WATCH: Students react to Biden’s description of Uyghur genocide as ‘cultural norm’

"Culturally, there are different norms that each country and their leaders are expected to follow," Biden said of the Chinese government's genocidal policies. It is unclear how committing genocide is supposedly part of China's cultural norms.

The comments were criticized from multiple ends of the political spectrum, with Republicans blasting Biden as being soft on China while liberals have charged that his comments were racist.

The students of the University of Florida were also shocked by the remarks, especially when they learned that the comments were made by Biden rather than former President Donald Trump. When asked which former president made the comment about China, most students guessed that it was made by Trump, although one said it may have been Bill Clinton while another said Barack Obama.

"You would hope that something this egregious would elicit a stronger response from the US president, especially in a country that’s sort of a rival already," one student told Jacobson.

"It did surprise me. But I think that’s where the people come in. I think that just because we elected a president that supports our views doesn’t mean we can stop holding them accountable," another student said. "We continually have to pressure them into making the right choices."

All of the students, some of whom noting that they voted for President Biden, expressed shock and disappointment that Biden would make such a statement.

The communist Chinese government has been perpetrating a genocide against Uyghurs for a number of years now, an action which as of now has only been recognized by the governments of the United States and Canada.

The Chinese government, in an attempt to eradicate Uyghur culture, has deported up to two million Uyghurs to concentration camps, where they are subjected to forced labour, sexual assault, torture, mass sterilization, and daily indoctrination into communist ideology.