The United States has taken the "strongest action" of any country to protect human rights that are being put in jeopardy by the Chinese Communist Party, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth Keith Krach said Thursday.
"We are holding China accountable," Krach told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "They've attacked in Hong Kong freedoms of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, rule of law, they've attacked human rights in Xinjiang, and so we made the comment we will use all tools available."
He added that one would think the Chinese "would be somewhat apologetic for what they have done with the virus and it should have never happened...we are dealing with that and we are seeing countries in the world joining us."
In addition, there are multiple issues with China, including the recent human rights atrocities against Muslims, and Krach said he thinks the world is waking up to China's strategy to conceal the coronavirus infection.
"Citizens in the world are realizing that supply chains are entangled and you also look at China's so-called diplomacy which is coercion and seduction to get countries to do what they want them to do," said Krach. "Then throw on top of that what's gone on in Hong Kong...they've really stepped up their aggression."
Krach said he also thinks the world's CEOs and businesses are waking up about the dangers of doing business with China.
"The market is no longer free," said Krach. "I sent a letter to all CEOs and boards across America based on what's going on. What I said, look, it's incumbent on the board to deal with human rights and it's also incumbent that you analyze your supply chain. For the financial institutions, I think it's also incumbent to take a look at Chinese companies that you're invested in."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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