An article from the April 6 issue of The New Yorker reveals that while speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2011 and 2012, Vice President Joe Biden downplayed the significance of supporting human rights, casting it as an electioneering tool without moral value:
Biden told me that Xi asked him why the U.S. put "so much emphasis on human rights." Biden replied to Xi, "No President of the United States could represent the United States were he not committed to human rights," and went on, "If you don't understand this, you can't deal with us. President Barack Obama would not be able to stay in power if he did not speak of it. So look at it as a political imperative. It doesn't make us better or worse. It's who we are. You make your decisions. We'll make ours." [The New Yorker]
As the Wall Street Journal notes, China continues to have a poor track record on human rights even as it allows citizens more economic freedom. Xi's time in office has seen the arrest of more than 1,000 political dissidents and increasing internet censorship.
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