Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chair of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), today disputed the Chinese government’s criticism of the CECC’s recently released 2015 Annual Report and issued an open invitation to China’s Ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, to testify about China’s human rights record.

    The CECC released its 2015 Annual Report yesterday. It was unanimously approved by all of the  CECC’s 22 members. “The Chinese government’s response is a bit surprising given that it comes on the fifth anniversary of Liu Xiaobo being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” Smith said. “Nonetheless, the CECC’s report gets the facts correct and we stand by the conclusion that this year saw a ‘disturbing deterioration’ of human rights. We want to invite China’s Ambassador to testify about where the CECC’s report is incorrect. We want an open and frank dialogue on issues of rights and freedom because they have long troubled U.S.-China relations. We hope the Ambassador will accept the chance to discuss China’s human rights record.” 

     Reuters reported that a Chinese government spokesperson criticized the CECC report saying that it “doesn’t accord with the facts…and embraces a persistent bias in order to make irresponsible remarks about China’s domestic affairs.” According to Reuters, the government spokesperson said that U.S. officials and the American people should be more “objective” in their criticism of China.

    “We try to be objective, but the facts are the facts,” said Smith. “President Xi has presided over a devastating assault on the rule of law, free speech, religious freedom, and civil society in China. In the past year, 300 human rights lawyers were detained for simply helping the poor and persecuted. Tibetans and Uyghurs continue to face assaults on their faith and culture. Falun Gong practitioners remain one of China’s most repressed groups and there is chilling and compelling evidence that the organs of Falun Gong prisoners are harvested for sale. Some 1,500 Christian crosses were torn down and dozens of believers detained because Christianity poses too prominent a challenge to the Communist Party. China has some of the harshest restrictions on the Internet and press freedom.  Torture or prisoners in detention is routine. There are thousands of prisoners of conscience, including Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia.

    “The report makes very clear that China continues to coercively enforce its population control policies,” Smith said. “For the past 35 years, the Chinese government has told couples what their families must look like and have enforced the policy through forced abortions and sterilizations and by other means.  This policy is unacceptable, it is hated, it is globally condemned, the human costs are staggering, and it must end immediately.”    

    The CECC report details persistent problems in China regarding religious persecution, Internet and press freedom restrictions, human trafficking, population control, and the unjust imprisonment of prisoners of conscience. The report concludes that deteriorating human rights conditions in China pose “a direct challenge to U.S. national interests and U.S.-China relations” and recommends the need for a “top-down reformulation of U.S. human rights diplomacy with China.”

    Smith chairs the CECC with Senator Marco Rubio. The CECC consists of nine bi-partisan Senators, eight bi-partisan Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President.  The Annual Report was approved unanimously by all of the CECC’s members.

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