China and Authoritarian Collaboration

This article examines two key trends: China's collaboration with other authoritarian nations and its expanding ambitions in the international human rights system. These developments fuel questions about China's vision for the international human rights system and how China works with other repressive governments to realize its vision. In examining these questions, this article chronicles the emergence of the Like-Minded Group (LMG) in the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR or Commission) in 1999 and investigates China's relationship with this group. The author documents that under Xi's leadership China has shifted from a lower-profile role in which the PRC rarely attempted to weaken the international human rights architecture on its own to a now more forceful posture. Since 2017 the PRC has begun to sponsor resolutions in the Human Rights Council (HRC) to propagate its human rights views, with LMG countries as a key source of support.

Automated summary

This article explores two key trends: China's collaboration with other authoritarian nations and its growing ambitions in the international human rights system. It highlights China's shift under Xi's leadership from a more passive role to a more assertive posture in influencing the human rights architecture at the UN.