The Biden administration has been quick to label the atrocities committed by the Chinese government against the Uighurs and other ethnic minorities a genocide, and President Biden also bucked convention by officially recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide despite concerns about potential damage to the U.S.-Turkey relationship. But the White House has been less clear about its stance on the plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority that has been the subject of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, sparking some criticism within the halls of Congress, Politico reports.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), for instance, told Politico that "this administration is undermining the legitimacy of its human rights policy by failing" to declare the atrocities a genocide. By not doing so, he added, the White House also "undermines the legitimacy of the U.S. declaring other situations a genocide, particularly the way the Uighurs are treated." In other words, it raises the question of whether geopolitics is the real reason behind the Uighur designation. Read more about the Biden administration and the Rohingya at Politico.