of conflicts, protect the fundamental rights of the people and satisfy the people’s yearning for a happy life.” The present non-traditional human rights challenges faced by developing countries are the result of their weak development and in many cased the lack of peace and stability. The non-traditional human rights challenges can be solved only through development and the focus rests in the realization of their right to development, peace and safety. The tenet of the Belt and Road is to achieve mutual benefit through all-win coopera- tion and integrate China’s growth into the process of global development so the spill- over effects from China’s growth can give impetus to the development of countries along the routes of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and indeed the whole world.6 Most of the 65 countries along the routes of the Belt and Road are developing countries boasting the natural features of South-South cooperation. With the advocacy of mutual benefits and all win cooperation, the Belt and Road positively promotes the interconnected development of the Global South and its sustainable development. The Belt and Road not only serves to realize the rights of developing countries to development, peace and security but also promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
The general framework for implementing the Belt and Road is the following “five major goals”, namely, policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds.
A. The Belt and Road will accelerate the economic growth of developing countries
Sound economic development lays a solid foundation for the realization of human rights. The construction of the Belt and Road will inject new vigor into the economic growth of the developing countries along the routes through infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds.
After the first four years of construction, abundant achievements have been made in the field of infrastructure connectivity. For instance, China has signed 16 bilateral or multilateral transportation facilitation agreements with 15 countries and civil avia- tion flights connect it with 43 countries; the construction of such landmark projects as the China-Laos Railway, the Hungary-Serbia Railway, the China-Russia Railway and the Djakarta-Bandung have witnessed remarkable progress and the first cross-national electronic railway in Africa, namely, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway has opened for use; in terms of communication infrastructure, the submarine optical cable directly accessible to the Asia-Pacific and the Asia-Europe No.5 submarine optical cable have been completed and put into use; eight of the 16 priority projects determined at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor have been launched.7 The China-Pakistan Eco- nomic Corridor Project is composed of five parts, namely, port construction, transpor- tation construction, energy and power construction, industrial park construction and agricultural construction.8 Masood Khalid, Pakistan’s ambassador to China, said that the corridor will effectively facilitate the further economic integration of China with the countries in South Asia, Central Asia and Middle East, benefiting a population of up to 3 billion people.
To fund the Belt and Road, China initiated and established new multilateral fi- nancial institutions, such as the BRICS Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Development Bank. In November 2014, the Chinese government announced to would contribute 40 billion US dollars to set up the Silk Road Fund to provide financial support for the construction of the Belt and Road. The AIIB has provided loans totaling 1.7 billion US dollars for the countries participating in nine Belt and Road projects. The Silk Road Fund has invested 4 billion US dollars in projects. The “16+1” Financial Hold- ing Company of China and other countries in Middle and Eastern Europe has been officially founded. These new financial mechanisms and the traditional multilateral fi- nancial institutions such as the World Bank have different priorities, complement each other and have formed a Belt and Road financial cooperation network with a clear hierarchy and initial scale.
Additionally, the Chinese government has provided emergency food aid worth 2 billion yuan to the developing countries along the Belt and Road routes, and increased its contribution to the South-South Cooperation Aid Fund by 1 billion US dollars for the launch the China-UN Cooperation Initiative for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to support countries along the routes of the Belt and Road imple- menting 100 “happy homesteads”, 100 “charity aid” and 100 “health rehabilitation” projects; and it has provided 1 billion US dollars to related international organizations and jointly promoted the implementation of a range of international cooperation proj- ects benefiting countries along the routes, including 100 refugee aid projects providing food, tents and portable houses.
Poverty is the greatest barrier to realizing human rights. Most of the countries along the Belt and Road are developing countries have urgent demands for economic growth and improving livelihoods. The core objective of the Belt and Road is to fuel the economic growth of these countries and improve people’s livelihoods. To a large extent, it conforms to the goal of development declared in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and has played a significant role in poverty alleviation and development of developing countries along the line. Goal 9 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”.12 The achievements of the Belt and Road in infrastructure connectivity have actually helped the developing countries along the routes to realize the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop- ment. The accomplishments in infrastructure construction have now delivered positive contributions to enhancing the level of agricultural production and industrialization, alleviating energy shortages, improving people’s quality of life and strengthening in- formation exchanges for countries along the routes.
In education, China has made the following efforts: First, China formulated the Belt and Road Education Promotion Campaign to reinforce public support for the construction of the Belt and Road. Second, accelerating Chinese language learning, China has built 134 Confucius Institutes and 130 Confucius Classrooms in countries along the routes and set up foreign language specialties in the institutions of higher learning in the countries concerned. Third, China has implemented the Silk Road overseas learning promotion program, set up Chinese government scholarships and promised to provide scholarships for 10,000 students from countries along the routes each year. As of late 2016, the overseas students from countries along the Belt and Road routes amounted to more than 200,000. Fourth, China supports Chinese stu- dents studying in countries participating in the Belt and Road. Since 2012, more than 350,000 Chinese students have studied in countries along the routes. The figure was 75,000 in 2016, up 3,806 percent over the number in 2012.
In terms of health, China has contributed the following endeavors: First, China has energetically implemented the Three-Year Implementation Program for Health Exchanges and Cooperation between Countries along the Belt and Road (2015-2017) and strived to build a Silk Road for Health. Second, China has built a multilateral and bilateral health cooperation mechanism and formulated a Belt and Road health coop- eration strategy. Third, China provides medical and public health aid for the countries involved in the Belt and Road, and it has dispatched medical teams to conduct cataract surgeries and launched women’s and children’s health projects. The 24,000 medical staff cumulatively dispatched by China have diagnosed and treated 280 million pa- tients and 51 of them lost their lives in the line of duty. Fourth, China has cooperated with many countries along Belt and Road routes to develop human health resources and cultivated more than 1,200 public health administrators and disease controllers. Fifth, China has cooperated with Middle and Eastern European and ASEAN countries in traditional medicine and has built a group of overseas traditional Chinese medicine centers. According to the implementation program, China has also launched a series of other major projects to enhance the sense of gain of countries participating in the Belt and Road. Health cooperation plays an increasingly remarkable role in supporting and expediting the implementation of the Belt and Road.
C. Construction of the Belt and Road fuels green development
The ecological environment is the foundation and support for the development and continuity of the human civilization. The countries participating in the construc- tion of the Belt and Road are confronted with ecological and environmental problems such as environmental degradation, lack of water resources and biodiversity attenua- tion. Protecting the environment and ecosystems environment has become the basic condition and shared demand of all countries. Green development and ecological and environmental protection have become a shared goal pursued by all countries and an indispensable part of the present non-traditional human rights governance in develop- ing countries.
According to its own practice and exploration in terms of green development, China has successively issued a series of documents to normalize the green construc- tion of the New Silk Roads and ensure the ecological environmental safety of coun- tries along the routes, these include Guidance for Foreign Investment Cooperation and Environmental Protection, the Guidance on Promoting the Green Belt and Road Construction and the Belt and Road Ecological and Environmental Protection Co- operation Program. In May 2017, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China issued the Belt and Road Ecological and Environmental Protection Cooperation Program which marked a new stage in ecological and environmental protection cooperation between countries along the Belt and Road. The program involves 25 key projects, including those on policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, people-to-people bonds and com- petence building.
At present, the Morraghakanda Irrigation Project, the largest water-control project in Sri Lanka, which is being financed by China, has completed its phased construc- tion. The main project of the Karot Hydropower Station in Pakistan invested in by China Three Gorges Corporation has been put into construction. China has launched cooperation in solar energy and wind energy etc.
The concept of green development has not merely provided strategic guidance for the construction of the Belt and Road construction it will also be included as a new concept for the development of the countries along the line. The present progress of countries along the line in green development and the key projects stipulated in the Belt and Road Ecological and Environmental Protection Cooperation Program are chiefly aimed at promoting the implementation of the environmental goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ensure the right of sustainable develop- ment of countries along the routes and their peoples, build a community of shared in- terests, responsibility and destiny and enable the green development achievements to benefit the peoples along the routes.
D. The construction of the Belt and Road fuels the peaceful development of the Global South
Security is the greatest human right. Developing countries differ drastically in terms of their development levels, history, cultures, religions and conventions, these differences and weak development make these countries vulnerable to non-traditional security challenges, especially terrorism, which pose great threats to the rights and interests of the countries, violating people’s rights to life, health, property, and devel- opment and keeping the countries mired in poverty and backwardness. Their poverty and backwardness aggravate their domestic inequality, and they become the source of conflicts and turmoil that can spill over into other countries, worsening local security situation and promoting a vicious cycle of violence.
To safeguard countries against non-traditional threats, a consensus needs to be reached that all humanity is a “community of shared destiny”, “there is no safety of a country without the safety of the world and the regions” and “safety of everyone is based on that of all”.17 Chairman Xi Jinping pointed out at the 86th General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization in September 2017 that China is willing to join hands with the governments of all countries, their law enforcement authorities and international organizations to uphold the banner of cooperation, innovation, rule of law and all win to jointly build a community with shared security for mankind. President Xi holds the view that, “peace and development are primarily based on security and stability; without security and stability, peace and development are impossible.”18 In recent years, China has been actively participating in and advo- cating international law enforcement cooperation and global security governance. Since its establishment, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has led co- operation among its members in combating terrorism. Over the past three years, the related organizations of its member countries have scored significant achievements in the framework of the anti-terrorist organizations: “fought more than 550 terrorist and extremist crimes; prohibited more than 1,500 citizens of the SCO member countries joining international terrorist organizations from committing crimes; stopped more than 200 SCO citizens from going abroad to join terrorist organizations; seized more than 700 self-made improvised explosive devices, more than 50 tons of explosives, more than 6,000 guns and more than 500,000 pieces of ammunition; frozen 2,000 ac- counts subsidizing the terrorist activities and restricted visits to 100,000 websites post- ing 900,000 documents involving terrorism and extremism.”19 All the SCO members are the countries along the routes of the Belt and Road. Although their anti-terrorist achievements are only confined to their member countries, they have delivered some contributions to regional safety and laid a solid foundation for regional peace and de- velopment.
Ⅳ. Conclusion
As an idea and practice contributed by China to the global human rights gover- nance, the idea of building a community with a shared future for mankind and the con- struction of the Belt and Road are finally united in expediting the overall development of human beings. A good scholar can incisively recognize the theory of things and the person good at practicing can clearly probe into the puzzling questions of things. It requires the joint efforts of the whole world to achieve the overall development of hu- man beings and realize the sound blueprint of the community with a shared future for mankind. Xi Jinping proposed in the report at the 19th National Congress of the Com- munist Party of China that “No country can address alone the many challenges facing mankind; no country can afford to retreat into self-isolation”.22 As part of the world, China shares its destiny with all the other countries under one roof. The Belt and Road and its practice are in essence significant moves and great practice to implement the idea of a community with a shared future for mankind. In their future promotion, the following two principles should be followed:
First, the Belt and Road should directly focus on the new international economic order, safeguard people’s right to development and safeguard human rights through development. The only way for the Global South to escape its present predicament of non-traditional human rights rests in development. However, efforts should be made to avoid single interest orientation in development but adhere to the guidance of such diversified values as “collaboration, sustainability, inclusiveness and all enjoying general benefits.” But the present international economic order dominated by the de- veloped Western countries deviates from solving the principal contradictions of the international community, lacks inclusiveness and excludes a majority of developing countries outside the economic system. It tremendously restricts the developing coun- tries from enjoying the achievements of modern industrial development. Now, the Belt and Road construction is essentially a new type of South-South cooperation, one boasting enormous significance for breaking the restrictions imposed on less-devel- oped countries by the traditional international economic system, and establishing a fair and inclusive international economic order and promoting the transition from the in- ternational economic order favoring developed counties to one favoring inclusiveness, equality, coordination and sustainability. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed in the report he delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that China should “adhere to the right moral norms” and “uphold the idea of governance featuring joint discussion, construction and sharing.”23 With the advancement of the Belt and Road, the areas along the routes will form the new regional economic order that is “open, inclusive and balanced” constantly promoting win-win and sustainable development, the elimination of poverty and bringing human rights protection to a new stage.
Second, the construction of the Belt and Road is accepting of cultural diversity. The laws must be followed to encourage cooperation and protect human rights. Pri- orities must be attached to procedural justice and fairness. The Belt and Road is an innovative development mechanism that will create conditions for cooperation and the realization of shared benefits, this requires countries with different cultural tradi- tions, social systems, historical backgrounds and development stages, to establish it as norms-guided, open, inclusive, democratic and transparent. The Belt and Road must promote development and the rule of law. International norms should be formulated through international cooperation to find universal cross-national/cross-regional en- dogenous rules and fair, effective ways, methods and mechanisms to solve disputes. The global governance pattern based on the rule of law is the inevitable choice for social growth and the progress of mankind. Given the diversified cultures of the coun- tries along the Belt and Road, special attention must be given to the rule of law so that justice can be visibly demonstrated.
(Translated by JIANG Lin)
