Author: Patrick Chin-Dahler, ANU

On 7 May 1999, during the US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, two US B2 bombers launched five 2000-pound missiles.

Three of these bombs exploded near the Chinese embassy’s intelligence operations building in Belgrade, while two of them directly hit the embassy, killing three and injuring 23 Chinese citizens. Read more…

Author: Patrick Chin-Dahler, ANU

The issue of implementing universal human rights (specifically Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which articulates the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) continues to be a sensitive and ongoing issue between various Western and Asian governments. While most of these issues have been concerned with empirical developments regarding human rights abuses, the conceptual underpinnings that inform this debate are less often analysed. In particular, how do cultural relativism and Asian values, as posited against universal values, help legitimise repressive policies and actions through various conceptual manoeuvres.

Cultural relativism is the position to which local cultural traditions (religious, political and legal practices included) properly determine the existence and scope of civil and political rights enjoyed by individuals in a given society. It is premised on the idea that all cultures are equally valid and that standards of evaluation are internal to traditions. Read more…