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Written by: Aidan Jonah

Jean-Pierre Page, Editor-in-Chief of La Pensée Libre, is indeed correct. Western politicians have great determination to cast the concept of human rights as exclusively being controlled by the sentimentalities of Western politicians and their elite backers, in service of imperial ambitions to control resources by finding, developing and then exploiting divisions among the peoples of Global South nations to ensure Western political domination sans the bayonet and rifle, at the cost of true sovereignty and economic development for many nations.

China has an admirable track record of defeating extreme poverty at a rapid speed and on an unparalled scale. Therefore, it has extremely significant credibility when it continues to push for an alternative view of the concept of human rights. Their view on the concept focuses on protecting human rights through combatting poverty, ensuring economic development along with the improvement of people’s quality of life through developing industries with jobs that pay enough to allow for a dignified life, along with ensuring access to housing, education and healthcare.

As communities in the US and in Canada are fighting for the development of artificial intelligence usage and data centres that serve the interest of the people before corporate profiteers who have little to no concern for drinking water, noise pollution and environmental damage caused by the careless development of data centres near or in populated locations (in contrast to China’s human-centred approach to the development of these centres), Canadians should consider carefully that true determination to protect human rights does not require Western-style ‘democratic’ elections to be serious and effective.

China’s President and General Secretary, Xi Jinping, is fully correct to have said that all states must serve the people. Certainly we can hope for a future in which this statement is matched by such a future.

Watch this French-language video clip for the full perspective of Mr. Page.

Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, an independent news outlet covering Canadian foreign policy with a strong focus on Canada-China relations. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.

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