The House of Representatives will issue a resolution expressing concern for the human rights of the Uyghur people early Tuesday, in a process that could anger China a few days before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The decision, shortened during months of debate between ruling and opposition parties, marks Tokyo’s struggle to balance relations between its US alliance and its main trading partner, China. However, its passing just before the Olympics and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations shows the determination of many lawmakers to hold Beijing accountable for alleged human rights abuses.
“It is a great first step,” said Yasue Funayama, an opposition lawyer and chairman of one of the parliamentary human rights groups that led the effort, the decision was made in a Tokyo debate on Thursday. “If the whole parliament agrees with that. There are concerns about the human rights situation, we have to look at what we can do about it.”
For a long time hesitant to take a social stand on human rights, Japan has taken a hard line since Beijing established in Hong Kong in 2020, ending an already strained relationship between its neighbors. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year created a new position as human rights adviser to the prime minister.
Last month, the government announced that it would send Olympic and Paralympic officials to the Beijing Games, but no Cabinet ministers, much to support the strike by US officials.
Beijing, which had warned developing countries that it would “pay the price for its wrongdoing,” did not shoot any words of protest against its neighbors. Tokyo’s sending of prominent sports figures apparently did not offend Washington, or Beijing, which said it welcomed the team’s participation.
Funayama hopes the parliamentary decision will raise the profile of a bill that would require companies to conduct a human rights inquiry. A survey conducted by the Department of Economic Affairs, Trade and Industry last year found answers in about a quarter of 2,786 companies listed on the first and second tier of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Of these, just over half said they made such checks on their supply chains.
Disagreements between the ruling party and the opposition have softened the words of a resolution proposed earlier last year. The latest version seen by Bloomberg refers to the “state” of human rights, rather than the “violation” as in the previous version. The word “discarded” has also been removed from the title and there is no direct reference to China.