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| In a statement intended to clarify his stance, he said "important issues deserve important discussions". "I believe that human rights matter, whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere," he wrote on Twitter.(Photo by= Reuters) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya is under fire for saying that he - and most Americans - "don't care" about abuses against the Uyghur minority in China. BBC said that Mr Palihapitiya, a part-owner of San Francisco's basketball team, made the comments during a podcast discussion of whether President Joe Biden's action on the issue had helped him politically.
The remarks drew social media backlash. Mr Palihapitiya later admitted that his comments "lacked empathy". Many people following the issue were not satisfied. "When people apologize, they deserve a second chance. I don't view this as an apology when Chamath can not even acknowledge how his comment was hurtful to the Uyghur community," human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat wrote on Twitter. "China takes comfort knowing that corporate executives have their back and will continue this genocide."
Meanwhile, the US has accused China of genocide in its repression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region - a charge that China has repeatedly rejected. Mr Palihapitiya, an early executive at Facebook and now a prominent venture capitalist is co-host of the "All-in" podcast on which he made the remarks. He was responding to his co-host's observation that Mr Biden's stance on the issue had not helped him in the polls.
