The West’s Human Rights Hypocrisy | China’s Role in Palestine | Is the Rules-Based Order Collapsing?

In this episode of New Wave Global, host Rabia Mehmood is joined by John Pang, Senior Fellow at the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific and Senior Research Fellow at the Perak Academy of Malaysia, and Ziyad Faisal, Features Editor at The Friday Times. Together, they discuss the "double standards" of Western powers regarding human rights, particularly in the context of Israel's war on Palestine. The discussion addresses critical questions such as whether the international rules-based order is functional, and why human rights frameworks and standards fail to apply to Israel. Despite its indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza and assaults on the West Bank, Israel continues to receive protection from countries like the United States and Germany. International experts have described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, with Pang arguing that the West is complicit in these atrocities. Drawing from his experience as a former Special Advisor to the Malaysian Minister of Education and the Prime Minister’s office on Track II diplomacy, Pang asserts that Western nations have weaponized human rights and democracy to maintain hegemony, rather than working toward a more equitable world. Faisal highlights how countries like China have supported the Palestinian right to armed resistance in certain contexts, a stance that has been used by others as justification to bomb Gaza. The discussants conclude that with initiatives such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gaining traction, and in light of the atrocities in Gaza, it is time for the Global South to establish more platforms for dialogue and collaboration to build just and equitable societies.