The Biden administration’s less than vocal response to mass protests in China over the communist regime’s harsh COVID policies has prompted criticism from Republican lawmakers.
At a press briefing on Monday, John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, stopped short of directly backing protesters’ calls for greater freedoms in China.
When asked what President Joe Biden’s reaction was to demonstrators’ demands “to regain personal freedoms” and for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “step down,” Kirby replied, “The president’s not going to speak for protesters.”
“These protesters are speaking for themselves. What we are doing is making it clear that we support the right of peaceful protest,” he added, when pressed by the reporter….