Pompeo’s ‘genocide’ declaration in Xinjiang presents Biden with an initial challenge to China

Pompeo’s ‘genocide’ declaration in Xinjiang presents Biden with an initial challenge to China

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Human rights groups say that up to 2 million people, mostly Muslims, have been detained in large fortified camps set up in Xinjiang since 2017, where they are said to have been subject to political indoctrination and abuse. China has consistently denied such claims and argues that the camp system in Xinjiang is necessary to combat religious extremism and terrorism.

Although Washington previously sanctioned officials over Xinjiang and blocked some imports linked to forced labor, Tuesday’s statement is the first time it has officially used the term genocide.

Genocide is, according to the United Nations, “the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. The declaration, although without automatic penalties, marks a rare step for the United States government, which has historically shown some hesitation in linking the designation of genocide to an ongoing crisis.

And it will be up to the new Biden government, which has supported the claim that the situation in Xinjiang is genocide, to take action on this issue, or to wither in the face of an aggressive Beijing trying to force a “restart” on its terms.

This photo taken on June 4, 2019 shows people passing through a screen displaying images of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kashgar, western Xinjiang.

Bad weather

Pompeo’s choice to make Xinjiang’s declaration at the last possible minute, in an action that was largely lost in the drama of the presidential transition, has frustrated many researchers and human rights activists who have long advocated such an appointment.
“Don’t give credit to Trump’s architects of China’s chaotic politics for the last-minute gestures they’ve been opposed to for years,” James Millward, Xinjiang historian, wrote on a Twitter thread denouncing what he said was Pompeo’s “hypocrisy” in this matter.

Millward pointed out that the Trump administration blocked several attempts by Congress to take action against Xinjiang in 2018 and 2019, while the president sought a trade deal with China, while Pompeo sought credit for exposing atrocities revealed by journalists and researchers “years earlier. for Trump to show his ‘good friend’ Xi. ”

More than anything else, Pompeo’s final shot at the bow of Beijing appears to have been an attempt to tie the hands of the new government.

“The flood of restrictions and penalties enacted (against China) in the last months of the Trump administration (are) designed to make it politically impossible or technically difficult for the new government to back down,” said Scott Kennedy, China analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies and Internationals, he wrote this week. “Discovering how to manage this heritage will be the main challenge for the new government’s foreign policy.”
But while the new designation could complicate Biden’s relationship with Beijing, it can also provide him with a source of influence. Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has already said he agrees with the designation of “genocide”.

Restart with conditions

Beijing is trying to influence Biden’s policy, speaking of a readjustment, while signaling possible repercussions if he continues with his predecessor’s aggressive stance towards China.

Chinese state media has been celebrating the end of the Trump administration in recent days.

Hours before Trump left the White House for the last time, the state news agency Xinhua tweeted in English an image of the US Congress with the words: “Good trip, Donald Trump!”

Also on Wednesday, China enacted new sanctions against Pompeo and several other former Trump officials whom Beijing said it had “planned, promoted and executed a series of crazy moves that seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, undermined China’s interests. , offended the Chinese people, and seriously disrupted China-US relations. “

The measures prohibit former employees “and their immediate family members” from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau, and prohibits them “and the companies and institutions associated with them” from doing business with China. This could prevent those sanctioned from taking on lucrative post-management roles in think tanks or consulting firms focusing on China, a consideration that Beijing hopes will influence new Biden officials not to take strident positions on these issues.

Speaking on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying blamed “Pompeo and other anti-China and anti-communist forces” for fomenting “various misunderstandings in matters related to Xinjiang”.

As China’s top hawk in the Trump administration, which led criticism of Beijing on Hong Kong and also on Xinjiang, Pompeo is a figure who hates Chinese diplomats and the country’s tightly controlled state media, which in the final week of the Trump administration ran multiple stories greeting your imminent departure.
In a play before Biden took office, Xinhua said that “one of the most important bilateral relations in the world is at a critical crossroads”.
“Whether China-US relations can get back on track, depends on the new US administration,” he told Xinhua, adding that Washington must “seize new opportunities to cooperate” on issues like climate change, avoiding “red lines” like increasing the involvement with the democratic and indeed independent island of Taiwan.

“President Biden repeatedly emphasized the word unity in his inauguration speech,” said Hua, the spokeswoman, on Thursday. “I think that is exactly what current China-US relations need. Because in the past four years, some anti-China politicians in the United States have told a lot of lies and incited a lot of hatred and divisions because of personal gains.”

Initial challenge

The way in which the Biden government deals with the Xinjiang issue can be a major test for this relationship. If Blinken is serious about maintaining the designation of his predecessor, then presumably this must be followed by additional sanctions, or some kind of international action, otherwise Washington is in danger of recognizing an ongoing genocide and waiting while it happens.

But international action could be hampered by the way Pompeo made the statement.

“A statement that a genocide is taking place in a foreign country is a political act, not a legal decision, and its impact, therefore, depends entirely on the speaker’s reputation and credibility,” Kate Cronin-Furman, assistant professor of human rights in University College London, wrote this week. “Pompeo announced his determination at perhaps the worst moment imaginable (with the US) in the absolute nadir of his position in the international community.”

Nor has the international community in general shown any great haste to act on this issue.

Last month, the European Union moved towards signing an investment agreement with China, despite concerns raised about human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and active lobbying against it by some new Biden officials.

“The stories coming out of Xinjiang are pure horror. The story in Brussels is that we are ready to sign an investment treaty with China,” said European lawmaker Guy Verhofstadt at the time, ignoring alleged promises about forced labor contained in the agreement. “In these circumstances, any Chinese signature on human rights is not worth the paper on which it is written.”

British lawmakers who tried to stop their government from seeking more trade with China were also frustrated. This week, the country’s parliament narrowly defeated an attempt to restrict agreements with countries considered genocides, a measure aimed directly at China. Although activists have sworn continue the fight in the House of Lords, Pompeo’s statement – which came in the middle of the debate – did not influence the majority of parliamentarians.

Biden may have more influence in Brussels and London than Trump ever had, and he certainly talked about the need to rebuild America’s international position after Trump’s four years. But whether he uses his position to lobby for action in Xinjiang, or a tougher line towards China in general, remains to be seen.

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