Donald Trump's questionable "deal" with China

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has accused US President Donald Trump of neglecting the task of protecting the civilian population from the worst human rights violations. "Crimes against humanity or and genocide crimes are seen as commodities – thus ignoring the responsibility to protect the oppressed civilian population, to which the international community of states committed itself at the Millennium Summit in 2005," criticized Ulrich Delius, the STP's Director, in Göttingen on Tuesday. In interviews with US media – following accusations by his former security advisor John Bolton – Trump admitted that he had postponed possible sanctions against China (for the crimes in Xinjiang) so as not to jeopardize a "deal" with China that would be beneficial to the United States. Bolton even accused Trump of ingratiating himself with China's President Xi Jinping in order to get support in being re-elected as US President. 

"However, those who are self-righteously denouncing Trump's inhumane and scandalous behavior are making it too easy for themselves," Delius warned. "Meanwhile, the US government has at least announced that it will impose sanctions on those responsible for the crimes against the Uyghur population." A bill to that effect was signed by the US president last week. "But why have the European Union, Turkey, and the other Muslim not reacted to the horrific crimes committed against the Muslim people in other parts of the world?" Delius asked.

In these states, too, economic interests take precedence over basic human rights. The crimes against humanity in Xinjiang/East Turkestan are ignored so as not to upset China's state leadership and not to endanger lucrative economic contracts. At the end of last week, for example, the Turkish Minister of Trade, Ruhsar Pekcan, had merely appealed to Chinese companies to invest in Turkey – where the fact that President Erdogan had once openly accused China of genocide crimes against the Uyghur population is no longer an appropriate topic of discussion. "In Pakistan, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia, people prefer to remain silent about the brutal forced assimilation of the Muslim nationality, so as not to snub China's rulers. A collective amnesia seems to have taken over when it comes to the crimes of the rising world power China," Delius emphasized. "This is a serious setback for the worldwide struggle to protect human rights. The oppressed population groups all over the world must be shocked to realize that no one can rely on guarantees from the international community of states.