Paper short abstract:

How has Japanese human rights diplomacy evolved during the last few years? This paper aims to deconstruct the prevailing discourse criticizing Japan’s human rights foreign policy towards China. While media, NGOs and some scholars find the Japanese response weak, the reality shows to be different.

Paper long abstract:

Discourse over Japan’s position towards human rights abuse in China is usually critical. It labels Japan’s policy as „ambiguous“, „slow-reacting“, „missing substance“, or even “shameful“. Indeed, for a long time, Japanese foreign policy did not operate much with human rights or democracy promotion. The situation started to change tardily in the 1990s when Japan began to adapt to Western calls for a more proactive approach. As a result, the ODA charter, which has included humanitarian considerations as one of the priorities, has been introduced. The revision of Japanese legislation has allowed participation in peacekeeping operations. However, human rights promotion started to appear in Japan’s foreign policy reluctantly. After the massacre in Tiananmen Square, Japan pleaded against sanctions on China in order to maintain stability and Chinese economic growth.

With both Abe’s administrations, Japanese diplomacy underwent a significant shift in several aspects, including human rights policy. And while China has become central to world politics because of its rapid economic and technological growth, it has also attracted much attention due to extensive human rights abuse in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Western countries reacted by raising critical statements and imposing sanctions on China. As part of the value-based diplomacy and the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” initiative (FOIP), Tokyo has proclaimed to be an advocate of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Thus, it was expected for Japan to take a clear stance on Chinese human rights violations. Tokyo did not release any official statement condemning China until February 2022. However, Japan has joined all UN statements and G7 letters criticizing Chinese activities and has directly questioned the situation in Xinjiang and Hong Kong during bilateral meetings with Chinese counterparts. Eventually, Japan became unexpectedly critical towards Chinese human rights violations, especially after the enactment of the National Security Law and Hong Kong demonstrations crack-downs. This paper aims to deconstruct the prevailing discourse of Japanese human rights diplomacy towards China and find out how Japanese human rights diplomacy has changed since 2019 against the backdrop of value-based diplomacy and FOIP and whether there is a different approach towards Hong Kong and Xinjiang cases.