On July 12, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is traveling to Beijing for another “annual leaders’ meeting” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. They will discuss global and regional issues as well as bilateral matters of trade and tourism.
The Australian government’s statement announcing the visit doesn’t mention human rights at all. It only makes a vague reference that direct engagement “at the highest level enables difference to be addressed.” Consistently, this has been the Albanese government’s method of relegating pesky human rights issues to little more than a disagreement, a “point of contention.” But they are not. Human rights are universal, protected, and promoted via a system of global rules and governance that applies to all of our fundamental rights and freedoms.
The Chinese government is one of the most repressive countries, and Hong Kong provides a disheartening case study on this point. Through the adoption of the draconian National Security Law in 2020, it effectively ended the semi-democracy Hong Kong enjoyed.
Human Rights Watch has documented how Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have almost entirely dismantled freedoms of expression, association, and assembly; free and fair elections; and fair trial rights and judicial independence. Human Rights Watch recently documented the government’s persecution and silencing of lawyers who challenge official abuses.
Since late 2016, the Chinese government has also intensified a widespread and systematic campaign of human rights violations against Xinjiang’s Uyghur population, which amount to crimes against humanity. This includes restricting travel of Uyghurs to promote “normalcy,” control diaspora, and maintain alternative narratives about Xinjiang.
Last year, Australia led a joint statement at the United Nations, urging the Chinese government to implement recommendations from the landmark 2022 UN report on violations in Xinjiang. Albanese should reinforce these concerns publicly in China and press for implementation of the UN’s recommendations.
Tibetans also face severe repression in China, making the question of the Dalai Lama’s successor, Tibet’s spiritual leader and an important symbol of Tibetan identity, increasingly urgent after he recently celebrated his 90th birthday.
However, the Chinese government’s repression isn’t confined to the country’s borders. Beijing also intimidates, surveils, harasses, and even forces the return of dissidents or critics overseas, in numerous countries, including the targeting of people in Australia.
During his visit, Albanese shouldn’t gloss over human rights concerns as simply a difference in “views.” Those differences have real world consequences for the countless people suffering under the yoke of Bejing’s repression. Albanese should reinforce messages about abuses in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Tibet and urge the Chinese government to end its campaign of harassing and intimidating dissidents and diaspora abroad, including in Australia.