In Meeting With China’s Xi, Sen. Schumer Criticizes Beijing’s Response to Israel–Hamas Conflict

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (centre R) and his delegation walk to a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2023. Andy Wong /AFP via Getty Images

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators in Beijing on Oct. 9, in the first exchange with American lawmakers in nearly a decade, a sign that the communist regime wants to engage with Washington in the face of a stalling economy.

The six-member delegation, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), is on the third day of their Asia trip, which includes stops in Japan and South Korea.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Schumer urged Mr. Xi to support Israel, arguing that the Beijing regime showed “no sympathy” to the Jewish state, which came under attack by Hamas terrorists over the weekend. On Oct. 8, China’s foreign ministry issued a statement on the Israel–Hamas War, calling on “relevant parties” to “immediately end the hostilities.” However, China’s statement didn’t mention Hamas.

“The ongoing events in Israel over the last few days are nothing short of horrific. I urge you and the Chinese people to stand with the Israeli people and condemn the cowardly and vicious attacks,” Mr. Schumer said.

“I say this with respect, but I was disappointed by the foreign minister’s statement that showed no sympathy or support for the Israeli people during these troubled times,” he added.

Since Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7, the Chinese regime has been under close scrutiny for its ties to the Islamic terrorist group.

“#Hamas is #Iran’s proxy, and #Iran is #China’s proxy. We need to hold China responsible for the attacks its proxies are carrying out on #Israel,” Gordon Chang, author of the book “The Coming Collapse of China,” wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 8.

“The (Iranian) regime arming Hamas is the same one arming war criminal Putin. The CCP helps both. This is the rule of gun posse,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) posted on X on Oct. 7.

Asked about Mr. Schumer’s comments, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, updated its statement on the Israel–Hamas conflict, though it still refrained from mentioning Hamas by name.

“We are very saddened by the civilian casualties caused by the conflict, and also oppose and condemn such acts against civilians,” Ms. Mao said at a regular briefing on Monday.

Mr. Schumer said he was “gratified” by the regime’s latest response.

“I’m gratified the Foreign Ministry issued a new statement that did condemn the loss of civilian life,” Mr. Schumer told reporters during a press conference after the meetings.

Biden–Xi Meeting?

The Oct. 9 meeting between Mr. Xi and the U.S. senators took place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the Chinese leader had hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June.

As tensions mount, the U.S. administration under President Joe Biden is seeking to repair the ties with communist China and to avoid being tipped into conflict. President Biden has sent four cabinet officials to Beijing this year.

On Sept. 18, Mr. Blinken held talks with Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The conversation followed an unscheduled meeting between President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Malta.

These talks were expected to lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Biden and Mr. Xi on the sidelines of next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.

On Oct. 9, Mr. Xi told the U.S. lawmakers that there are “1,000 reasons to improve China-U.S. relations and not a single reason to ruin them.”

But it’s unclear whether he would be willing to travel to the United States.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) (L) is greeted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping before their bilateral meeting in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2023. Andy Wong/AFP via Getty Images

Mr. Xi skipped this year’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, and Beijing didn’t offer any explanation for the unusual move. Since taking office in 2012, Mr. Xi hadn’t missed the annual gathering of world leaders.

Adding to the opacity of the regime’s decision-making, Mr. Xi has announced several abrupt changes to the top leadership in recent months. Mr. Xi removed his handpicked foreign minister, Qin Gang, from the post in July, just seven months after he gave Mr. Qin the job. Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has disappeared from public view since September; reports suggest that he’s under investigation.

‘A Level Playing Field’

Aside from meeting with Mr. Xi, the senators also met with China’s foreign minister, Mr. Wang, and its top legislator, Zhao Leji.

Mr. Schumer arrived in China on Oct. 7 along with five other senators. Hours after their arrival, Mr. Schumer met with Shanghai’s Communist Party boss, Chen Jining. He told Mr. Chen that the U.S. firms hadn’t been treated fairly in China and said he wanted to see a level playing field in economic competition between the two sides.

“China must also provide a level playing field for American companies and workers. Many Americans, most Americans, including our delegation, do not believe we have that fairness now,” Mr. Schumer told Mr. Wang.

The senators’ trip came as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is struggling to revive its faltering economy, a key factor that analysts say prompted Beijing to engage with Washington.

“China’s current economic situation is not good. That’s why China appears to be making lots of efforts to restore relations with the United States,” Ding Shuh-fan, an expert on China’s security policy and international relations at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times after the senators arrived in China.

The authorities stopped updating data on youth unemployment after repeatedly hit record highs, including an unprecedented 21.3 percent in June. Meanwhile, the crisis in the property sector, which accounted for about a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP), has escalated in recent weeks.

Once the country’s most prominent homebuilder, Evergrande filed for bankruptcy protection in New York in August. However, its plan to restructure its more than $300 billion in debt was in question as the company’s founder, Hui Ka Yan, was investigated on criminal charges. Another real estate giant, Country Garden, is on the edge of default, battling to avoid missing repayments to investors.

The flurry of financial defaults by private developers is adding to the strain on local governments, whose main source of revenue is from land sales. According to the International Monetary Fund, debts accumulated by local authorities have reached as high as $9 trillion, adding risks to the country’s economy.

“China needs lots of U.S. investment,” Mr. Ding said. “If the United States could continue to invest in China, it will, of course, be helpful to China’s economic development.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Chuck Schumer (C) speaks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai Guest House in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2023. Andy Wong/AFP via Getty Images

But with a slowdown in the economy, along with a slew of regulatory crackdowns on foreign consulting forms, U.S. investors are fleeing the Chinese market.

“Only by making everyone feel that the U.S.–China tensions are easing can China calm the foreign investors who are shifting money out of the country,” said Yen Huai-Shing, a research fellow at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, a Taiwan-based think tank. “China wants to ’stop the bleeding.'”

‘Must Demand Answers’

After the stop in Beijing, the U.S. senators will head to Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in western China, according to China’s state media.

Before leaving for China, Mr. Schumer said that one of the issues that he would raise is China’s human rights record. It’s unclear to what extent the senator would push Beijing to end its litany of human rights violations.

Last month, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) offered the Senate majority leader a list of issues he “must demand answers on” while meeting with Chinese officials “if he has any hope of this not being a total embarrassment for him,” according to a statement.

One such issue is China’s espionage operations against the United States, including its spy balloon that traversed the United States earlier this year before being shot down by the U.S. military, as well as the existence of a spy base in Cuba, and secret police stations in U.S. cities.

China’s secret police station in New York City was revealed in April, when the FBI arrested two individuals on charges that they had taken orders from the communist regime to track down and silence Chinese dissidents.

On Beijing’s human rights violations, Mr. Scott suggested that Mr. Schumer demand answers about China’s ongoing imprisonment and persecution of Uyghurs, who are “subjected to slave labor, involuntary organ harvesting, sterilization and torture that often results in death.” The U.S. government has determined that China has committed “genocide” against Uyghurs and other minorities in China’s Xinjiang region.

Demanding answers about China’s cover-up of the COVID-19 pandemic is also a must-do, Mr. Scott stated, since the outbreaks had “caused devastation to the U.S. economy and the loss of millions of American lives.”

“The harm caused by Communist China’s international treaty violations, trade manipulation and illegal dumping, use of slave labor in solar panel production and attacks on the sovereignty of Taiwan and the Philippines with military operations in the Taiwan Strait and West Philippine Sea,” he added.

The Florida Republican reminded Mr. Schumer that China will continue to be a U.S. adversary.

“Of course, he will get a king’s welcome in Beijing. Communist China has chosen to be America’s enemy and NOTHING Schumer says is going to change that,” Mr. Scott said.

‘Human Rights Predators’

The delegation’s trip comes at a time when the U.N. General Assembly is set to hold an election on Oct. 10, when it will elect 15 states to the 47-seat U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Russia is seeking a return to the human rights body, while China and Cuba are among countries seeking reelection, as their current three-year terms end on Dec. 31.

Rights groups are urging UN member states not to support nations with poor human rights records, including China.

“Providing China, one of the world’s largest press freedom and human rights predators, with a platform to further influence and subvert international norms greatly endangers the right to information around the globe,” Cédric Alviani, East Asia bureau director of Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement released on Oct. 5.

“We urge all UN members to vote against China’s re-election to the Human Rights Council and call on States to build up pressure to secure the release of all journalists and press freedom defenders detained in both China and Hong Kong.”

In September, three human rights organizations, including the UN Watch, published a joint report that analyzes the qualifications for candidate states to have a seat on the UNHRC.

“Many religious groups in China are designated as illegal and subjected to harsh persecution including torture and arbitrary detention. These include Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, and Christian house churches,” the report states.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (2nd R) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) (3rd L) attend a bilateral meeting in Beijing on October 9, 2023. Andy Wong/AFP via Getty Images

The report also looked into China’s voting record as a UNHRC member.

“In that capacity, it opposed resolutions speaking out for human rights victims in Iran, Syria, Belarus, Burundi, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, among others,” the report says. “It also supported counterproductive resolutions that undermined individual human rights or addressed issues beyond the competency of the Council.”

In a statement accompanying the release of the report, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said it would be a “slap in the face” to political prisoners and suppressed citizens if their oppressive governments become “global judges and guardians of human rights” by sitting on the UNHRC.

“Electing the dictatorships of China, Russia, and Cuba as UN judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade,” Mr. Neuer said. “When the UN’s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world’s victims suffer.”

Luo Ya and Reuters contributed to this report.