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China Says Black Americans Are Being ‘Slaughtered,’ So US Shouldn’t Comment On Uyghur Genocide

(Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
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China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi said Thursday the United States shouldn’t concern itself with the internal affairs of his country because black Americans are being “slaughtered” in the U.S.

Yang made the comments during his first face-to-face meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Alaska. During a tense exchange, Yang implied the U.S. was acting hypocritically by criticizing China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims while human rights in America are at an alleged low point. (RELATED: Alaska Meeting Reveals Just How High Tensions Are Between US And China)

“We do not seek conflict, but we welcome stiff competition, and we will always stand up for our principles, for our people, and for our friends,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during the meeting. The Americans raised concerns not only over the genocide of the Uyghurs, but about Chinese aggression in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea as well.

Blinken also accused Beijing of threatening “the rules-based order that maintains global stability” with cyber attacks on the U.S. and economic bullying of its neighbors. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report this week suggesting China may have interfered in the 2020 presidential election, and Beijing has previously been implicated in cyber attacks against the United States. (RELATED: Senate Confirms Biden CIA Pick Bill Burns Despite China Ties)

China considers the genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, along with its conflicts with Hong Kong and Taiwan, to be strictly internal affairs. Washington views the issues differently, and recently slapped new sanctions on dozens of figures for continued security crackdowns in Hong Kong. (RELATED: ‘Kick Their Commie Asses’: Ted Cruz Says US Shouldn’t Boycott Beijing Olympics)

Deflecting criticism towards internal strife in the U.S. has become a theme for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Beijing’s ambassador to the European Union recently compared Uyghur concentration camps to detention centers in the United States and Europe. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday that the mass shooting in Georgia on Tuesday, which killed six Asian Americans, was provoked by hateful rhetoric from American politicians.

China’s delegation also claimed China was more internally stable than the U.S., citing Chinese opinion polls that allegedly show strong support for the CCP and the doubt some Americans have about election integrity.

The remarks are part of a strategy that focuses on “public theatrics and dramatics over substance,” one American official told CNN.