Speaking by video link to the 46th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Blinken upbraided China for “attempts to subvert the values upon which the United Nations is founded,” including the rights to fundamental freedoms that states are “obliged to protect.”
“Those who hide under the mantle of promoting economic development while seeking to undermine human rights will be held to account, including for their own human rights violations,” he said. “We will speak out for universal values when atrocities are committed in Xinjiang or when fundamental freedoms are undermined in Hong Kong,” Blinken added.
Hong Kong joined Xinjiang and Tibet last year as major rights trouble spots in China after Beijing imposed a draconian security law that led to widespread arrests of democratic politicians.
