‘Full of absurdity’: Beijing hits back at US hawks’ open letter to Donald Trump
- Commentary in party mouthpiece says ‘lecturers’ cannot dictate China’s development and claims are ‘groundless and lack logic’
- Letter said Beijing was trying to derail the global order and regional peace and ‘routinely and systematically suppresses’ religious freedom and free speech
Beijing has slammed an open letter from a group of US hawks to President Donald Trump urging a confrontational China policy, saying it was “full of absurdity” and that “lecturers” cannot dictate the nation’s development.
The ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily on Friday ran a commentary under the pen name Zhong Sheng – a homonym in Chinese for “voice of China” – rebuffing the letter’s accusation that Beijing was seeking hegemony to derail the US-backed global order and regional peace.
The letter was published by conservative American news site the Washington Free Beacon on July 17, with 130 signatories including former US military officials, academics and other China watchers calling on the Trump administration to continue its confrontation with China.
The letter said Beijing did not follow the international order, violated the rules of the World Trade Organisation and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, and “routinely and systematically suppresses” religious freedom and free speech, citing the situations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
UN experts and activists say at least 1 million Uygurs and other Muslims are being held in detention centres in the western Xinjiang region, while Hong Kong has been rocked by anti-government protests and violent clashes since early June over a now-suspended extradition bill.