Biden to China: US Focus on Human Rights is ‘Political’, ‘Doesn’t Make Us Better’

04.07.2015 | News | Alicia Powe |

Apparently the Obama administration couldn’t care less about human rights.

Vice President Joe Biden recently told New Yorker magazine about meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping before the leader assumed his country’s top office.

Xi reportedly asked Biden, in 2012 when they were both vice presidents of their respective nations, why the U.S. places “so much emphasis on human rights.”

Biden audaciously downplayed the the significance of supporting human rights and confessed to viewing human rights as necessary facade and electioneering tool without moral value. He doesn’t believe America’s focus on human rights makes it superior to authoritarian regimes that systematically violate their people’s basic human rights, at least that’s what he told Xi Jinping.

“No president of the United States could represent the United States were he not committed to human rights,” Biden told Xi. “President Barack Obama would not be able to stay in power if he did not speak of it. So look at it as a political imperative. It doesn’t make us better or worse. It’s who we are. You make your decisions. We’ll make ours.”

China continues to have a poor track record on human rights and Xi’s time in office has seen the arrest of more than 1,000 political dissidents and increasing internet censorship.

Jinping has severely punished political dissent becoming China’s most authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted that Mr. Xi took [Biden’s] advice:

Since taking office he has detained more than 1,000 political prisoners, from anticorruption activist Xu Zhiyong to lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and journalist Gao Yu. He has cracked down on Uighurs in Xinjiang, banning more Muslim practices and jailing scholar-activist Ilham Tohti for life. Anti-Christian repression and Internet controls are tightening. Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo remains in prison, his wife Liu Xia under illegal house arrest for the fifth year. Lawyer Gao Zhisheng left prison in August but is blocked from receiving medical care overseas. Hong Kong, China’s most liberal city, is losing its press freedom and political autonomy.

Alicia Powe

Staff Writer

Alicia Powe is a staff writer for Daily Surge. She worked in the War Room of the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee and served as a White House Intern during the George W. Bush administration. Alicia has written for numerous outlets, including Human Events, Media Research Center and Townhall.com.

← Previous Story Majority Say Feds TOO SOFT On Deportations

Next Story → Obama Jabs Scott Walker: ‘Bone Up’ on Foreign Policy