Xi Jinping Lectures Biden in Goodbye Meeting: Human Rights a ‘Red Line’ for China

TOPSHOT - US President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the
LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping sternly warned outgoing American President Joe Biden during what is expected to be their final in-person meeting of Biden’s tenure that “democracy and human rights” are a “red line” for communist China, meaning Beijing will accept no condemnation of its atrocities.

Xi identified human rights as a “red line” alongside” the Taiwan question, “meaning supporting China’s false claims over the sovereign nation; “China’s path and system,” meaning communism; and “China’s development,” meaning supporting China’s status as the world’s worst polluter while it tries to economically outcompete the West:

Biden reportedly replied, according to China’s Global Times propaganda newspaper, that America “does not seek a new Cold War, does not seek to change China’s system … does not support ‘Taiwan independence,’ has no intention to have a conflict with China, and does not see its Taiwan policy as a way to compete with China.”

Xi and Biden met in Lima, Peru, on Saturday, where both attended the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The meeting is their third since Biden assumed the presidency and follows a similar encounter in San Francisco, California, at the APEC summit a year ago:

Xi similarly lectured Biden during that meeting against supporting the democratic nation of Taiwan and emphasized China’s opposition to pro-American economic policies but did not as stridently demand Washington be silent on China’s human rights atrocities.

The message on Saturday was likely as much directed at President-elect Donald Trump as it was to Biden, who campaigned on modifying Biden’s conciliatory policies towards China and more directly confronting its malignant behavior around the globe. Trump announced shortly after his victory in the November 5 presidential election that he would nominate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to serve as his secretary of state, an unprecedented move given that Rubio is currently under Chinese sanctions for vocally condemning its human rights record.

Xi’s regime is currently engaging in the genocide of indigenous Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other communities in occupied East Turkistan, eliminating the population through forced sterilization, enslavement, and concentration camps. Communist China is also engaged in a wide variety of other atrocities, including live organ harvesting, the violent repression of people of all faiths, and silencing and disappearance of political dissidents.

During their meeting on Saturday, Xi and Biden reminisced about the years they have known each other and their relationship in the past four years, according to the Global Times.

“Xi told Biden that over the past four years, China-US relations have gone through ups and downs, but the two sides have also been engaged in dialogue and cooperation, adding the relationship has remained stable on the whole,” the Global Times paraphrased.

Much of the content of Xi’s remarks to Biden, however, were aggressive, demanding that the United States “correct strategic perception” and avoid confronting China’s nefarious actions.

“Containing China is unwise, unacceptable and bound to fail,” Xi threatened.

The dictator reportedly insisted that “it is important not to challenge red lines and paramount principles,” listing the four “red lines” as human rights, failing to recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty, accepting Chinese communism, and China’s “development.”

“If the US side cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai Ching-te and the Democratic Progressive Party authorities in seeking ‘Taiwan independence,'” Xi reportedly said. In reality, Taiwan is in all functions a sovereign nation with an independent military, social infrastructure, and economy from China. Taiwan has never in its history been governed by a state headquartered in Beijing. The Communist Party, nonetheless, insists Taiwan is a “province” of China, however, and Washington accepted this fantasy during the administration of President Jimmy Carter.

Xi also reportedly promised to continue belligerent actions against other countries in the South China Sea but claimed China’s “desire to carry forward the traditional friendship between the Chinese and American peoples remains unchanged.”

In remarks before the meeting, Biden emphasized their cooperation rather than differences.

“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We have never kidded one another. We’ve been level with one another,” Biden told reporters. “And I think that’s vital. These conversations prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict — be competition, not conflict.”

The White House readout of their private conversation described the chat as “candid” and “constructive” and reported that Biden “condemned the deployment of thousands of DPRK [North Korea] troops to Russia” and “expressed deep concern over the PRC’s [China’s] continued support for Russia’s defense industrial base.” Biden was reportedly conciliatory on Taiwan: “President Biden underscored that the United States’ one China policy remains unchanged, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.”

“The President noted the importance of human rights and the responsibility of all nations to respect their human rights commitments,” according to the White House, which did not elaborate. The readout did not mention the Uyghur genocide or live organ harvesting.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also noted that Biden addressed other seemingly irrelevant issues with Xi, including the ongoing gang chaos in Haiti. the two also reportedly addressed President-elect Trump.

“President Biden noted the obvious facts that there will be a new administration on January 20th, and he did reinforce the point that these next two months are a time of transition in the United States,” Sullivan said, “and a time where stability in the U.S.-China relationship is essential.”

“He wasn’t projecting ahead to what was going to happen after January 20th,” Sullivan said of Biden. “He was really focused on the fact that there is a transition unfolding, that President Biden is determined for that transition to be smooth and for him to pass the relationship off, and he would like to pass it off on stable terms to the new administration.”

Xi did offer a brief message to the incoming Trump administration in his comments before his meeting with Biden: “China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation, and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples.”

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