The Wall Street Journal
June 8, 2015
Actor Jackie Chan on the red carpet at the 5th Beijing International Film Festival. In a new white paper, Beijing cites the development of its film and cartoon industries as a sign of its progress on human rights. European Pressphoto Agency
China offered an almost exclusively positive portrait of its human rights situation in a white paper released Monday that cited progress in a wide range of areas. Near the top of the list: development of the country’s film and cartoon industries.
The annual white paper, which weighed in at 21,000 characters this year, is China’s response to frequent foreign criticisms of its human rights record. In contrast to its critics, who tend to emphasize the rights of the individual, China advocates a broader definition of human rights that puts greater weight on social goods, such as economic and cultural development.
And, evidently, entertainment.
In the report’s first section, titled “Right to Development,” this year’s white paper backed up Beijing’s claim to have better protected the Chinese people’s cultural rights by pointing to, among other things, China’s burgeoning television, cartoon and film production.
In 2014, the paper noted, China produced 429 TV series, accounting for 15,983 episodes, and cartoon programs amounting to 138,496 minutes. The report also flagged growth on the silver screen, saying the country produced a total of 618 feature films — 36 of which earned more than 100 million yuan each — and racked up total box office revenues of 26.9 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) last year.
The latter figure represented a 36% increase over 2013, the white paper said. It wasn’t clear from the report how that growth related to human rights. The State Council Information Office, which produced the report, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While the section on entertainment appeared early on in the white paper, a section on China’s international human rights efforts — including an increasingly marginal series of on-again, off-again human rights dialogues with Western countries — appeared at the very end.
As in years past, the white paper maintained an upbeat tone throughout. ”The tremendous achievements China has made in its human rights endeavors fully demonstrate that it is taking the correct path of human rights development that suits its national conditions,” it said.
The report said that 90% of the economic and social development goals set out in the country’s most recent five-year plan had either been exceeded, nearly fulfilled or made smooth progress. It also said China had achieved most of the targets set out in a four-year national human rights action plan set to end this year. It did not identify in either case which targets had been missed.
China has long defended itself against criticism of its human rights record by arguing that individual rights sometimes need to be sacrificed for the more immediate needs of social stability and economic growth. Many Chinese accept that argument, but demands for better protection of individual rights are growing in tandem with the country’s economy, activists say.
At any rate, the white paper’s rosy tone isn’t likely to convince many, according to Maya Wang, Hong Kong-based China researcher for Human Rights Watch.
“The white paper has departed so much from reality that its claims that the government has made ‘great achievements’ on human rights are absurd,” Ms. Wang said, noting that the State Council’s 2013 white paper cited car ownership in defending its human rights record. “The government could have counted the number of pandas as a sign of rights progress,” she said.
Among the other measures of success, the white paper cited increased attention paid to rule of law and renewed efforts to promote “human rights education,” which included programs “inculcating filial piety education, thrift education, cultivating and inheriting fine family values” and exhortations to Chinese tourists to rein in their bad behavior.
China’s much-publicized legal reforms, which include increased independence for judges and rules against evidence acquired through torture, are less substantive than they seem, according to Ms. Wang. “The law has remained a tool for the [Communist Party] rather than an effective one for citizens to defend themselves against arbitrary state power,” she said, citing an ongoing crackdown on dissent and a series of draft laws aimed at bolstering national security.
Asked about the white paper at a regular press briefing on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China would “strike a balance” in pressing ahead with human rights development. “Which means that we will try our best to develop all undertakings to make sure that people will have the opportunity to realize their dreams, to have an equal participation in development,” he said.
That balance means even the right to entertainment has limits, as evidenced by recent bans on certain foreign TV shows, naughty celebrities, and excess cleavage in period dramas.
