The Uyghur genocide in the Xinjiang province in China is well documented. The Trump administration had officially labelled actions in Xinjiang as Genocide. But the Biden administration has since asked the genocidal tag to be reviewed and has now gone a step ahead when he tried to explain the rationale behind the genocides as Cultural norm.
While speaking in Wisconsin at a CNN town hall, President Biden went on length in what appeared to be an explanation and justification of Xi Jinping’s actions in Xinjiang. He said, “Chinese leaders, if you know anything about Chinese history, it has always been – the time when China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven’t been unified at home.”
“The central principle of Xi Jinping is that there must be a united, tightening control in China, and he uses his rationale for the things he does based on that. I point out to him, no American president can be sustained as a president if he doesn’t reflect the values of the United States, and so the idea that I’m 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, I say – and by that he says – he gets it.”
So, to sum it all up, Biden is saying China has perceived threat from the outside world and they base that threat on their domestic fault lines. Those domestic fault lines are prevalent in Xinjiang because of the people who reside there. Uyghur Muslims are inherently different from Han Chinese and thus need to eradicated or homogenised?
Is the need for cultural homogenisation so acute that genocide can be justified? Moreover, though Biden does acknowledge the atrocities, he criticises them based on the fact that he is the President of the United States and he needs to criticise it, and not because he finds those actions revolting and wrong.
Moreover, if that is not enough, he adds another justification. He says, “Culturally there are different norms in each country and their leaders are expected to follow.” So according to Biden, to hold onto power and giving the justification of uniting the nation by committing genocide is a cultural norm in China?
Genocide, uniting the nation, and providing the exact same justification, occurred in Western Europe after 1933. A certain chancellor of Germany had come to power and one of the largest institutionalized genocide took place.
It is in line with the previous statement that Biden made on Xi Jinping. Biden had said that there is no democratic bone in Xi Jinping’s body, but then he adds that he did not mean it as a criticism.
Has Biden already been got at by the Chinese? Are his son’s business dealings influencing his decision to not openly criticise the ‘well documented’ atrocities? What could make a person, especially if he is the President of the most powerful country on Earth, to stop short of criticising a genocide.