During the question and answer portion of the talk, Cornell student Rizwangul NurMuhammad asked Slotkin why the U.S. and international community had reacted with great speed and resolve to punish Russia for invading Ukraine but had yet to levy a similar sanctions regime on the Chinese government for its genocide in Xinjiang.

NurMuhammad explained that her brother Mewlan was arrested in 2017, as Chinese authorities began mass detentions of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and that she has not been able to speak with him since then.

Slotkin replied that while Americans have a long Cold War history with Russia and can understand the implications of Russian military aggression, Americans don’t know much about China, and may not know much about the human rights violations in Xinjiang.

What happened next: “There was audible booing and jeering going on from the Chinese students partway through her question, and during the answer they started to get up and just walked out of the room,” said Pedro Fernandez, a Cornell student in the same program who was at the event.