In an otherwise well received appearance on a CNN Town Hall last night in Milwaukee, President Biden did raise eyebrows when discussing the genocide of Uighur Muslims in China when he told Anderson Cooper, “Culturally there are different norms that each country and their leaders are expected to follow.”
In this respect, President Biden is engaging in cultural relativism which puts human rights firmly in the backseat.
Prominent Trump supporter and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec took Biden to task for calling genocide "a cultural norm."
This criticism would have merit except for the fact that President Trump was no champion of the Uighurs. Indeed, according to former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Trump told President Xi Jinping during the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan back in June 2019 that his policy of putting Uighurs into concentration camps was "exactly the right thing to do." A year later, Trump told Axios he did not bring pressure to bear upon China concerning the Uighurs because he was "in the middle of a major trade deal." Needless to say, I don't recall Posobiec nor any other Trump supporter of any description objecting to his posture towards the Uighurs.
During Trump's last day in office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo proclaimed the Chinese were committing genocide against the Uighurs. But this seemed more aimed at putting Biden into an awkward political position rather than any genuine concern for the plight of the Uighurs.
President Biden will have to do better where it concerns the Uighur Muslims. But so long as Trump supporters criticize Biden without taking into account Trump's words and deeds then their views should be given just the attention it deserves.
No comments:
Post a Comment