Australia and New Zealand have together to express their common concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Xinjiang and Hong Kong as part of a detailed discussion on China.
In the first offline meeting on Monday between the heads of the states after more than a year, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his counterpart New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke in unison about the poor human rights situation in China.
Morrison's talks in New Zealand focussed on China, the regional scenario as well as the origins of the coronavirus.
The joint expression over China was surprising as Australia has completed almost a year of an ongoing diplomatic and a harmful economic spat with China while New Zealand has managed to keep its relations uncontroversial with its biggest economic partner. Wellington has also remained diplomatic in its approach to China–a country which has hogged the limelight for over a year due to the virus that first emerged in Wuhan and also for its aggressive military manoeuvres against numerous neighbours.
Ardern rejected the widely-expressed feeling that it is balancing its relations with China by saying that both the countries are broadly positioned in exactly the same place on trade and human rights' issues consistently. Morrison agreed with Ardern, saying: "I think as great partners, friends, allies and indeed family, there will be those far from here who would seek to divide us and they will not succeed."
In a joint statement, the two prime ministers called upon Beijing to respect the human rights of the Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities. They also urged China to allow UN observers access to Xinjiang.
China was quick to reject the joint statement. In its characteristic irreverent style, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the two leaders had made "irresponsible remarks" about China's internal affairs related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea.
In the last one year, China has attacked India on its northern border and encroached upon its territory, has sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat and violated its exclusive economic zone, threatened Taiwan with war, sent fishing vessels and jets into Japanese sovereign spaces and taken over large parts of the South China Sea impinging upon the waters of numerous South-East Asian countries.
The communist behemoth has also suspended rights in Hong Kong, increased surveillance in Tibet and incarcerated over a million Muslims in Xinjiang.
