U.S. Department of Commerce has added 28 Chinese entities to its "Entity List," Oct 7, 2019. /VCG Photo U.S. Department of Commerce has added 28 Chinese entities to its "Entity List," Oct 7, 2019. /VCG Photo

Editor's note: Bobby Naderi is a journalist, current affairs commentator, documentary filmmaker and member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The United States, which has already withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council and refuses to cooperate with UN investigators regarding their complaints about widespread human rights abuses in the U.S., is playing political charade again. The U.S. plans to unlawfully restrict companies from exporting American-made goods to a number of Chinese companies and organizations. Wilbur Ross, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said on October 7 that his department will add new Chinese groups to the its "Entity List," which means suppliers will have to obtain a special license to continue selling to them. The entities have apparently been blacklisted for their involvement in alleged human rights abuses against Uygurs and other Muslim minorities in China's Xinjiang. As always, there is more to this new political charade than meets the eye. The U.S. government is not in a position to preach China and other nations on human rights, and examples for this enduring shame are plenty.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross arrives before testifying to the Senate Finance Committee, Washington, DC, U.S., June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross arrives before testifying to the Senate Finance Committee, Washington, DC, U.S., June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo

For the start, the U.S. is responsible for the deaths of roughly 500,000 people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. A study by Brown University on the cost in lives of America's post-9/11 wars says all these people lost their lives in the course of the three conflicts. This includes combatant and civilian deaths in fighting, violence and drone wars. America is still playing a very harmful role in the region. Trump wants to make the U.S., already dominant in the global weapons trade, an even bigger arms supplier to the Middle East, despite growing criticisms and concerns among human rights advocates that the U.S. is complicit in human rights violations and war crimes. Trump's "America first" policy and economic wars are putting the entire planet in danger too, with growing resentments from international civil society and its allies. On the home front, let us not forget that UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has already issued a damning report on rights abuses in the U.S., while the White House refuses to answer many official requests from UN special rapporteurs on human rights. The systematic refusal to respond has been made worse by the Trump administration's white supremacist and anti-immigrant policies. Here, Washington's refusal to cooperate with the UN has left issues including national inequality and the rights of immigrants unaddressed in the U.S. It has sent a harmful message to other human rights abusers across the globe that just like the U.S., they can also avoid routine UN scrutiny and get away with poor human rights record.

Empty seats of the U.S. delegation are pictured after the U.S. has withdrawn from Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo Empty seats of the U.S. delegation are pictured after the U.S. has withdrawn from Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo