Joe Biden on Monday condemned President Trump’s “weak” stance on protecting Uighur rights in China.
Biden’s comments came days after a report from the Associated Press revealed that the communist regime has been imposing forced sterilizations on Uighur women in an effort to keep their population down in Xinjiang province, where many Uighurs are kept in internment camps. Biden called these “unconscionable crimes” and blamed Trump for not doing more to combat China.
“Time and again, President Trump has surrendered our values and reassured China’s autocrats they have a like-minded partner in the White House,” Biden said in a statement. “Trump’s record on Beijing’s human rights abuses is indefensible, marked by desperation for a failing trade deal, fealty to Xi Jinping, and an open admission that he’s willing to turn a blind eye to even the worst atrocities.”
Biden vowed that, as president, he would “take stronger steps” to prevent imports from Xinjiang and that he would work with the United States’ allies to “stand against” Chinese repressions of freedom in Xinjiang, as well as Hong Kong, where many people have been protesting the Chinese regime for the past year.
Biden’s criticism follows that of several high-ranking congressional Democrats who used the report on Tuesday to criticize Trump’s stance on Uighurs, which came into question after former national security adviser John Bolton accused Trump of telling Chinese President Xi Jinping to, in Bolton’s words, “go ahead with building the camps, which he thought was exactly the right thing to do.”
Trump has acknowledged that he did not push China on Uighur rights because of his attempts at a trade deal. The Trump administration denied that Trump had ever said what Bolton alleged.
Several hours before Biden called out Trump on Wednesday, the State Department released an advisory to businesses, warning them not to work with suppliers who source their goods from Xinjiang because they may interact with “entities that engage in human rights abuses,” especially of Uighurs.
“Businesses with potential exposure in their supply chain to entities that engage in human rights abuses in Xinjiang or to facilities outside Xinjiang that use forced labor from Xinjiang in the manufacture of goods intended for domestic and international distribution should be aware of the reputational, economic, and legal risks of involvement with such entities,” the advisory said.
Biden has, in the past, come under fire for his own stances on China, particularly for his role in allowing the communist country to become a member of the World Trade Organization.
