This month the deadly Israel-Hamas war that started since Hama’s surprise attack on Israel on 7 October (and is still ongoing) claimed the lives of 1,403 people in Israel, over 5,000 in Gaza and 81 in the West Bank. The world was quick to condemn of terrorist attacks and the unfolding of a humanitarian nightmare in the region. In order to rescue vulnerable foreign nationals trapped in this war, their lives were endangered, and several countries soon were engaged in the repatriation of their citizens.
India is among one of the first countries to immediately conduct operations to rescue its citizens, with 18,000 in Israel and 17 in Palestine. Operation Ajay was launched whereby specially chartered flights were sent for repatriation on 12 October, on the sixth day of the ongoing war, and 1,200 Indian nationals were successfully repatriated.
Up until now, via Operation Ajay, India has sent its sixth flight and 143 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were repatriated. India’s help to Nepal has been appreciated by Nepal's foreign minister NP Saud.
On the other hand, China opted out of any repatriation operation mission to evacuate its citizens from war-torn regions. Therefore, China has not chartered any flights for rescuing its nationals. Instead, it has urged them to leave Israel as quickly as possible by availing the Chinese commercial flights which are in operation. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has advised its people to take the earliest flight to reach China as soon as possible.
Chinese citizens are reportedly paying hefty amounts ranging from $700-2000 for repatriation flights arranged by other countries. This is surprising considering that four Chinese nationals were killed in the war, two were missing and six were injured. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) motive of prioritising its own political interests over the safety of its own citizens is clear from its stance.
This is not the only time Beijing displayed its cunning behaviour in dealing with the issue of repatriation, be it its own citizens or foreign nationals. Just a couple of days ago, Beijing’s forceful deportation of a significant number of North Korean defectors, mostly women, came under intense criticism from the international community. China’s response is that there are “no defectors in China” and that it does not recognise North Korean defectors as refugees, but rather claims them to be “economic migrants”, and therefore, has a policy of deporting them.
This policy of forced repatriation against one’s will risks the lives of defectors who could face imprisonment, harassment or even persecution once they return to North Korea. UN experts have called on China to respect the principle of nonrefoulement guaranteed under international law.
Surely, the world has not forgotten China’s treatment of its own minority population—the Uyghurs of Xinjiang Autonomous Region—its intention to smash “separatist activities and terrorists” in Xinjiang in 2017 resulting in unprecedented state crackdowns on the Uyghur population, reportedly more than one million ethnic minorities, Uyghurs included, been killed, arrested and forced into detention camps/prisons, what is referred in Beijing as “re-education camps”, under the garb of “tackling extremism”.
It was well-recognised by the UN that this is nothing short of an act of genocide which “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
Last year, the UN Committee urged China to release the Uyghurs detained in China’s “re-education” camps, and recommended providing victims with “remedies and repatriation.” China obviously paid no heed to the international community’s repeated appeals and continued with its repression of the Uyghurs.
While China made no efforts to end genocide and provide repatriation of the Uyghurs, in the case of the Rohingya crisis, China aimed to show itself as a strong mediator that could resolve the crisis. Because of its cordial relations with both Bangladesh as well as Myanmar, China has been perceived to be the ideal arbitrator in this case. About 742,000 Rohingya refugees sought refuge in Bangladesh during their arrival in 2017, fleeing human rights violations and persecution in their homeland in Myanmar and what is deemed as genocide by many.
Myanmar is significant for China both strategically as well as economically and is considered an important partner for the successful implementation of China’s Belt and Road Initiative project. Due to this significance that Myanmar holds, China has not recognised the Rohingya crisis to be an act of genocide by Myanmar. It is reflected in China’s vote against of UN resolution in 2018 on the human rights situation in Myanmar, condemning the Myanmar government for its human rights violations and calling for an independent body to determine the liability of a possible genocide that took place in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. In 2017, China successfully brokered an agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh to repatriate about 600,00 Rohingyas. Another Chinese-backed effort at repatriation was witnessed in 2019.
However, neither was successful because of China’s role in it which was not well perceived by the Rohingyas. With Chinese help, about 3,000 houses were built in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for the repatriation of Rohingyas.
However, refugees displayed their apprehensions because of China’s treatment of Uyghurs in detention camps in their own country. China-backed efforts, which clearly do not hold Myanmar accountable for its human rights violations, made no efforts to guarantee citizenship, safety, security, shelter and justice as demanded by the Rohingyas. The Pilot Repatriation Project backed by China launched this May which aimed to repatriate 1,176 refugees also failed like the previous Chinese efforts at repatriation.
Rohingyas fear that like Uyghurs, they too would be detained in the housing provided to them without allowing them to return to their own homes. China’s involvement, therefore, is a major hindrance factor behind the successful and safe repatriation of the Rohingyas to their motherland, which is also causing an economic burden for Bangladesh.
The political interest of the Chinese Communist Party reigns supreme over any matters of human well-being in China. Its violation of human rights in its own country, its lack of efforts to resolve human rights situations in others despite acting as the “arbitrator”, of its efforts, or lack of it, thus can be reflected in its dealing with the issue of repatriation.
