Japan parliament adopts resolution on human rights in China
The opening ceremony of a 150-day regular parliament session is held in Tokyo on January 17.
TokyoJapan's parliament adopted a rare resolution on Tuesday on what it called the "serious human rights situation" in China, and asked the government to take steps to relieve the situation.
Japan has already announced it will not send a government delegation to the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics,
following a US-led diplomatic boycott over concerns about China's human
rights condition, although Tokyo avoided explicitly labeling its move
as such.
Since
taking office in October, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said on
multiple occasions that Japan would not mince words with China when
necessary, and in November appointed former defense minister Gen
Nakatani as his aide on human rights.
The
resolution, adopted by the lower chamber, said the international
community has expressed concerns over such issues as internment and the
violation of religious freedom in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,
Tibet and Hong Kong.
"Human
rights issues cannot just be domestic issues, because human rights hold
universal values and are a rightful matter of concern for the
international community," the resolution said.
"This
chamber recognizes changes to the status quo with force, which are
symbolized by the serious human rights situation, as a threat to the
international community," it said.
China's
foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the resolution
"ignores the facts, maliciously slanders China's human rights situation,
seriously violates international law and basic norms governing
international relations, grossly interferes in China's internal affairs,
and is extremely egregious in nature."
When Japan launched a war against other countries, it committed countless crimes, the statement added.
US President Joe Biden
in December signed into law legislation that bans imports from China's
Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor. Washington has labeled
Beijing's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority genocide.
China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels.
The
conservative wing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sought
the adoption of the resolution ahead of the Feb. 4 opening of the
Beijing Winter Olympics although there were worries in the government
about a potential economic impact, Jiji news agency has said.
There
have long been competing views within the LDP about the approach to
China. The party's more conservative wing is hawkish on China policy and
seen as concerned primarily with defense issues. Other members of the
party have pushed to preserve Japan's deep economic ties with its
neighbor.
The parliamentary resolution called on the Japanese government to work with the international community in addressing the issue.
"The
government should collect information to grasp the whole picture ... ,
monitor the serious human right situation in cooperation with the
international community, and implement comprehensive relieving
measures," it said.
The
resolution did not directly use the word "China" anywhere in the text,
and steered clear of such expression as "human rights violation",
saying, instead, "human rights situation", in a possible nod to close
bilateral economic ties.
Japan
relies on China not only as a manufacturing hub, but also as a market
for items from automobiles to construction equipment.
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