On July 1, 53 countries (including China) signed a resolution introduced by Cuba at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva praising China for the passing of the Hong Kong National Security Law. The list of those that became part to this new Axis of Shame (a label Bitter Winter originally created for those supporting Chinese persecutions of Muslims in Xinjiang) has now been published by Axios.com:
China, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, UAE, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Russia did not sign, but its Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva issued on June 30 a separate statement denouncing the “external interference into the domestic affairs of China.” Chinese media announced that other countries also issued pro-China separate statements, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Capo Verde, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Maldives, Nigeria, Serbia, Tanzania, Chad, Vietnam. It seems however that these separate statements did not necessarily “praise” the new Hong Kong National Security Law, while they criticized those “politicizing human rights” and “interfering in the internal affairs of China.”
The following countries signed a statement introduced at the same Human Rights Council by the United Kingdom strongly criticizing China for violations of human rights and international law in Hong Kong and Xinjiang:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.
The United States did not sign because of their problems with the Human Rights Council, but have also strongly condemned China’s wrongdoings in both Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
In the middle are those countries that did not sign either statement, including European Union countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
