China says US has caused humanitarian disasters through military interventions

A Chinese state-backed human rights research organization is accusing the United States of a history of military interventions that it says have caused repeated humanitarian disasters. 

The China Society for Human Rights Studies said in a new report published Friday, titled “Severe Humanitarian Disasters Caused by U.S. Aggressive Wars against Foreign Countries,” that the U.S. has “waged 201 armed conflicts among the total 248 that occurred in 153 regions of the world from the end of World War II in 1945 to 2001.” 

The group argued in the report that “apart from being directly involved in wars, the United States has intervened in other countries’ affairs by supporting proxy wars, inciting anti-government insurgencies, carrying out assassinations, providing weapons and ammunition, and training anti-government armed forces, which have caused serious harm to the social stability and public security of the relevant countries.” 

“The foreign wars launched by the United States had resulted in disastrous consequences, including mass casualties, damage to facilities, production stagnation, refugee waves, social unrest, ecological crisis, psychological traumas and other complex social problems,” the organization added. 

The report’s list of alleged cases of U.S. aggression date back to 1947, when the U.S provided military and economic aid to Greece, to former President Trump’s opposition to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

The report also cited the U.S.’s historical involvement in global conflicts, including the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and in the conflicts in the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. 

“Choosing to use force irrespective of the consequences reveals the hegemonic aspirations of the United States,” the report noted. “Only by discarding the hegemonic thinking, which is chiefly motivated by self-interest, can we prevent humanitarian intervention from becoming humanitarian disasters.”

The group’s analysis comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, which continues to persist under the Biden administration following Trump’s engagement in a trade war with Beijing, as well as calls from the former president for greater accountability from China for its early responses to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The White House and lawmakers have condemned China’s lack of transparency on its treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, with the U.S. continuing to levy sanctions on Chinese officials and firms in response. 

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee introduced legislation that would impose additional sanctions on China over the treatment of the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority group in that country. The legislation would also support efforts promoting human rights in China, including the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. 

The draft measure, called the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, also highlights the need to “prioritize the military investments necessary to achieve United States political objectives in the Indo-Pacific.”