The Biden White House has taken a very measured approach over the last week in its efforts to avoid offending China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over its ongoing brutal crackdowns on peaceful protesters as part of its “zero-COVID” draconian lockdowns and social controls.
On the Wednesday morning broadcast of “Fox & Friends” on Fox News Channel, Biden’s NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby appeared to discuss current national security issues.
Fox & Friends today=Great job Brian Kilmeade!! … you correctly wiped John Kirby's smug corrupt face all over your floor; regarding the horrefic decisions made with his Afghanistan withdrawl!! pic.twitter.com/TNokyizFDL
— joanie (@FreeSpeechRED) November 30, 2022
Kirby was asked whether the Biden White House agrees with the citizen protesters in China who are calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping and demanding an end to the zero-COVID lockdowns.
Kirby was careful to say that the administration is only “on the side of peaceful protest.” He flatly said that the White House is not “taking a side in terms of what these protests are about.” At a later point in the interview, he reluctantly admitted that the protests were about the regime’s “very severe, very stringent COVID policies.”
Co-host Brian Kilmeade hammered Kirby about his refusal to acknowledge that the protests are being conducted in the name of freedom from authoritarian oppression. Kirby responded by saying “we’ve been very consistent about the right of peaceful protest and we’ve been very vocal about it in China just over the last few days.”
Ignoring the subject matter of the protests, Kirby only said that the Biden administration believes “these individuals should be able to peacefully protest and assemble and to make their minds known to their government there in China just like we’ve said the same in Iran and around the world.”
Co-host Steve Doocy pressed Kirby further, specifically pointing out that “the protesters are saying Xi Jinping’s got to go or loosen the COVID restrictions that are keeping people stuck in their houses for months.” He asked Kirby directly, “Which side is the White House on when it comes to supporting the protestors?”
Kirby said meekly, “Steve, we’re on the side of peaceful protest. We’re on the side of individuals being able to freely assemble and to express their views, whatever those views are. We’re not taking a side in terms of what these protests are about.”
About as close as Kirby would come to condemning the brutal zero-COVID policies being dictated by Beijing was to say “we don’t believe, here in the United States, that lockdowns are the answer.”
Meanwhile, China’s citizens appear to be standing alone.
