Top White House Official Criticizes ‘Totalitarian’ Xi in Chinese

  • Mandarin-speaking Pottinger attacks Xi’s ‘totalitarianism’
  • Speech reflects U.S.-China tensions at highest in a decade
Matthew Pottinger has warned democratic nations not to shy away from criticizing Beijing and its leader, Xi Jinping.Photographer: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

A senior White House official delivered a speech in Mandarin attacking Xi Jinping’s “totalitarianism” and calling on the Chinese people to research the “truth” about the country’s oppression of Uighur Muslims.

The remarks by Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger, to the Policy Exchange think tank in London, are likely to be seen as a deliberate provocation by the Chinese government, which closely controls the information that reaches its citizens through censorship of the Internet and media outlets.