Trump’s lack of focus on human rights in China is big departure for US diplomacy | China

Asked if he would raise the case of pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, who is imprisoned in Hong Kong, with the Chinese president before heading to Beijing, Donald Trump said, “I will raise that.”

But the US president added: “That’s like saying to me: ‘If Comey went to jail, would you let him out?’ It might be difficult for me.” Trump was referring to James B Comey, the former FBI director and frequent target of Trump’s ire.

Trump’s arrogant attitude towards human rights is no surprise. Since taking office, his administration has launched widespread attacks on civil liberties, from immigration raids to attacks on gender-based health care to cutting funding to civil rights groups.

But the near-total absence of human rights in the current US-China dialogue represents a marked departure from the diplomacy of previous generations; This reflects both the transformation of the United States under Trump and China’s growing confidence on the world stage.

Disbarred human rights lawyer Ren Quanniu said the Chinese Communist Party now “seems immune to so-called condemnations and the international community.”

When George W. Bush visited Beijing in 2008, he insisted on attending a Sunday church service to support the cause of religious freedom in China.

When Barack Obama made his state visit the following year, he called on China’s then-president, Hu Jintao, to restart talks with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Both Bush and Obama have been accused of war crimes and human rights violations in connection with the US “war on terror”. But public support for minorities and activists in China has been welcomed by the country’s nascent civil society movement.

One of the most notable cases of US intervention occurred in 2012, when the Obama administration helped release blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng after he escaped from house arrest. (Chen later urged US voters to elect Trump, claiming he would “stand up to tyranny.”)

Even for lesser-known civil rights figures, support from the United States could boost morale and lead to partial improvements in their conditions.

“Many Chinese activists have told me that raising their case directly makes a difference,” said Thomas Kellogg, executive director of the Asian Law Center at Georgetown University in Washington. The difference may be improving prison conditions or easing abuse outside prison.

The United States’ retreat from its claimed position as global human rights defender – although always a bit misguided – comes at a time when activists say the situation in China is deteriorating.

Since coming to power in 2012, Xi Jinping has cracked down on civil society, punished feminist activists, narrowed space for religious and ethnic expression, and made crushing dissent a priority.

Under his rule, China has established a network of re-education camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, imprisoning up to 1 million Uighurs and other Turkic minorities in the name of combating extremism. Although the UN says China’s policies in Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity, Beijing vehemently denies these allegations.

“These are very, very difficult times for human rights defenders,” said Sophie Richardson, co-executive director of China Human Rights Defenders, an NGO. “I don’t think any democratic government has really kept pace with Beijing’s interventions.”

During Trump’s first term, he took a more aggressive stance against China. His senior team included many China hawks, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger. This administration has imposed sanctions on many officials accused of ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Trump’s current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was sanctioned by China for his harsh criticism of the country’s human rights record when he was a senator (though China allowed him to accompany Trump to Beijing this week).

But these hawks have been put aside, and Trump, himself a leader who has displayed many autocratic tendencies, has expressed his admiration for Xi.

He told the Chinese leader on Thursday: “You are a great leader. Sometimes people don’t like me to say this, but I say it anyway, because it’s true… it’s an honor to be your friend.”

China, whose economy and military power has rapidly increased in recent years, has also become more resistant to Western criticism, which it has long interpreted as instructive and hypocritical.

In 2021, China’s State Council released a 28-page report on human rights violations in the United States. This report opened with the last words of George Floyd, the African American whose death at the hands of a police officer sparked the Black Lives Matter movement: “I can’t breathe.”

Ren said Chinese propaganda has convinced many ordinary people that criticism from the United States is driven by “hostile foreign powers” rather than genuine humanitarian concerns. “A lot of people don’t care what Americans say anymore,” Ren said.

According to Trump, human rights were mentioned at this week’s summit. Although not included in either side’s statements about Thursday’s two-hour talks, Trump told Fox News on his way home that he discussed both Jimmy Lai and the case of several detained pastors with Xi.

He said Xi was “seriously considering” releasing detained religious leaders, many of whom have been targeted during the recent crackdown on Christians.

This situation was welcomed by his relatives. Grace Jin Drexel, whose father Ezra Jin was detained last year, said: “This is a great answer to our prayers, and we are also so grateful to everyone who walked with us during our most difficult time.”

But when it came to Lai, the 78-year-old former media mogul who has broad bipartisan support in the United States, Trump said it was a “difficult situation.”