He's been pretty tough on them compared to past presidents with the 25% tariff, plus he has a sanction bill coming to his desk to sign.

> The Senate just passed a bill that further sanctions China by authorizing the Treasury Department to identify Chinese banks and financial firms which enable the Communist Party regime, and punish them by restricting their access to the US dollar and visas for their executives.

> Unlike past Chinese sanction bills, the restrictions will apply not just to individuals, but the banks that employ them. And it will apply not just to Chinese-owned banks, but subsidiaries of American companies operating in the country.

Well, John Bolton in his new book alleges that Trump told Xi to keep locking up Uyghurs.

> “According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do,” Mr. Bolton wrote.

On the other hand, he also signed the Uyghur Human Rights Act.

I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Trump says a lot of different things and constantly contradicts himself. The running theme is that he tries to say what he thinks is the best thing to say at that time but with all the savvy and nuance of a used car salesman.

"alleges" "according to anonymous sources". Hardly any criticism towards Trump comes from reliable, confirmed sources. It's just throwing random conjectures, hoping something sticks.

Though it's for different reasons, Trump is putting large numbers of people in camps himself, and we've seen plenty of evidence of systematic abuse, neglect, and dehumanization. It isn't surprising that he would be sympathetic to another leader who uses similar tactics (even if his advisors make him condemn it to keep up appearances). There's little reason to think he'd do anything different in Xi's position.

Edit: For the downvoters, I am not 'whatabout-ing' or trying to diminish these terrible crimes committed by China's government. But I think it's naive to expect any credible US-led action against it while the leader of the US is committing similar crimes on a lesser (but still massive) scale.

Trump was putting people in camps? You mean the throngs of asylum seekers?

Slightly different scenario, no?

Different scenario, similar disregard for basic human rights.

Please stop defending China.

Please show where I did so?

And since you can't: please stop making transparently false accusations on HN.

The genocide against the Uighurs have been going on for a while, and Trump has already put sanctions on China.

Depending on how he played it, he might get support from everybody. Stopping genocide is pretty hot right now, as is sticking it to China.

But he's not a very subtle chap. I doubt he could restrain himself to stick to a line.

You think Trump or his base is concerned about genocide of Muslims? That’s giving them an awful lot of credit.

I definitely do. At least Trump and his supporters have the had guts to stand up to China. Nobody else seems to be doing this.

You mean by repeatedly praising Xi?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-china/trump-praises...

Or by getting the US out of the TPP, which was meant to reduce China's influence on that part of the world?

Or by asking him to help him get re-elected?

Obvious counter example would be Yemen, where he’s been fully behind Saudi Arabia continuing their genocide of a Muslim population.

> I definitely do. At least Trump and his supporters have the had guts to stand up to China. Nobody else seems to be doing this.

The problem is that they seem really only willing stand up (incompetently) over trade issues. Trump, himself at least, has never seemed to care at all about human rights issues (foreign or domestic).