When asked if she brought up Muslim internment camps on her recent trip to China, she said she "raised the issue [of human rights] directly" with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

"You can't do much more than that," she said.

She's right, you can't do much more if you're worried about trade. There's no doubt the Trump administration's condemnation is not in some way influenced by the US' on-going tit-for-tat trade war with China.

But actions mean more than words. Where Ardern and even Muslim powers like Saudi Arabia have been reticent on the issue, the Trump administration, widely condemned by many in the liberal West as anti-Muslim, has taken a tough line.

As is often the case in the West, liberal leaders jump on any sign of Islamophobia when committed by white and powerful people like Trump. He has deservedly been condemned for his anti-Muslim comments and policies.

But the worst perpetrators of Islamophobia aren't in the West.

When an authoritarian superpower like China commits grievous human rights abuses against Uyghurs, or India launches a crackdown in Muslim Kashmir, those same critics who call out Trump become quiet.

It becomes too complicated when the perpetrators of Islamophobia aren't privileged white folk.

But, if Ardern wants compassion and love for all Muslim communities, it needs to include those where the oppressor is our difficult friend too.

Rebecca Watson is Newshub's news editor and lived for a year in Xinjiang.