The Politics of Human Rights in East Asia

Refugees fleeing East Timor. Tiananmen Square in China. The killing fields in Cambodia. Freedom of speech in Singapore. The subject of human rights in Asia in a hotly debated one. This book surveys the human records and attitudes of each country. The countries covered are: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. Kenneth Christie covers Southeast Asia and Denny Roy covers Northeast Asia. They conclude with a discussion of the Association of East Asian Nation’s (ASEAN) role and suggestions for the future. Throughout, they examine the competing meaning of human rights in the western versus the non-western context and place the role of human rights within the framework of each country’s political history and political and economic development.