President Biden’s pick to lead his Health and Human Services Department once downplayed China’s human rights abuses amid a push to expand trade with the communist country.
As a California congressman in 1997, Xavier Becerra helped lead a delegation of more than 20 House members on an economic mission to China. The trip came on the heels of a 1996 tour of Cuba where Becerra met with strongman Fidel Castro, a decision that provoked controversy among Cuban-American lawmakers.
Becerra, California attorney general since 2017, faces considerable Republican opposition in his bid to be confirmed as HHS secretary.
The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday voted 14-14, along party lines, on whether to advance Becerra’s nomination to the full Senate. Becerra is still likely to be confirmed in the Democratic majority chamber. But Republicans continue to criticize his nomination, over past congressional votes on abortion and other issues.
So far, foreign policy hasn’t particularly been part of the opposition to Becerra. But virtually anything in his congressional past could become fodder for attacks.
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For instance, upon returning from his 1997 trip to China, Becerra defended the communist regime against allegations of widespread human rights abuses. While acknowledging that the country needed to improve its record, Becerra said that China has a “different perspective” on the issue.
“We have two very different cultures, and we have two very different perspectives on the world,” Becerra told NPR. “That’s not to say one perspective is better than the other.”
Becerra, first elected to the House in 1992, explained that because China was a developing country with different cultural mores, it was understandable that its leaders take “a dim view of what they consider meddling by the U.S. in its affairs internally — especially with regard to human rights.”
Becerra offered an example from the Chinese perspective. Because the country is struggling to feed its more than 1 billion people, he pointed out, its leaders don’t believe “providing freedom of the press” can be a top priority just yet.
Becerra added that when negotiating with Chinese officials, it was important never to say “I disagree” on such questions. An amicable attitude, he said, gave the Chinese a chance at “saving face” when staring down a tough conversation.
“It’s not so much that they don’t agree with us,” he said. “It’s that they look at things differently.”
In 1997 China intensified its persecution of religious minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, according to a State Department report detailing the country’s human rights abuses. That same year, China gained control of Hong Kong from England, a transfer of power that resulted in a steady curtailing of rights on the semi-autonomous island.
Becerra was a decisive vote in then-President Bill Clinton’s 2000 push to allow China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization. The issue was bitterly divisive in Becerra’s district, with organized labor opposing trade normalization and the Port of Los Angeles supporting it. Another faction of opposition warned that allowing China into the WTO would make it more difficult to regulate the country’s human rights record.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Becerra said that engagement with China would naturally make the country freer, a common opinion at the time.
“As far out as I can see, I think this path looks better than the ‘no’ path,” he said.
During Becerra’s China trip, every Republican member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus quit the group, citing his refusal to call for free elections during his Cuba mission. That call left a deep mark on Becerra’s career and is still being debated as Senate Republicans push against his HHS nomination. A Wednesday vote on Becerra before the Senate Finance Committee ended in a tie. He is expected to face a close confirmation vote before the full Senate.
Becerra’s past optimism toward China prompted some of his opponents to argue that he is not fit for the position.
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Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action, said that Becerra’s comments on China’s Clinton-era human rights abuses should “immediately disqualify him as a nominee for the new administration.” Heritage Action recently dumped $500,000 into a campaign to convince the centrist Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to vote against Becerra.
Becerra did not return a request for comment.
