China has lashed out at Hillary Clinton for her tweet
criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping's record on gender equality, accusing
her of being a "rabble-rouser" intent on China-bashing to win
election points.
The English
edition of Global Times, a state-run media outlet, ran the editorial on Monday saying she had
"resorted to these ignominious shenanigans" and likened her to
another 2016 candidate, Donald Trump.
It added:
"Hillary was a lawyer, the former hostess of the White House, and also a
senior leader in the government. It is a pity that even the former first lady
has also thrown away her decency and reputation only to gain a leg up in the
election."
U.S. presidential
hopeful Hillary Clinton criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping for co-hosting
a summit on women's rights with the United Nations whilst punishing several
prominent women's rights activists in his own country.
"Xi hosting
a meeting on women's rights at the U.N. while persecuting feminists?
Shameless," Clinton tweeted Sunday.
Clinton was referring to the cases of five Chinese women
activists -- Wei Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Li Tingting, Wang Man and Zheng Churan
-- who were detained in March for campaigning against sexual
harassment.
Although China released them on bail 37 days later, their ordeal continues.
The five women are subject to surveillance for a year, their activities
restricted, and police can call them in for questioning at any time.
"This
shouldn't be a moment of celebration," Wu's lawyer Liang Xiaojun told CNN
at the time. "The arbitrary detention and release of these women really
shows the backwardness of China's legal system."
'Half the sky'
At the U.N. summit meeting, Chinese
President Xi Jinping vowed to "reaffirm our commitment to gender equality
and women's development." It marked the 20th anniversary of the historic
Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.
Xi invoked a
famous line from Mao Zedong that "women hold up half the sky" and
pledged $10 million to the U.N. agency for women.
"As the Chinese people pursue a happy life, every Chinese
woman has the opportunities to excel in life and make their dream come true.
China will do more to enhance gender equality as its basic state policy, give
play to women's important role as 'half the sky' and support them in realizing
their own dreams and aspiration in both career and life," Xi said.
To emphasize
China's rising position on the world stage, Xi also promised to help build
schooling and health projects for women and girls in developing countries. In
programs jointly funded by China and the U.N., China will host women from other
parts of the developing world to build skills.
"The
Chinese women, through their own development, will also play a greater part in
global women's movement and make greater contributions to gender equality in
the world," Xi said.
Tweet controversy
According to Chinese media, Li Junhua,
Director-General of the Department of International Affairs of the Foreign
Ministry, remarked on Sunday that the feminists "were arrested not because
they were advancing women's rights but because they broke the law."
China Daily quoted
him saying that "Chinese women are best judges of their rights" and
"some individuals or entities take groundless views, or show a lack of
understanding" in what appeared to be a jab at Clinton's comment.
On Weibo, China's version of Twitter, users also joined in on
the chatter. One user cited traditional expectations of womanhood and said
Clinton "abandoned her grace and self-restraint," her words
unbecoming for someone who served both as First Lady and Secretary of State.
However, one of
the more popular comments came from "Voices of Feminism," which
posted a number of surveys filled out by Chinese women about their satisfaction
with the levels of gender equality in their country. It concluded that more
than 70% of women were not satisfied.
"Hillary
said it right," a user commented on the findings. "Shameless,
indeed."
Meanwhile, The
National People's Congress, China's top legislature, has begun
deliberations on its
first-ever draft law on domestic violence, reported Xinhua, a state-run news
agency.
Domestic
violence is one of the key issues the five previously-detained activists
have protested against -- including "performance art"-style
demonstrations where they donned wedding gowns splattered in blood.
Long-time women's advocate
Clinton, who is making a second run at
becoming the U.S.'s first female president, has been a long-time advocate of
gender equality. At a 1995 conference in Beijing, as First Lady, Clinton
delivered a landmark speech on the violations of women's rights worldwide.
Since she announced her run in April, she has made women's rights a cornerstone
of her 2016 presidential
campaign.
"What
we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated,
their families will flourish," she said in her 1995 speech. "If women
are free from violence, their families will flourish."
While she has harsh words for China's track record on gender
equality, the U.S. also has significant room for improvement, according to
campaigners there.
The U.S. Center
for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) and The Leadership Conference released a
separate "shadow
report" over the
weekend to coincide with the U.N. meeting. Signed by a network of American
women's rights groups, the report called on the U.S. to improve its domestic
and foreign policies, from banning violent practices such as the
"shackling of pregnant women" in prison, to expanding health services
for women, immigrants and LGBTQ people, to fully implementing its global
development initiatives.
The report also
urged the U.S. to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the only democratic nation not to have
done so.
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