In the latest pushback against foreign criticism of China’s human rights abuses, Beijing has endorsed a series of lawsuits against U.S.-based German researcher Adrian Zenz, whose research and conclusions have been central to claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Zenz, a senior fellow in China studies at the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian takes a question at the daily media briefing in Beijing on April 8, 2020.In the regular news briefing last Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Demonstrators take part in a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Berlin on Dec. 27, 2019, to call attention to China’s mistreatment of members of the Uyghur community in western China.On social media, some China scholars and netizens expressed resentment at the lawsuits, saying China’s latest approach to fighting back against allegations of genocide in Xinjiang is “unacceptable.” In an online article in The China Collection March 9 discussing the legal aspects of the lawsuits, Donald Clarke, a professor who specializes in Chinese law at The George Washington University Law School, said, “There is little doubt that the plaintiffs will win in China. But what can they do with their victory? Nothing, unless they can enforce it in a jurisdiction where Zenz has assets. (Note that they don’t need to do anything about Zenz the person; it’s his money to which their Chinese court victory entitles them.)” He also said, “Under the common law of enforcement of foreign judgments, as well as the statutes in almost all states, neither a treaty nor even reciprocity is required to enforce a foreign judgment. There is generally a requirement that the foreign judgment comport with due process, but the burden is on the defendant to show that it didn’t, not on the plaintiff to show that it did. In this case, presumably that would be relatively easy for Zenz to show.” Rayhan Asat, an attorney based in Washington, D.C., who is from Xinjiang, said that with due process, U.S. courts have to provide Zenz with a proper legal process to defend himself and will not accept rulings from a court in Xinjiang, especially in such a politically influential case. “China is not ruled by law, you cannot even guarantee this due process. They will rule themselves as winners. But U.S. courts won’t recognize it,” Asat said.Clarke said Zenz does not need to be seriously concerned about the lawsuits as long as he does not go to China. Chen Jiangang, a human rights lawyer and former visiting scholar at American University Law School, told VOA, “China’s domestic verdicts are written at will by the CCP. Such sentences would be a great harm to the world if other countries would recognize and enforce the sentences. Of course, I don’t believe this is possible. Civilized countries will certainly not conform to the CCP’s rules. It will be a joke, and it is just a harassment.”
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