In its annual State Department report on human rights Friday, the US branded China, Iran, Russia and North Korea “forces of instability” for their alleged human rights abuses. The report also lashed out at China’s Xinjiang and Tibetan affairs. A day before the report’s release, the State Department invited several Uighur journalists from Radio Free Asia to its daily briefing and smeared the situation in Xinjiang. A State Department official said earlier that the US could take action through the Global Magnitsky Act. This was interpreted by Western media as the US considering sanctioning relevant Chinese officials.

Although Washington’s annual human rights report can still grab headlines, its influence has been declining. An increasing number of serious loopholes have been found in the West’s human rights system. The West is now plagued by the same problems they once identified with an accusing finger in developing countries. For instance, they have had to strengthen management of social media and have paid more attention to the boundaries of freedom. US gun ownership has caused serious human rights violations and drawn worldwide criticism.

The Donald Trump administration shrank its support for the global dissemination of Western human rights values. Funds have been cut for non-governmental organizations and dissidents in developing countries are receiving less material support than before. Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, where the West had particularly exported “democracy,” have been mired in chaos. Syria is suffering a humanitarian disaster due to the intervention of the US and Europe, which makes the West’s human rights concepts unconvincing. People in Third World countries have formed a strong impression that the West only cares about the rights of those who oppose the government and the West’s much-touted human rights do not meet the needs of ordinary people. The West is using human rights for politics.

Since China’s reform and opening-up, the country’s human rights cause has witnessed a historic leap alongside economic and social development. Except for a few radical activists, the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people have felt and enjoyed the changes.

Chinese people’s understanding of human rights is much broader than the West’s. A prosperous life, social fairness, clean public toilets, leisure of traveling, and not being susceptible to feelings of inferiority caused by poverty are all tangible human rights. Western human rights are not excluded, but it’s annoying that the West uses them as cards to hit at China.

The Xinjiang issue is complicated. Restoring order in unstable areas within the autonomous region is imperative. Xinjiang has made great achievements in maintaining stability and its security has improved. It’s fortunate that Xinjiang did not become another Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo or Syria. Americans don’t care about the well-being of ethnic groups in Xinjiang. What they care about is stirring trouble, using their discourse hegemony to create obstacles to China’s diplomatic and domestic affairs. Nonetheless, China’s human rights record has been continuously improving. It won’t be bothered by the West’s judgment of it.