Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) called the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) a “farce” Tuesday.
“I saw it as ambassador firsthand & today is further proof,” Haley said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “China & Cuba are human rights abusers, & today they won reelection to an entity that’s supposed to protect human rights. The UNHRC is a sham. It is not worthy of its name.”
Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. from 2017 to 2018 under her rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, former President Trump, was commenting on China and Cuba’s reelection to the UNHRC on Tuesday.
According to the U.N., 15 new members were elected to the council as well on Tuesday. Russia and Peru failed to secure seats, the U.N. said.
Haley has been a strong critic of China during her current presidential campaign, calling trips by Biden administration Cabinet members “embarrassing” last month.
“You don’t send Cabinet members over to China to appease them,” Haley said in an interview on CNN’s “State of The Union.” “You start getting serious with China and say we’re not going to put up with it. They keep sending different Cabinet officials over … and it’s embarrassing.”
She has even called out Trump, saying he “showed moral weakness” during meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a speech earlier this year.
“Trump was almost singularly focused on our trade relationship with China … but Trump did too little about the rest of the Chinese threat,” Haley said.
“He did not put us on a stronger military foothold in Asia. He did not stop the flow of American technology and investment into the Chinese military. He did not effectively rally our allies against the Chinese threat. Even the trade deal he signed came up short when China predictably failed to live up to its commitments,” she said.