Hollowness of ‘America first’ to the fore at UN meeting

While the United States representative to the United Nations pointed the finger at China’s human rights record at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee meeting early this week, the National Day Golden Week holiday saw hundreds of millions of Chinese people traveling freely around the country, which is unimaginable in the US for reasons well known.

The meeting was supposed to discuss “a range of social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues that affect people all over t he world”. But by trying to create a division among the UN members, the US managed, to some extent, to hijack the UN body’s agenda and replace it with its own agenda — containing China.

However, the broad support China received from the international community for its human rights record, and to-the-point criticisms the US invited from dozens of countries indicate the international society is aware of the US’ true intentions.

Just like “freedom” and “democracy”, the US has been using human rights as a tool to maintain its global hegemony.

Those who really care about China’s human rights situation will not turn a blind eye to its achievements on the human rights front. The fact that China has lifted about 800 million people out of poverty in the past four decades guaranteeing them the right to a life of dignity should be enough to silence even the most cynical human rights critics.

But the US has other designs. Given that China’s overall national development is too fast and smooth for Washington’s comfort, the US administration, mired in its own incompetence, can only think of subduing China instead of accelerating the US’ all-round development.

That the US’ hegemonic and unilateral actions have, directly and indirectly, cost innumerable lives across the world, and violated countless human rights in the fields of people’s livelihoods, security, trade, climate change and epidemic control is not unknown to the international community. Not to mention the US’ invasion of sovereign states without UN approval and brazen interference in other countries’ internal affairs.

Moreover, in the US-dominated postwar world order, the development gap between the North and South has widened, allowing Washington to consolidate its institutional advantages and continue exploiting the rest of the world. And the US’ devilish efforts to paralyze Huawei and “Americanize” TikTok show the extent to which it will go to retain its hegemony.

Even its own people, particularly the poor, black people and Hispanics, are victims of its internal colonization.

Rather than admitting that its belated and ineffective response to the novel coronavirus outbreak has cost more than 210,000 American lives and taking measures now to prevent any more loss of lives, the US administration unashamedly continues to blame other countries for the spread of the virus.

The international community hoped that after testing positive for COVID-19, the US president’s attitude toward the pandemic would change. Yet the world is greeted by the same chicanery. Because when it comes to “America first”, it is the US administration first; the rest just don’t matter.