US lawyers in China say last week's turmoil in Charlottesville and President Donald Trump's subsequent refusal to condemn racism and hatred is making their work in China and their efforts to promote the rule of law more difficult.
Trump's defiance and moral ambiguity to put it nicely is not only embarrassing, but makes it difficult for lawyers on the ground in China that are proud to talk about the durability of American values, institutions, and commitment to the rule of law, said James Zimmerman, managing partner of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton's Beijing office.
On the same day that Trump described those attending the rally in Charlottesville as fine people on both sides, the US State Department released its annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2016 - a document that labelled China a country of particular concern over policies that restrict religious practice of Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists.
The next day, the Chinese state media fought back. In addition to invoking the usual defence that the accusations were groundless and that the Chinese Constitution protected religious freedom, the Chinese newspapers told Washington to mind its own business in the aftermath of Charlottesville.
While still reeling from the death and violence seen at a white nationalist rally in the city of Charlottesville, the US should take a minute to reflect on its own human rights situation before pointing accusing fingers at China, state-run Xinhua News Agency wrote in a commentary.
Despite its self-proclaimed role as the world's human rights champion, the fact is the world's sole superpower is far from becoming a respected role model in this regard, Xinhua wrote.
Robert Precht, founder and president of the Hong Kong-based public interest law organisation Justice Lab, said that Trump had dealt a body blow to the human rights movement in China.
The only thing the US has in the debate over human rights is our moral high ground the idea that we believe in human rights for all, and that we are just as hard on ourselves as we are on abusers abroad, said Precht, who previously ran the China operations for the Global Network for Public Interest Law, an international organisation matching law firms and pro bono projects.
But Trump's insistent nationalism and his most recent remarks equating Nazi hate groups with those who oppose them, Precht said, created the impression that the US Government is amoral and - just as bad hypocritical.
Indeed, a strongly worded editorial published by the People's Daily under the headline US is not a human rights paradise, nor the world's moral leader chastised the US. Rather than place America on top of all other nations as the world's moral authority and undermine other countries' efforts and hard-won achievements, the US Government should focus more on making America 'great again,' and less on making other countries more like America, the People's Daily wrote.