Trump must confront President Xi on human rights

President Trump, when campaigning last year, said America had not been tough enough on China. His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday is a great opportunity for such toughness.

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke aptly this week about pressuring China to pull its weight in controlling North Korea. The nuclear-armed hermit tyranny continues to starve its people and threaten not just its neighbors but also, increasingly, countries farther afield. China is uniquely positioned to push President Kim Jong-un if not toward being reasonable — that would be too much to hope for — at least toward a position of self-preserving acquiescence to international norms.

Trump needs to deliver the tough talk that Haley promised he would.

The president also talks tough on trade. Here, his idea of toughness is probably counter-productive. China subsidizes its businesses. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has expressed envy of China's industrial policy. Trump has suggested we need to respond to subsidies with protectionism. This would be folly, hurting Americans. There are legitimate concerns, such as Chinese theft of intellectual property, but a trade war wouldn't Make America Great Again.

There is another crucial area in which Trump needs to talk tough and has signally failed so far to do so. China is one of the world's worst human rights abusers. In recent years, the government has cracked down on human rights lawyers, increased censorship of the Internet and repression of news media. It detains half a million people without charge or trial, routinely denying them medical treatment, harvesting their organs, and wreaking vengeance on their families as a way both of disciplining alleged offenders and forcefully nurturing political and social conformity. The state seeks to shackle any group it sees as a threat to its authority, whether they be "unregistered" Christians, Tibetan monks or Muslim Uighurs.