Politics & Government

Japan Upper House Shows Concern about Human Rights in China

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Diet Building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan.

Jiji Press

12:24 JST, December 5, 2022

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Japan’s House of Councillors on Monday adopted a resolution showing concern about human rights abuses in Chinese regions including Xinjiang.

The upper chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, passed the resolution with a majority vote with support mainly from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc and opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Japanese Communist Party.

While avoiding direct criticism of China, the resolution strongly urged the country’s government to fulfill accountability so the international community can understand.

The resolution mentioned “serious human rights situations” marked by violations of religious freedom and forced imprisonment in Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

It noted that Japan and the United States, as well as the Group of Seven members including the two, shared concern over the matter after the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, adopted a similar resolution in February.

The Upper House resolution asked the government to collect information to grasp the whole picture of the situations and take comprehensive measures in cooperation with the rest of the international community to monitor the situations and rescue victims.