HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) 鈥� U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 new national security adviser is criticizing what he says is silence from the rest of the world over China鈥檚 confinement of more than 1 million Muslims in reeducation camps, linking the lack of a global outcry to China鈥檚 economic clout.
National Security Adviser Robert O鈥橞rien also questioned whether international leaders will stand up if Beijing carries out a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on the pro -democracy protests in Hong Kong.
O鈥橞rien met with journalists and was interviewed by a moderator at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday.
鈥淲here is the world? We have over a million people in concentration camps,鈥� O鈥橞rien said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been to the genocide museum in Rwanda. You hear 鈥榥ever again, never again is this going to happen,鈥� and yet there are reeducation camps with over a million people in them.鈥�
O鈥橞rien said the lack of criticism is especially surprising from Islamic states.
China is estimated to have detained up to 1 million minority Muslims Uighurs in prisonlike detention centers. The detentions come on top of harsh travel restrictions and a massive state surveillance network equipped with facial recognition technology.
China has denied committing abuses in the centers and has described them as schools aimed at providing employable skills and combating extremism.
China and the U.S. are locked in a mutual trade war, and the Trump administration has alternated between blasting the country鈥檚 leadership and reaching out to it. Trump imposed tariffs last year on billions of dollars鈥� worth of Chinese exports to the U.S., seeking to ramp up pressure for changes in Chinese trade and investment policies.
China has retaliated with tariff hikes of its own.
O鈥橞rien said an initial trade agreement with China is still possible by the end of the year, but said the U.S. won鈥檛 take a bad deal and won鈥檛 ignore what happens in Hong Kong.
O鈥橞rien also said U.S. allies should think hard before allowing Chinese technology giant Huawei into their next generation of telecommunication networks, citing surveillance concerns.
鈥淲hat the Chinese are doing makes Facebook and Google look like child鈥檚 play as far as collecting information on folks. Once they know the full profile of every man, woman and child in your country, how are they going to use that?鈥� he asked.
Huawei spokespeople did not immediately return an email seeking comment Saturday.
Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress, said at Saturday鈥檚 conference that Trump himself has not addressed the camps publicly. Isa said his mother recently died in one of the camps.
O鈥橞rien responded that the administration has spoken out about it. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is among the Trump officials who have raised China鈥檚 mistreatment of the Muslim Uighur minority, including citing it as a violation of religious freedom in a speech last month.
O鈥橞rien declined to say what the U.S. would do if there were a crackdown in Hong Kong that rivals the Tiananmen Square in 1989. More than 100,000 Americans and over 300,000 Canadians live in Hong Kong.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to get into tools or what the U.S. might or might not do,鈥� he said
鈥淏ut much of the world and many or our allies, and many of the countries represented at this conference, have been willing to forget Tiananmen Square and are heavily engaged in business with China.鈥�
O鈥橞rien is the fourth person in two years to hold the job of national security adviser. He previously served as Trump鈥檚 chief hostage negotiator. O鈥橞rien made headlines in July when he was dispatched to Sweden to monitor the assault trial of American rapper A$AP Rocky.
As the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department, O鈥橞rien worked closely with the families of American hostages and advised administration officials on hostage issues.
