Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) told CNN on Tuesday the reason why the Biden administration has not come out more forcefully in support of the widespread anti-Chinese Communist Party protests that have broke out in China is to avoid escalating a potential conflict.
The muted response from the Biden White House was noticeable during Monday's press briefing.
.@PhilipWegmann: "What is the President's reaction when he hears protesters in China chant 'freedom' or 'Xi Jinping, step down?'"
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 28, 2022
Kirby: "The President's not going to speak for protesters around the world. They're speaking for themselves." pic.twitter.com/0GnwSvHIRd
"I think there are things that those of us, leaders in the Senate and the House have a little more flexibility, frankly, than the administration. You know, the administration, particularly after the most recent meeting between Xi and Biden to try to have — lower some of the tensions. This is a — we don’t want an active conflict to erupt," said Warner.
"I think those of us in the Congress have a little more freedom and I think we can push the administration, but as you said, we don’t want to feed the propaganda machinery that turns these protesters driven by Chinese people into what the overall message would be of the Chinese people," he continued.
The protests have been spurred by the CCP's continuation of their draconian "COVID Zero" policies, which lead to the deaths of people trapped in a burning apartment building as people could not get out and first responders could not get in. While the protests have mainly called for the lifting of the heavy COVID restrictions, they have increasingly called for the end of the CCP.
