Pompeo’s Xinjiang ‘genocide’ statement presents Biden with an early China challenge

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Rights groups say up to 2 million people, mostly Muslims, have been trapped in sprawling fortified camps set up in Xinjiang since 2017, where they have reportedly been victims of political indoctrination and abuse. China has consistently denied such claims, arguing that the camp system in Xinjiang is necessary to tackle religious extremism and terrorism.

While Washington has previously sanctioned officials in Xinjiang and blocked some imports related to forced labor, Tuesday’s statement marks the first time it has officially used the term genocide.

According to the United Nations, genocide is “intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. The statement does not include automatic penalties, but marks a rare move for the US government, which has historically shown some hesitation in linking the designation genocide to an ongoing crisis.

And it will fall to the new Biden administration, which has called the situation in Xinjiang a genocide, to take action on this issue, or wilt as an aggressive Beijing tries to force a “reset” on its terms.

This photo taken on June 4, 2019 shows people walking past a screen depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kashgar, western Xinjiang.

Bad timing

Pompeo’s choice to make the Xinjiang Declaration at the last possible moment, in an action largely lost in the drama of the presidential transition, has frustrated many investigators and human rights activists who have long argued for such a designation.
“Don’t blame Trump architects of chaotic China policy for 11th-hour gestures they resisted for years,” James Millward, a Xinjiang historian, wrote in a Twitter thread Condemning what he said was Pompeo’s “hypocrisy” on the matter.

Millward pointed out that the Trump administration blocked multiple attempts by Congress to take action against Xinjiang, both in 2018 and 2019, as the president pursued a trade deal with China, while Pompeo sought credit for exposing atrocities perpetrated by journalists had been brought to light. and researchers “years before Trump turned over his ‘good friend’ Xi.”

Pompeo’s last shot across the Beijing arch appears to have been primarily an attempt to tie the hands of the incoming government.

“The flurry of restrictions and punishments that were enacted (against China) in the waning months of the Trump administration (are) intended to make it politically impossible or technically difficult for the incoming administration to roll back,” Scott Kennedy, a China analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote this week. “Figuring out how to manage this legacy will be the major foreign policy challenge facing the new government.”
But while the renaming could complicate Biden’s relationship with Beijing, it could also provide him with a source of leverage. Biden’s candidate for Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has already said he agrees with the term “genocide”.

Reset with conditions

Beijing is trying to influence Biden’s policies, talking about a reset while also signaling possible repercussions if he continues to pursue its predecessor’s aggressive stance on China.

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

Hours before Trump was due to leave the White House for the last time, the state-run Xinhua news agency tweeted in English an image of the US Congress, saying, “Good riddance, Donald Trump!”

Also on Wednesday, China issued new sanctions against Pompeo and several other former Trump officials who, according to Beijing, had “ planned, promoted and executed a series of crazy actions that seriously interfered with China’s internal affairs, undermined the interests of China, the Chinese people. offended, and severely disrupted China-US relations. “

The measures prevent the former officials “and their immediate family members” from entering China, Hong Kong and Macao, and prohibit them “and companies and institutions associated with them” from doing business with China. That could prevent those sanctioned from taking up lucrative post-administration positions with think tanks or advisory firms targeting China, a consideration that Beijing hopes will influence aspiring Biden officials against taking any firm stances on these issues.

On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying blamed “Pompeo and other anti-Chinese, anti-communist forces” for harboring “various misunderstandings on Xinjiang-related matters.”

As the foremost Chinese hawk in the Trump administration, who has led the criticism of Beijing over Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Pompeo is a figure of dislike of Chinese diplomats and the country’s tightly-controlled state media, who took the last week of Trump government multiple stories greet his impending departure.
In a piece prior to Biden’s inauguration, Xinhua said that “one of the world’s most important bilateral relations is at a crucial crossroads”.
“Whether relations between China and the US can get back on track depends on the new US administration,” Xinhua said, adding that Washington must “grasp new opportunities to work together” on issues such as climate change. while avoiding “red lines”, such as increasing engagement with the democratic and de facto independent island of Taiwan.

“President Biden has repeatedly emphasized the word unity in his inaugural address,” said Hua spokeswoman on Thursday. “I think this is exactly what the current relations between China and the US need. Because some anti-Chinese politicians in the US have been telling too many lies and fomenting too much hatred and division for personal gain in the last four years.”

Early challenge

How the Biden government is handling the Xinjiang issue could be an important test of this relationship. If Blinken is serious about upholding its predecessor’s designation, then it probably needs to be followed by additional sanctions or some sort of international action, otherwise Washington risks acknowledging ongoing genocide and standing by if it happens.

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

“A statement that genocide is taking place abroad is a political act, not a legal finding, and its impact therefore depends entirely on the reputation and credibility of the speaker,” said Kate Cronin-Furman, an assistant professor of human rights. at University College London, wrote this week. Pompeo announced the determination at perhaps the worst time imaginable (with the US) at the all-time low of his standing in the international community.

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

Last month, the European Union signed an investment deal with China, despite concerns about human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and the active lobbying of 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, citing the supposed promises about forced labor in the deal. nonsense. “Under these circumstances, any Chinese signature on human rights is not worth the paper it is written on.”

British lawmakers who tried to dissuade their government from pursuing more trade with China have also been frustrated. The country’s parliament this week narrowly rejected an attempt to restrict agreements with countries found to have genocide, a measure aimed directly at China. While campaigners have sworn keep fighting in the House of Lords, Pompeo’s statement – which came in the middle of the debate – ultimately did not affect the majority of MPs.

Biden may have more influence in both Brussels and London than Trump ever has, and he has certainly spoken of the need to rebuild America’s international reputation after four years of Trump. But whether he uses his stance to lobby for action against Xinjiang, or a harder line against China in general, remains to be seen.

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