en.humanrights.cn: The United States has always thought itself the best defender of human rights, claiming that "All men are created equal" and dictating to other countries. However, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation in the United States has been getting worse with social conflicts intensifying. On top of that, the U.S. government has been constantly undermining international cooperation in fight against COVID-19. The pandemic has lifted its hypocritical veil. Its handling of COVID-19 has exposed the hypocrisy of the "American equality" to the rest of the world. Today, we are pleased to have Mr. Hao Yaming from the Center for Human Rights Studies at Nankai University. He will share his thoughts about the so-called "American human rights". Hello, Mr. Hao!
Hao Yaming: Hello!
en.humanrights.cn: China and the U.S. have adopted very different approaches in response to the pandemic. Could you shed some light on the differences between the models adopted by the two countries from a human rights perspective?
Hao Yaming: You are right. The United States has the most advanced medical technology, equipment and knowledge. Moreover, the major outbreak in the United States arrived relatively late. Therefore, they had the capability and time to get prepared. However, now we see that the United States has become an epicenter of the pandemic in the world with the most confirmed cases and deaths.
From the perspective of human rights, China embodies a people-centered human rights concept. In the face of the unexpected outbreak, the Chinese government has taken all possible and necessary measures to prevent and control its spread so as to safeguard the lives, health and safety of the people. The control measures include the lockdown of a city with a population of tens of millions like Wuhan, the large-scale mobilization of medical staff across the country to treat patients, the building of makeshift hospitals to treat patients with mild symptoms and the participation of the people in the battle by self-quarantine at home and community management and control. For example, recently, every time when a case is confirmed in a city, the government will carry out a citywide nucleic acid test regardless of the cost. The ultimate goal is to protect people's rights to life and health.
In contrast, America appears to be sticking to the traditional concept of human rights featuring liberalism. In fact, political and economic calculations are hidden behind the American way of dealing with the pandemic under the disguise of personal freedom. For example, we can see that it wants to ensure a rising stock market and uninterrupted operations of some enterprises. It also put partisan interests and the presidential election at the top of the agenda.
en.humanrights.cn: So, in your opinion, how should the United States a self-proclaimed "human rights defender" reflect upon its performance during the fight against COVID-19?
Hao Yaming: The United States did not handle the pandemic well including in the aspect of human rights protection. There's a lot to be reflected upon. Let's talk about it from the theoretical and practical aspects.
Theoretically speaking, the American view of human rights needs some changes because the one-sided liberal view of human rights cannot fully cover all the facets of human rights. Take the pandemic as an example, in face of the highly contagious virus, what will be the consequences if one refuses or rejects mandatory prevention measures in the name of individual freedom? It will not only have an impact on the individual but also endanger the health of others and the collective. When we prioritize different rights, too much emphasis on the value of individual freedom will lead us to ignore or hinder the protection of other rights. If so, I think, the overall goal of human rights protection cannot be achieved.
From a practical perspective, what they should reflect on is human rights" are being used as a political tool. "American human rights" are not as great, kind, and noble as the U.S. claims them to be. The United States often maintains a double standard in international affairs using human rights as a tool to attack unallied countries while turning a blind eye to the human rights problems of itself or its allies. This is the hypocrisy of the US. It can be seen that the United States has very clearly made domestic human rights issues as a tool during the pandemic. I mentioned earlier that there are political and economic calculations hidden behind individual freedom. To a certain extent, the US's handling of the pandemic led to some man-made conflicts between individual freedom and compulsory prevention measures. The United States should stop using human rights as an instrument and return to the right track of human rights protection.
en.humanrights.cn: The United States has always claimed to be "a beacon of freedom and human rights" but during the fight against the pandemic, it has not only failed to protect the rights to life and health of its own people but also refused to cooperate with the international community to fight COVID-19. We can say that the veil of the United States and the "American human rights" has been lifted exposing its hypocrisy. So how should we understand the true face of American human rights?
Hao Yaming: Well, I will talk about it in the context of the pandemic. There are three features in America’s response to the pandemic. I would describe them in these words unequal, unscientific, and irresponsible. I think it reflects the hypocrisy of the American concept of human rights.
First of all, let's talk about the inequality in human rights protection during the fight against COVID-19 in the US.
In the early stage, access to coronavirus testing in the United States was limited and only available to the rich and powerful. Even later when testing was widely available, investigations by some news media found that the white communities got easier access to testing and quarantine materials than ethnic minorities.
In addition, inequality is also reflected in the treatment of the elderly, the poor, and ethnic minorities. They are placed in an unfavorable or disadvantaged situation in the U.S. response to COVID-19. In nursing homes, COVID-19 mortality and morbidity are disproportionately high. According to the Washington Post, the death toll of residents and staff in nursing homes in the United States has reached as high as 77,000. This means that 30-40% of all COVID-19 deaths are from the long-term care institutions including nursing homes with a population accounting for only 1% of the total U.S. population.
It's also the case with the poor. Since the outbreak, poor people without financial guarantee have to continue to work every day. While American society has not restrictive quarantine measures in place to handle the pandemic, their working environment is actually risky. For example, public transportation crews, cleaners, and salespeople are all low-income groups who are particularly affected by the pandemic and have a very high infection rate.
Concerns have also been raised about minority groups. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the US, Latin-Americans have the highest COVID-19 infection rate and the mortality rate among. African Americans is the highest in each state, more than twice the percentage of African Americans population in each state, in some states even 3 or 4 times as much.
Secondly, I'd like to talk about the unscientific aspect of human rights protection during the pandemic. A great number of its prevention measures followed political logic instead of scientific logic. Take the issue of whether people should wear masks as an example in the Unites States, people may refuse to wear masks in the name of protecting individual freedom at the very beginning of the pandemic but the issue later developed into something with political implications. Meanwhile, there has been a misleading idea about the severity and danger of COVID-19, some people think that it's just a type of influenza. Some people, including the president, came up with the ridiculous suggestions that one could drink disinfectant or inject bleach to combat COVID-19.
Thirdly, I will talk about the US’s irresponsibility in human rights protection during the pandemic. The U.S. government's prevention and control efforts didn't achieve good results, however, instead of reflecting on its own problems the United States spared no efforts in blaming China to pass the buck. "Wuhan virus" "Chinese virus" and "Kung Fu virus" or the recently coined "Chinese curse" are frequently heard from Trump, Pompeo and others. What do these words indicate. They show that domestically, the U.S. government is ducking its political responsibility and dares not to face the problem directly, eventually undermining its pandemic prevention and control efforts. It also indicates that internationally, the U.S. government failed to fulfill its obligation as a major power. It accuses China in a one-sided and unreasonable manner at a time when the whole world needs to work together to deal with the pandemic thus hurting global unity and order.
en.humanrights.cn: We have talked much about the divergences and differences, what do you think China and the United States and the rest of the world can do to better protect people's rights?
Hao Yaming: Human beings have common interests in the protection of human rights. China has always called for improving global human rights governance with the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Mankind is confronting more and more common challenges including climate change, war, nuclear threats and the unknown virus. COVID-19 has sounded an alarm for us. Only when we join forces and work together, can we cope with the common challenges and safeguard the common interests of mankind, otherwise we will pay a price. We should stick to the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind and recognize the shared interests of mankind to blaze a promising path of cooperation in the global human rights governance
en.humanrights.cn: As the world's largest economy, its unscientific, unequal and irresponsible way to deal with the pandemic has made Americans pay a huge price and violated their rights to life and health. As the famous American scholar Francis Fukuyama pointed out, "Politicians viewed the pandemic as an opportunity to seize power and partisan interests and, it came at the cost of countless lives of American people”. The poor performance of the self-proclaimed "human rights defender" during the fight against COVID-19 is undoubtedly a slap in its own face. Thank you for watching and see you in our next episode.
