Mr. President, Genocide Isn’t a ‘Cultural Norm’

By Aaron Kliegman The Trump and Biden administrations seem to agree on at least one thing: China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Last month, on President Donald Trump’s last full day in office, the State Department declared as much. “I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state,” said then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He added that China was “engaged in the forced assimilation and eventual erasure of a vulnerable ethnic and religious minority group.” Pompeo was right: China seeks to eradicate the Uyghur people from this world. Since 2017, the Chinese government has imprisoned more than a million innocent Uyghurs and other Turkic, predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in concentration camps in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang. Chinese authorities are not exterminating Uyghurs in the same way that the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews — namely, through mass, systematic slaughter. Instead, they are using forced sterilization and brainwashing — euphemistically known as “re-education” — to end their culture over time. President Joe Biden and his team have indicated they agree with Pompeo. Back in August, Biden’s presidential campaign released the following statement: “The unspeakable oppression that Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have suffered at the hands of China’s authoritarian government is genocide, and Joe Biden stands against it in the strongest terms.” Last month, Antony Blinken was asked about Pompeo’s declaration. “That would be my judgment as well," he said. "Forcing men, women, and children into concentration camps, trying to in effect re-educate them to be adherents to the Chinese Communist Party — all of that speaks to an effort to commit genocide.” Shortly thereafter, Blinken was confirmed as Biden’s secretary of state. And in his first remarks as America’s top diplomat from the State Department podium, he added this: “My judgment remains that genocide is committed against the Uyghurs, and that hasn't changed.” So, the Biden administration believes, on the record, that China is committing genocide. Which makes Biden’s comments at a CNN town hall this week all the more disgusting. At the event, Biden dismissed China’s genocidal campaign against the Uyghurs after being asked about his recent conversation with Xi Jinping, leader of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. “The idea that I am not going to speak out against what he’s doing in Hong Kong, what he’s doing with the Uyghurs in western mountains of China, and Taiwan — trying to end the one China policy by making it forceful … gets it,” Biden said. “Culturally there are different norms that each country and their leaders are expected to follow.” In other words, Biden brushed off genocide as a Chinese cultural norm that America should at least accept if not understand. Biden’s comments are even more shocking given that they came just days after the BBC published a horrifying report detailing “an organized system of mass rape, sexual abuse, and torture” perpetrated by Chinese authorities at these concentration camps against Uyghur prisoners. If the leader of the free world is unwilling to stand up to China for its atrocities, then who will? No one needs to launch World War III to take forceful action against China’s barbarism. Instead, the US and other countries in the civilized world need to sanction the Chinese entities they don’t want to sanction. They need to say what they fear will sound too provocative to Beijing. They need to wage political warfare by exposing as much detail about the Chinese government’s genocide as possible. In short, they need to be brave and creative in imposing punitive measures against Beijing. But the typical “harsh” rhetoric full of empty condemnations that we so often hear out of Washington won’t work. Tragically, however, Biden seems unwilling even to go that far. If anything, he has given China his blessing to continue eradicating the Uyghur people. After the Holocaust, the world said “never again” — a societal promise never to allow the evil of genocide, or anything like it, to return. Clearly no one meant it. Perhaps they meant “never again — until the next time.” Newt hosts monthly virtual events in which he discusses news of the day and why it matters to you and your community. These Newt Live events are your opportunity to communicate directly with Newt. We hope you will join us next time and let Newt answer your questions and provide his insight on the issues that concern you most. JOIN TODAY to be a part of this special event and receive a BONUS GIFT. Click here to join Newt’s Inner Circle.