Outside the White House on Wednesday, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) met with Uyghur activists—including four Chinese concentration camp survivors—on the third day of their hunger strike calling for the Biden Administration to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people.

            Smith, who has chaired more than 75 congressional hearings on the Chinese government’s horrific human rights abuses, spoke with those participating in the hunger strike just hours after President Biden addressed the 77^th Session of the UN General Assembly.

            “President Biden’s speech at the United Nations was extremely weak and completely trivialized the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang,” said Rep. Smith, who noted that Biden spent a mere dozen words referring to Xinjiang during his UN remarks.

            “Xi Jinping has made it absolutely clear that he will show no mercy in his quest to kill, incarcerate and change the entire Uyghur culture,” Smith said.

PHOTO: Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) stands with (left to right) Diliyaer Saifuding, concentration camp survivors Gulzira Auelhan and Zumrat Dawut, and Elfidar Iltebir on the third day of their hunger strike outside the White House on Wednesday, September 21. Also participating in the hunger strike but not pictured is camp survivor Tursunay Ziyawudun.

            “We need strength—not weakness—to speak the truth to Xi Jinping’s terrible dictatorship,” said Smith, who also pointed out the 

noticeable absence of the words “genocide,” “concentration camps,” and “forced sterilization” in the President’s speech.

            At the hunger strike, Smith vowed to introduce legislation in Congress to urge the Biden Administration to submit a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the egregious human rights violations taking place in China.

            “We have a genocide happening right before our very eyes, and the White House is doing almost nothing,” said Smith.

            “We call on President Biden to find his voice and speak out on behalf of people who are suffering so terribly at the hands of Chinese Communist Party,” Smith said.

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