Biden vs. Xi Jinping’Human Rights War’… Tucydides’ trapped wen government

Two months after the Biden administration was launched, The international community rapidly reorganized into a human rights confrontation systemHas become. As the U.S. and China collide over human rights, creating a “Thucydides trap”, the Moon Jae-in government’s position is getting narrower.

On the 22nd (local time), the United States, the European Union (EU), the UK, and Canada entered simultaneous sanctions for human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, which China is extremely sensitive to. The EU first decided on human rights sanctions on 11 individuals and 4 organizations, including China, North Korea, and Russia, and opened fire. Among them, four Chinese personnel involved in the human rights violations in Xinjiang Uyghur were included. Then, the U.S. Treasury Department also added two new ones out of the four EU sanctions. The UK and Canada also announced on the same day that they would sanction four Chinese personnel, the same as the EU.

Although Chinese sanctions were announced individually, it shows that in the end, it has stepped forward as a’human rights front’ that responds with one voice to human rights violations. Reuters reported on the 23rd (local time) citing a senior official in the Biden administration, “The US government contacts European countries on a daily basis on China issues.“The EU has avoided confrontation with China unlike the US, but this time, it is the first time since the arms embargo during the Tiananmen crisis in 1989, and it is called the European roadshow,” he said. “It has changed,” he said.

China immediately announced sanctions against 10 European personnel and 4 organizations. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rebelled on the 22nd, saying, “The EU must look back on itself and face how serious mistakes it has made, and do not intervene in internal affairs by admonition to other countries for human rights reasons.” China is in solidarity with Russia and North Korea at the same time. Wang Yi, a member of the state council in charge of China’s foreign affairs, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, In a joint statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on this day, it was announced that “the human rights issue should not be politicized or interfere with internal affairs.

North Korea-China solidarity was also shown off. Both North Korea and China made public of the fact that Chairman Kim Jong-un and President Xi Jinping had exchanged oral letters. Dae-jin Chung, a professor at Ajou University Institute for Unification, said, “We are responding to US human rights pressures by revealing the exchange of personal letters on the day of the UN’s vote on the North Korean human rights resolution.”Analyzed. Im-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Far East Studies Research Institute, said, “As the US regulated China and North Korea as authoritarian regimes and pressed them into a bundle, the need for a joint response was higher than ever.”Said.

While the Biden administration asserts the universal value of human rights and demands responsibility as an alliance, China blatantly opposes this, raising concerns that the Moon Jae-in administration’s foreign and security policy is losing its way. The government has decided not to participate in the joint proposal of the UN’s North Korean human rights resolution for three years in a row, and has never taken a preemptive position over the issue of Xinjiang Uighur. Considering the relationship between the two Koreas and Korea-China in the future, we will maintain a cautious attitude, but it is unclear how long Korea’s silence will work in the face of the US-China human rights confrontation. Kim Hong-gyun Former Head of the Korean Peninsula Peace Bargaining Headquarters, Ministry of Foreign Affairs“Unlike the Trump administration, it is virtually impossible for Korea to not express any intentions regarding human rights in the Biden administration.” “However, if Korea alone is burdened with raising human rights issues in China, etc., it should take advantage of the occasions such as the 7 major countries (G7) summit held in June to participate in the statement on human rights led by the United States.”He advised.

Reporter Park Hyun-joo [email protected]