"There are significant human rights abuses in China. In some areas, the situation is worse today than in the past. In other areas, there have been improvements. We will recognize the latter, and be critical of the former"
About this Quote
Diplomacy loves a sentence that can’t be pinned to a single blade, and Max Baucus’s formulation is a masterclass in that genre: condemn, concede, promise balance, move on. The line opens with moral clarity - “significant human rights abuses” - a phrase meant to satisfy the human-rights audience and signal to Beijing that Washington isn’t abandoning its values. Then it immediately introduces calibration: “worse today than in the past” in some areas, “improvements” in others. That careful partitioning is the real message. It reframes China not as a monolith but as a mixed ledger, inviting policy built on leverage rather than righteous rupture.
The subtext is transactional without sounding crude. “We will recognize the latter” is diplomatic code for offering face, an assurance that criticism won’t be totalizing or humiliating. “Be critical of the former” promises that engagement won’t become apologetics. It’s a hedge against two domestic accusations that always stalk U.S.-China policy: that you’re either “soft on China” or recklessly torching a relationship that underwrites trade, climate cooperation, and regional security.
Context matters: Baucus is a politician shaped by committee rooms, not podium thunder. This is language designed for confirmation hearings, bilateral meetings, and press scrums - spaces where the goal isn’t catharsis but room to maneuver. The quote works because it performs seriousness while keeping options open: a moral stance that doubles as negotiating posture.
The subtext is transactional without sounding crude. “We will recognize the latter” is diplomatic code for offering face, an assurance that criticism won’t be totalizing or humiliating. “Be critical of the former” promises that engagement won’t become apologetics. It’s a hedge against two domestic accusations that always stalk U.S.-China policy: that you’re either “soft on China” or recklessly torching a relationship that underwrites trade, climate cooperation, and regional security.
Context matters: Baucus is a politician shaped by committee rooms, not podium thunder. This is language designed for confirmation hearings, bilateral meetings, and press scrums - spaces where the goal isn’t catharsis but room to maneuver. The quote works because it performs seriousness while keeping options open: a moral stance that doubles as negotiating posture.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
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