During hus China visit, Gavin Newsom just handed China's Xi a big propaganda victory, while also trading away moral credibility for empty promises. When asked about human rights, Newsom had no good answer, nor even a coherent sentence, except to say that he cares about other things more — namely, climate change.
But what makes it truly embarrassing is that China’s commitments on climate change are just as illusory and fraudulent as its commitment to human rights.
China is putting hundreds of new coal-fired power plants online, permitting additional new ones each week. It is replacing all of the carbon emissions that California has ever taken offline, and then some. Despite China’s pledges on the international stage, Xi himself has stated he has no intention of following Newsom, Biden or anyone else down the West’s zero-carbon rabbit hole.