MILWAUKEE (US) – President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that China will have to pay a price for its violation of human rights. He was speaking while responding to queries during a televised event on how Beijing handles its Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
President Xi Jinping of China has invited global ire for sending ethnic minority Uighurs to internment camps and indulging in rights abuses.
“Well, there will be repercussions for China and he knows that,” Biden said of Xi during the town hall which was broadcast by CNN.
The president said the US would reassert its global role when it comes to championing human rights, adding that he would work with the global community to pressure China to protect its minorities.
“China is trying very hard to become a world leader and to get that moniker and be able to do that they have to gain the confidence of other countries,” he said during his first official trip ever since he assumed office last month.
“As long as they are engaged in activity that is contrary to basic human rights, it is going to be hard for them to do that,” he added.