Trump’s lack of focus on human rights in China is big departure for US diplomacy

Asked before he departed for Beijing if he would raise with the Chinese president the case of Jimmy Lai , the pro-democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong, Donald Trump said: “I’ll bring him up.” But, the US president added: “It’s like saying to me, ‘If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ It might be a hard one for me.” Trump was referring to James B Comey, a former FBI director and a frequent target of Trump’s ire. Trump’s flippant attitude towards human rights comes as no surprise. Since he took office, his administration has launched widespread attacks on civil liberties, from immigration raids to attacks on gender-based healthcare to cutting funding for civil rights groups. But the near-total absence of human rights from current US-China dialogue is a marked departure from the diplomacy of previous generations – reflecting both the transformation of the US in the Trump era and China’s increasing confidence on the world stage. The Chinese Communist party now “seems immune to so-called condemnations and the international community”, said Ren Quanniu, a disbarred human rights lawyer. When George W Bush visited Beijing in 2008, he insisted on attending a Sunday church service to press his case for religious freedom in China. When Barack Obama made his state visit the following year, he urged China’s then president Hu Jintao to reopen talks with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet. …