On the eve of Human Rights Day, Congressman Smith and Chinese human rights leaders gathered to call for the release of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, who remains in prison and whose wife, Liu Xia, remains detained and isolated in arbitrary detention. 

 An empty chair at the press conference in the House Rayburn Building symbolized Liu’s absence. It was reminiscent of an empty chair that was also present at the ceremony where Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 in Oslo, Norway. 

“China is in a race to the bottom with North Korea for the title of world’s worst violators of human rights,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), the Chairman of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Congressman Chris Smith. “The hope that an economically prosperous and ‘rising China’ would embrace political reform and human rights has been destroyed. It is time for a new approach. We will not forget Liu Xiaobo or his wife. The CECC remains committed to seeking their release from confinement and detention. We will not forget them next year, or the year thereafter—regardless of the circumstances—or how uncomfortable it makes the Chinese government.”   Click here to read Smith's opening statement.

Smith said that President Obama and his Administration has not done enough to secure Liu Xiaobo’s release: “He is certainly not as clear and tough on the issue of political prisoners as he is on cyber-security issues or environmental issues with China,” Smith said. “That the President, a fellow Nobel Laureate, has been reluctant to raise these cases in public—and link them to better U.S.-China relations—is certainly perceived as weakness by China’s leaders.”  Diplomatic efforts have not lead to Liu Xiaobo’s release, and the group asked that President Obama and other world leaders renew efforts to publically and privately seek the Liu’s release. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, Co-Chair of the CECC, noted that this week marks the five-year anniversary of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The anniversary aptly coincides with International Human Rights Day when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which China was not only a signatory but also an original drafter,” Rubio said. “Enshrined in the document are a variety of rights and protections to include freedom from arbitrary arrest, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and conscience and freedom of movement.  Sadly these God-given rights remain elusive for millions of Chinese citizens including Liu,” said Rubio. 

Attending the press conference was:

• Chen Guangcheng, Distinguished Fellow in Human Rights, Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution, Witherspoon Institute, and the Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies, Catholic University. Chen is a Chinese legal advocate and activist who escaped from China in 2012;
• Fang Zheng, President, Chinese Democracy Education Foundation, the president of Chinese Democracy Education Foundation.  He is a former student protester who was seriously injured during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.  During the evacuation of the Square in the early morning of June 4, Fang was run over by a People’s Liberation Army tank, which led to the amputation of both his legs.

• Dr. Yang Jianli, President, Initiatives for China/ Citizen Power for China. Dr. Yang Jianli is a scholar and democracy activist internationally recognized for his efforts to promote democracy in China. He has been involved in the pro-democracy movement in China since the 1980s and was forced to flee China in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square massacre. In 2002, Dr. Yang returned to China to support the labor movement and was imprisoned by Chinese authorities for espionage and illegal entry. He was released in 2007.

The bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) chaired by Smith and co-chaired by Senator Rubio recently released its 2015 Annual Report, which concludes that the government of President Xi Jinping has staged an extraordinary assault on the rule of law, human rights, ethnic minority groups, and civil society in recent years.  The report also provides evidence that the Chinese government continues to coercively enforce birth restrictions and monitor family size in the past year.  China’s population control policies created a sex ratio imbalance resulting in the birth of significantly more males, millions of whom will be unable to find wives. The severe imbalance drives regional human trafficking throughout Asia for the purposes of forced marriage and sexual exploitation. The CECC Annual Report can be found at www.cecc.gov.

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.

“We must show leadership and resolve because only the U.S. has the power and prestige to stand up to China’s intransigence,” Smith said. “The U.S. must not shy away from meeting with the Dalai Lama or other dissidents.  We must use visa bans on Chinese officials who violate human rights.  We need to connect Internet and press freedoms as both economic and human rights priorities.  And we must demand, repeatedly and clearly, that the unconditional release of political prisoners is in the interest of better U.S.-China relations.   

“I believe that someday China will be free.  Someday, the people of China will be able to enjoy all of their God-given rights.  And a nation of free Chinese men and women will honor and celebrate Liu Xiaobo as a hero.  He will be honored along with all others like him who have sacrificed so much, and so long, for freedom,” Smith said. 

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