Forum: United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

Issue: Addressing the issue of self-determination, specifically Chinese autonomous regions.

Student Officer: Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui

Position: President Chair

Introduction

“To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self- determination of peoples…”

[Paragraph 2, Article 1 of Charter of the United Nations]

It was from the former United States president Woodrow Wilson that the first use of the concept ‘self- determination’ stemmed from in 1918. The fundamental idea behind the concept of self-determination was that people are sovereign, not subjects of the state. This idea developed through the shortcomings of the English, French and American revolutions. From this further stems off the concept that the legitimacy of rule depends on the consent of the governed and not power of the governor. Entailed by erosion of feudal imperialism was the sovereignty nations held in international affairs. As for the empires that still persisted, ethnic nationalism led their demise.

In the modern era, the right to self-determination is one of the core principles of international law, it is the responsibility of every state to respect and protect this right and its violation constitutes an international criminal offense. This concept was embraced by many leaders like Lenin, Woodrow Wilson and others. It was incorporated into the 1941 Atlantic Charter and the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals which were the foundations of the Charter of the United Nations. This right has been reiterated multiple times since the formation of the UN Charter- in the Declaration of Friendly Relations (1970), Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR), Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and various instruments.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has internal political issues with many regions on the grounds of self-determination/autonomy. It has 155 ethnic autonomous areas and 5 autonomous regions. Along with local disagreement of the system(s) in place the country also entails various human rights violations. However despite this, most nations explicitly agree with China’s claim over all those territories- including even the most autonomous of all, Taiwan.

It is difficult to ascertain whether the PRC does hold rights over those territories. International law suggests that they do deserve a greater degree of autonomy, human rights instruments do hold PRC as a violator and so do citizens living in PRC. However, for PRC itself, a poll among the citizens showed that over 80% were happy with the country’s scenario. Moreover, Modern international law being a western invention especially in the question of sovereignty enrages the East, especially PRC which uses claims of history more than that of international law for they believe the west is unfairly biased against them. The security council convenes in this session to discuss the future of these Chinese regions and action is imperative.

Key Terms

Accession

“Accession is the act by which one nation becomes a party to an agreement already in force between other powers.” In the context of this topic, such an agreement will refer to the inclusion of the state party to become a part of a parent-nation.

Autonomy

“Autonomy is the right of an organization, country, or region to be independent and govern itself.” Such self-government need not mean full-independence, but independence in terms of all its affairs apart from national topics like defense.

Colony

“A colony is a country or area controlled politically by a more powerful country that is often far away.” Examples such as India, Australia, Pre-unified American colonies, African colonies provide an understanding of what a colony is.

Dalai Lama

“Dalai Lama is the leader of the Tibetan Buddhist religion”. However, according to popular belief, the Dalai Lama is regarded as the spiritual leader as well as the temporal leader of the Tibetan people.

Dissolution “To be broken up into separate parts.” In the context of this guide it shall refer to the breaking up of one country into smaller countries. Example, Dissolution of Czechoslovakia into Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Ethnicity

“The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.”

Imperialism

“A policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization, use of military force or other means.”

Secession

“The action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.” In the context of this guide, secession shall refer to the gaining of full independence by a region by means of breaking away from the parent-country.

Self-Determination

“The ability or power to make decisions for yourself, especially the power of a nation to decide how it will be governed.” Self determination shall not be limited to the power of a sovereign nation in controlling its affairs but rather the freedom of individuals, communities and parts of a nation—and their autonomous right to control themselves. However, the method of exercising self-determination differs. Some aspire for full independence. Some for a degree of political, cultural and economic autonomy and others it may just mean to live and manage their communities without interference.

Separatism

“The belief held by people of a particular race, religion, or other group within a country that they should be independent and have their own government or in some way live apart from other people.” Separatist ideology that backs secession and self-determination aims stems out of discriminatory beliefs and not the actual right of autonomy.

Sovereignty

“The power of a country to control it’s own government.” Sovereignty refers to a nation’s right to freedom from external interference and complete control over its domestic matters.

Statehood “The condition of being a country or a part of a large county that has it’s own government.” Statehood is the condition of being a sovereign nation. Sovereignty is the right of a nation that bears statehood.

Unitary State

“A unitary state is a state governed as a single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions and those units exercises only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate.”

Key Issues

Chinese Control Over Autonomous Zones

“People's congresses of national autonomous areas have the power to enact autonomy regulations and specific regulations in the light of the political, economic and cultural characteristics of the nationality or nationalities in the areas concerned. The autonomy regulations and specific regulations of autonomous regions shall be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval before they go into effect. Those of autonomous prefectures and counties shall be submitted to the standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces or autonomous regions for approval before they go into effect, and they shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record.”

[Article 116 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China]

Although the PRC has created autonomous zones, many believe there is a lack of self-determination. This claim stems off of the restrictions imposed on the autonomous zones. For such a zone to enact a legislation, they need prior permission from Beijing. However, for non-autonomous zones, they are at freedom to enact legislations following which they only have to inform Beijing about what’s being done which ironically makes an autonomous area less autonomous than any non-autonomous area. Beijing’s extensive surveillance and military set-ups in autonomous zones are realized to be more than in non-autonomous zones which is contradictory to autonomy.

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region began the drafting of their work before 1958, the earliest and most active drafting work among all autonomous regions. By March 1958 they submitted their first draft of the Autonomous Regulation. However due to the cultural revolution and the anti-rightist movement drafting was suspended till 1980s. Guangxi submitted their drafts in 1987, and again in 1991 but both were rejected. They re-drafted in 1993 but never submitted it. The restrictions imposed on the so called autonomy of zones led Guangxi to giving up drafting as a whole. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Zone faced a similar fate, began drifting in 1980 and was suspended in 1993 with no success.

The Tibetan Aspirations of Self-Determination

China claims its right to sovereignty over Tibet on the grounds that it has done so for seven centuries. The relation between the Dalai Lama and the ruler was that of a patron and a religious figure and not a federal relationship like that of a sovereign and a subject. In 1913 the Dalai Lama himself made that statement at the same time declaring its own independence. In 1951, Tibet was surrounded by the military and the teenage Dalai Lama was forced to sign accession into China. Apart from historical claims, China also says that Tibet being a backward region and one that needed a force to liberate it from serfdom and feudalism. However both reasons do not seem as good reasons to claim sovereignty over a region- nor military occupation nor reasons of backwardness. However, many nations still agree with PRC’s claim over Tibet but there still are nations that oppose their historical claim. "it is clear that on the eve of the invasion in 1950, Tibet was not under the rule of any foreign country." Said the Philippines delegate in a UNGA discourse. The delegate of Ireland also aligned with the same beliefs saying "for thousands of years, or for a couple of thousand years at any rate, [Tibet] was as free and as fully in control of its own affairs as any nation in this Assembly, and a thousand times more free to look after its own affairs than many of the nations here."

The dormant issue was once again brought to light in anti-government clashes in March 2008 in Tibet and other regions in China. In 2011, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared that only Beijing can appoint the Dalai Lama and disbanded succession candidature. Traditionally, the Dalai Lama was to be selected by senior monastic disciples based on spiritual signs and visions- which was now prohibited. “The Dalai Lama uses religion as a disguise and he is a political exile who has been carrying out separatist activities for a long time,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. “As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power,” the Dalai Lama said in his annual speech marking 52 years since he fled Tibet.

Xinjiang The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is a western Chinese territory accounting for 1/6th of China’s land home to about 20 million citizens from 13 major ethnic groups. The largest of those is the Uyghur, comprising of over 8 million. The region sees independence movements in large since the 1990s through groups like the East Turkestan [so called] Islamic Movement (ETIM). In 1933, Turkic rebels declared independence forming the Islamic Republic of East Turkistan. In 1934, China reabsorbed the region. However, Xinjiang yet again declared independence in 1944 creating the Second East Turkistan Republic which was again taken over by China in 1949. It was declared an autonomous region in 1955. China claims that Xinjiang had been an inseparable part of the “unitary multi-ethnic Chinese nation” since the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD).

In 1990s, Beijing created special economic zones in Xinjiang to develop its economy. Migration was encouraged facilitated by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) for so called economic reasons due to which the Han Population rose from 6.7% in 1949 to 40% in 2008 in the XUAR region. China claims all its policies are in order to promote economic development. However many people that it is to facilitate demographic change. The migration is also frowned upon due to increasing strain on the already limited resources. In 2006, Human Rights in China pointed out ‘reduced human access’ to drinking water and water used for drinking, irrigation and agriculture. The nations plan to change the ancient Uyghur city of Kashgar and build newer buildings has also been upsetting and seems to be a move to destroy cultural heritage. The government claims this move is not racial but to protect buildings and dwellers from earthquakes. The economics in XUAR also seems to be discriminatory. In 2006 the Congressional- Executive Commission on China (CECC) reported that XPCC reserved 800/840 civil servant job openings for Han Chinese. However in 2011 all positions were reported unreserved on grounds of ethnicity. However at the same time the CECC mentioned both government and private sector recruitment practices to be discriminatory against Uyghurs and denied them their religious rights.

Chinese Human Rights Violations

Inner Mongolia is China’s largest coal producing region and has been in unrest over environmental crimes since 2011 when an ethnic Mongol herder was killed by a truck during anti-pollution protests. Mongolians are supervised to great extents, a Mongolian reported to Reuters that police officers had parked outside her home and followed her every time and even tracked her internet access. A blogger reported during the 2011 protests that it won’t last solely because of the extensive government surveillance and control. Online chat rooms were shut down and popular social networking sites like QQ, Weibo and Tencent were blocked and heavily censored. Searches of the protests yielded no results. Xinhua News Agency however reported that the regional authorities will look into the environmental conditions imposed by the mining industry and improve the protection of grasslands. Despite the statement, residents of the area still show distrust in government response.

Many tensions within and outside Uyghur led to increasing government crackdown in XUAR. Subsequently, Political Re-Education camps were set up to bring the Uyghur back to the right path, to liberate them from so called- separatist and radical sentiments. In May 2019, Chinese vice foreign Minister Le Yucheng defended its vocational training centers in Xinjiang for Muslims and said its “campuses” would be closed down gradually as extremist ideology is vanquished in the region. He pointed out that the absence of violent terrorism in the last 27 months is a sign of success of these camps. However most of the reasons that seem to be used to justify the camps seem to be external. China used medical check ups to collect DNA samples, iris images and personal data from millions of ‘targets’. Dutch cybersecurity expert Victor Gevers in February 2019 revealed that Chinese facial recognition company SenseNets had names and location tracking of over 2.5 million XUAR residents. XUAR residents report constant disappearances as well. Agence France Presse discovered these camps under the identity of schools purchased riot gear, electrified batons and spiked clubs. Chinese students in Canada discovered satellite images of barbed wire fences and watch towers on all corners of these ‘schools’. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination describes this province as a “no rights zone”.

In the second Human Rights Review of 22nd October 2013, China was called out for human rights violations against Tibetans and Uyghurs. Tibetans are subject to various violations of human rights such as arrest in case of any opinion contrary to Beijing, suppression of religious and cultural rights. They are subjected to arbitrary arrests and detention. Discriminatory practices against the Tibetans are also not out of the ordinary. Over 70% of Tibetans in Tibet live below the poverty line and thousands continue to flee in pursuit of rights they do not receive at their home country.

Chinese Evasion of Accountability Over Human Rights Violations

The first path used by the PRC over evading responsibilities of human rights is its abuse over incorrect translations of international instruments. The Chinese word for ‘Peoples’ is 人民 (renmin) which has the same meaning as the word ‘people’, as in the plural of person. However it is not the equivalent of the word ‘a people’ or the actual usage of ‘peoples’. 人民 (renmin) has no ethnic connotation. All citizens in PRC including in Republic of China (ROC- Taiwan) are referred to as 人民 (renmin). The Chinese word for people is 民族 (minzu) where it does not refer to every citizen living in China. However, the translation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights uses the word renmin for the right to self-determination, which in Chinese context, is already fulfilled as renmin is a singular word referring to every citizen of China, and not individual communities, as the word minzu would suggest. Till date these translation errors have not been fixed and perhaps PRC might use these errors to further its own propaganda using the technicality of terms.

The second one is its economic standpoint. The Human Rights Council sees the formation of a bloc consisting of China and its supporters which always supports China’s amendments and resolutions while going against all amendments and resolutions that go against China. Another common thing to note about these countries is that all of them have deals with China relating to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has extended this strategy to the EU as well. Greece is one of the countries that receives Chinese investments at large, in 2017 it blocked the signing of an EU joint statement in the UNHRC on Human Rights abuses in China. Hungary did the same on a statement on torture of Chinese Human Rights lawyers. With Italian endorsement of the BRI, it is feared that they too might follow the same path. In 2018, China was seen exerting increased pressure on companies forcing them to list Taiwan as a part of China or else be barred from doing business in China. There is a clear-cut visible policy of economic threats used by China to protect itself in the international community.

Territorial Disputes

China is involved in territorial disputes primarily in the south china sea over its nine-dash line, with India over a part of Jammu and Kashmir- Aksai Chin, and with Bhutan over Doklam Plateau.

The South China Sea disputes primarily revolve around territorial waters and economic zones for the purposes of mineral wealth. In accordance with international law, the first 12 nautical miles from a state’s shores are considered its territorial sea, over which the state in question has full sovereignty. The 200 nautical miles beyond the territorial sea are considered to be the state’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, an area over which the state has exclusive rights for managing economic activities such as fishing, drilling, and shipping. China’s increasing hostile behaviour and economic aspirations are seen to force its neighbors in order to extort concessions from them, posing a threat to international peace and security. It’s claims, which it terms as ‘historic rights’ are incompatible with the UNCLOS and pushing for something that violates international law is in itself a direct threat to peace. Apart from the Chinese 9-dash- line, other disputes like the Snekaku/Diaoyu islands also prevail. These tiny islands are under dispute between People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Japan. The Scarborough Shoal is a reef claimed by Philippines as well as China. However China has de-facto controlled the waters since a standoff in 2012. Even though the Paracel Islands have been controlled completely by China since 1974, they too lie under dispute between China, Taiwan and Vietnam- each of who claim complete sovereignty over it. The Spratly islands are claimed by Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Philippines, and Malaysia.

The recent move by India to revoke Kashmir’s special status and make it a union territory of India has angered China. “China is always opposed to India’s inclusion of the Chinese territory in the western sector of the China-India boundary into its administrative jurisdiction,” “Recently India has continued to undermine China’s territorial sovereignty by unilaterally changing its domestic law,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement. It claims that the territorial borders to be included in India that have been laid out include the disputed territory Aksai Chin, which China considers a part of XUAR.

China claims over Doklam Plateau in conflict with Bhutan over a treaty from 1890. However, the Bhutanese government claims the document invalid as they were not even at the meeting of that document. A 1998 agreement over maintaining the then existing status quo is held against China over its claim. This led to a stand-off between India and China after an unprecedented Indian intervention over road construction by China in the region.

Major Parties Involved

India

In 1959, the Dalai Lama sought exile in Dharamsala in India making it a key player in the conflict. The nation is now home to about 120,000 Tibetans. Since 1952 India has considered Tibet as an integral part of mainland China and does not encourage Chinese criticism by Tibetans in India. However being a liberal democracy, it surprises many that India has such a standpoint. Sumit Ganguly, a political science professor at Indiana University says in criticism of India- “If India is a liberal democracy, it must be willing to speak out about gross Chinese human rights violations.”

United States of America The United States officially recognized Tibet as a part of China however the belief of its unofficial support to its independence is not alien either. Experts say the US has an opportunistic approach in its dealings with Tibet. The CIA reportedly funded and armed Tibetan guerilla forces to fight against China during the cold war in the 1950s and 1960s. At the same time the US still had the standpoint of supporting China’s claim over Tibet. CIA’s apparent covert funding ceased in 1971.

The United States’ is Taiwan’s closest and most important ally holding a Taiwan Relations Act promising to supply the island defensive weapons and marking any offensive act by China against Taiwan as an act of “grave concern”. In 1996 China conducted missile tests to provoke and influence Taiwan’s election. United States’ then-president Bill Clinton responded with the biggest display of its military power since the Vietnam War by sending ships to the Taiwan strait as a statement to Beijing.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

Founded on 15th June 2001, the SCO is an economic, political and security alliance of the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The membership was expanded to India and Pakistan in 2017. The SCO is widely criticized for shielding its members from criticism over human rights violations. The members of SCO share borders with Xinjiang and host minority Uyghur communities. It is perceived that the formation of the SCO was largely aimed at preventing the now-member-states to backing a separatist movement in Xinjiang.

Hong Kong

Under the ‘One Country Two Systems’ policy, Hong Kong is largely free to manage its own affairs since the 1980s. In a poll, it was seen that a clear majority of Hong Kongers supported the idea of the ‘One country, two systems’ policy and only 11% supported the idea of an independent Hong Kong. The problems within Hong Kong are not that of secession or independence but rather the control Beijing exerts over Hong Kong. While legally Hong Kongers are guaranteed freedom of the press, expression, assembly and religion, the laws are not seen effectively followed in practice showing Beijing as more intolerant towards criticism. Thousands of people began protesting in June 2019 against a legislative proposal which would give Beijing the right to extraditions to mainland China. This measure was opposed as it was felt that this gives Beijing a loophole to subject political opponents to Beijing’s system and not Hong Kong’s.

Taiwan

The first appearance of Taiwan in Chinese records is from AD 239 when an expeditionary force was sent by China to Taiwan- an occurrence the mainland uses to back its claim over the island. China lost control over Taiwan when it lost the First Sino-Japanese war but regained control after Japan lost the second world war. Among all autonomous regions of China, Taiwan is the most autonomous and the closest to achieving full independence and the most enthusiastic one in that line too. It has its own constitution, democratically elected leaders and an active armed military. The Taiwanese government, known as the Republic of China had diplomatic recognition until 1971 when the United Nations switched it from Taiwan to Beijing. The number of sovereign nations that recognize Taiwan has subsequently fallen to about 20. Although Taiwan remains de jure (officially sanctioned affairs) a part of China, it is de facto (unofficially but factually correct affairs) independent. Majority of Taiwanese citizens also want full independence.

Inner Mongolia

The Han Chinese Ming dynasty in 1368-1644 had divided Inner Mongolia into two regions which correspond to the present day Outer and Inner Mongolia. The two regions were separated by the Gobi desert which weakened any bond between both regions. Hence when the Qing Dynasty fell, the Inner Mongolia part fell under the Republic of China while the other part to Mongolia. It was made an autonomous region on 1st May 1947. Massive Han Chinese immigration into Inner Mongolia transformed the Mongols into a minority of 20%. Subsequently the Mongols lost their identity, stopped speaking or reading their language and adopted Chinese names and culture. However this did not hit every Mongol, some tried to maintain their culture by decorating the Mongol capital with their cultural characteristics. However, all of this was undone amidst the cultural revolution which destroyed old customs and minority cultures all over China. Emphasizing Mongol culture and characteristics was associated to acts of separatism. Since 1980s student studying in Mongolian language schools fell by 40%. Inner Mongolia has the highest GDP among autonomous regions in China. It is also China’s biggest dairy, mutton, fine wool and cashmere wool provider- such economic reasons might also be why China is unwilling to let the region secede.

Timeline

Date Event Outcome Inner Mongolia was divided into two separate administrative 1386-1644 Han Chinese Ming rule of Mongolia regions corresponding to present day Outer and Inner Mongolia The Zungars were wiped out in their entirety which paved Zungar Genocide in Northern 1756 the way for migration to take place. Most migrants were Xinjiang Turkic Turanchis which are now known as the Uyghurs. Japanese victory in the Sino- 17th April 1895 Taiwan was ceded to Japan Japanese war 10th October Manchu rulers were overthrown by The Chinese republic claimed all lands formerly under 1911 the Chinese Manchu control. 1931 Communist State Constitution recognized “the right of self determination of the national No productive outcome as a 1944 change indicating that “all minorities in China, their right to nationalities should have an equal and fraternal relationship 1931 complete separation from China and under a united government of all” abandoned the 1931 to the formulation of an independent pledge. state for each minority” under its Article 14. Primarily the Mongolians, Tibetans, Miao, Yao, and Koreans Communists took power and along with others who were earlier free to form a separate 1944-49 abandoned the 1931 pledge. state were now accorded into mainland China without an option 2nd September China began ruling Taiwan again as Japan surrendered Chinese victory in World War 2 1945 control over the island. 14th Dalai Lama (a teenager) signed “seventeen points” forcibly due to 1951 On official grounds, Tibet was now a part of China. surrounding of Tibetan Army by Chinese Army Enforced the principle of non-interference in other countries’ 18th-24th April Bandung (Indonesia) conference of internal affairs to inhibit separatist movements calling upon 1955 third world countries external assistance. It is assumed that due to this Indian stand on Tibetans changed to anti-independence post 1950s. Death of the Dalai Lama and 80,000 Tibetans followed by 1th0-23th March First Tibetan Uprising mass execution, imprisonment and starvation in prison 1959 camps. All religious activities were prohibited and the monastic 1966-1979 Mao’s Cultural Revolution system was dismantled. The cultures of ethnic minorities were sought to be erased. Deng Xiaoping came to power and The exiled Dalai Lama was reached out to and a more ethnic December 1978 put forth new initiatives to the Tibet and economic development policy was put into place. issue. Tibetans were encouraged to protect their culture. Led to the declaration of martial law in 1989 till May 1990 1987 Tibetan pro-independence protests resulting to suppression of cultural and religious freedoms and stricter security measures. The war between mainland China Rules on visits and investments between the two countries 1991 and Taiwan was proclaimed over were relaxed. Beijing was alarmed. They passed an anti-secession law in Pro-independence Chen Shui-Bian 2005 granting itself the right to use of non-peaceful means 2000-04 was elected as Taiwanese president against territories attempting to secede from mainland China- and then re-elected in 2004. directly indicating Taiwan in this case. 197 killed, over 1600 injured and 718 detained. Xinhua Ethnic tensions between Han News Agency reports the riots were led by Kadeer. Amnesty July 2009 Chinese and XUAR Uyghurs International says that China is adamant on suppressing the voices of Uyghurs. Widespread protests due to the killing of a Mongolian May 2011 Mongol Uprising herder. Led to voicing of concerns against the economic development in Inner Mongolia that costed the people their ethnic rights and damaged the environment. Five-Day meeting of Uyghurs in The meeting was strongly condemned by China and created May 2012 Japan pressing their case for diplomatic tensions between Japan and China. independence. 5 dead. 40 injured. Turkestan Islamic Part (TIP) claimed A Xinjiang License plate bearing responsibility calling it the ‘beginning’. Acts like these 2013 SUV drive into a crowd at the provoke China into measures like establishment of political Tiananmen Square. re-education camps. Keeping names as ‘Mohammed’ and ‘Medina’ was prohibited. Passport holders had to return their documents. 2014 Anti-Muslim Crackdown Connections to a list of 26 Muslim countries were prohibited.

Evaluation of Previous Attempts

Post 1995 EU-China Human Rights Dialogues

The EU-China Human Rights Dialogue is in place since the 1990s and is a highly confidential meeting held between EU, China and often some NGOs. This has largely been a replacement of proposing China-Specific Human Rights Council Resolutions. However, keeping meetings behind closed doors and letting China deny statements and refusing participation of critical NGOs in this dialogue in the name of ‘mutually beneficial cooperation’ paves way for weaker accountability all as a covert operation to avoid Chinese shaming in the Human Rights Council.

One Country, Two Systems

The ‘one country, two systems’ is a Chinese national unification policy developed by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. It aimed at reintegrating Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan with mainland China while preserving their unique political and economic systems but having sovereignty over them. The system works out well for Hong Kong and the success is seen via polling as well where only 11% Hong Kongers want an independent country. However, Taiwan on the other hand denied this system and still strives for full independence and doesn’t want to accede to mainland China. Under the law of this policy. Beijing only maintains control over Hong Kong’s diplomacy and defense.

Simla Conference of 1913

The Simla Conference marked an agreement between British India and an Independent Tibet recognizing the McMahon line as the effective border between India and China in the north-east. Considering China denies the independence of Tibet and considers it as an inalienable part of PRC, it questions the legality of this conference deeming it as a solution that does not work out in favor of preventing the dispute over Aksai Chin.

The South China Sea Arbitration

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) presented a ruling to a case pertaining to the South China Sea between the Philippines and the PRC. In its ruling on this case, commonly known as the South China Sea Arbitration, the court came to the conclusion that both parties must follow UNCLOS in settling their territorial disputes. In May 2009, Vietnam and Malaysia issued a joint statement accusing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) of disregarding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and infringing on other states’ sovereignty. However, this arbitration has gone largely ignored and the provisions of UNCLOS compromised.

Possible Solutions

Targeted EU Sanctions

Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the European Union (EU) placed an arms embargo on China. Since then the EU hasn’t placed any sanctions on human rights violations on China despite what is being done in Tibet and Xinjiang especially. Even though economic sanctions are not usually considered as desirable solutions, the diversified nature of the Chinese economy and the volume of trade the EU has with it might send a strong message. If not in general, targeting sanctions on individuals and firms involved in violations of human rights could be a viable option. Assets could be frozen, certain officials could denied visas and prohibit EU investment in China following its own example after the Crimean annexation in 2014.

Creating China-specific Human Rights Council Resolutions

Considering the flaws of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, perhaps it might help to tone it down, or abandon it, or continue with it while also returning to proposing China-specific human rights council resolutions to avoid it from being able to undermine responsibility for what China does. Many believe that China is undermining the UN by increasing emphasis on national sovereignty, state development and non- interference and ignoring individual rights of people. Human Rights Watch states that China blocks critical NGOs and activists from attending UN meetings while letting those who the government sponsor attend it in order to make way for pro-Chinese reviews. It has also been seen that China pressurizes the allies economically dependant on the BRI to give positive reviews for its Human Rights Review. In 2018 with the United States withdrawing from the council there barely remain any voices strong against Chinese atrocities. To hold China accountable, nations must exit this web they are caught in and speak boldly about what China is doing through council resolutions. As much as national sovereignty needs to be respected, at a time when a nation is committing crimes after crimes maybe a different route has to be taken.

Granting Full Independence To Taiwan and Tibet

Taiwan is the closest to receiving full independence, in fact it can be said that it already does have de facto independence. It may resolve a lot of the South Asian problems if Taiwan could be given the independence it yearns for but such a move could potentially trigger a domino effect of other autonomous Chinese regions stepping up their demand for full independence like the Arab Spring revolutions sparked revolution after revolution as communities took inspiration from each other.

The same logic can be applied to according independence to Tibet. However, considering that Tibet is very far from the situation in Taiwan, granting it independence will be exponentially less likely in the eyes of the Chinese government in contrast to at least considering Taiwan.

Granting Increased Autonomy to All Autonomous Areas

It can be easily concluded from the key issues that all Chinese autonomous areas ironically lack the very autonomy they’re meant to have by being called so. It goes without saying that a possible solution is to alter Article 116 of the Chinese constitution to enable the passing of autonomous legislation without prior approvals and grant other freedoms to these areas adequate to calm the populace and ensure stability.

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Appendices

I. Batistich, M. (2019). The Right to Self-Determination and International Law. [online] Nzlii.org. Available at: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/journals/AukULRev/1995/7.pdf [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. II. Freetibet.org. (2019). What is China’s argument on Tibet? | Free Tibet. [online] Available at: https://freetibet.org/about/china-argument [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. III. Noragoa, L. (2019). Nationalism and Globalization on the Inner Mongolia Frontier: The Commercialization of a Tamed Ethnicity | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. [online] Apjjf.org. Available at: https://apjjf.org/-Li-Narangoa/2575/article.html [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. IV. Lynch, Gramer, Fuchs, Benaim, Johnson, Bunin, Traub, Cook and Traub (2019). Xinjiang Visit by U.N. Counterterrorism Official Provokes Outcry. [online] Foreign Policy. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/13/xinjiang-visit-by-u-n-counterterrorism-official-provokes- protest-human-rights-china-uighurs-internment-camps-east-asia-united-nations/ [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. V. United States Department of State. (2019). China (Includes Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Macau) - United States Department of State. [online] Available at: https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom/china-includes- tibet-xinjiang-hong-kong-and-macau/ [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. VI. Kutkauskaitė, L. (2019). CHINESE STATE POLICIES TOWARDS TIBET AND XINJIANG: WHY NOT THE HONG KONG SCENARIO. [online] Lfpr.lt. Available at: http://lfpr.lt/wp- content/uploads/2015/09/LFPR-28-Kutkauskaite.pdf [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. VII. Council on Foreign Relations. (2019). China-Taiwan Relations. [online] Available at: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. VIII. YouTube. (2019). Are Hong Kong & Macau Countries?. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piEayQ0T-qA [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. IX. YouTube. (2019). What Are China's Autonomous Regions?. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2101KIQS2Vo [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019]. X. YouTube. (2019). Explainer: Why Xinjiang is so important to China. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUg-w0tdyBs [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].