U.S. Representative Chris Smith (NJ-04) testified before the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific regarding the findings and recommendations of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s (CECC) 2015 Annual Report. 

The hearing looked at the CECC’s latest report and its detailed analysis of 19 human rights and rule-of-law issue areas, as well as specific recommendations on ways to make progress on these issues in the broader U.S.-China relationship. Smith and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) serve respectively as the Chair and Co-Chair of the CECC.

Also testifying with Smith was Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN), the CECC’s ranking House Democratic member. Click here to see the hearing video and testimony.  

“It has been another punishing year for human rights in China, as this report documents so well,” said Chairman Smith. “President Xi has presided over an extraordinary assault on the rule of law and civil society using repressive and retrograde policies that threaten freedom advocates in China and challenge both U.S. interests and U.S.-China cooperation and goodwill. U.S. leadership on human rights is needed now more than ever. We must not compromise on the need for fundamental freedoms or shy away from those who seek them. Clearly, our long-term strategic interests depend on the advance of human rights and the rule of law in China.”

“This report also details the brutality and human costs of China’s coercive population control policies, a failed social experiment entering its 36th year,” Smith said. “Despite the platitudes given China for the recently-announced ‘Two Child Policy,’ the pernicious structure of population control remains. Chinese families are not free to determine the size of their own families or the number of children. There will still be intense pressure to forcibly abort a child if the pregnancy is not approved by the state. The U.S. could play an important role in helping to end this horrific policy—once and for all.” 

Smith concluded his testimony by saying “We are living in a time where the comfortable assumptions that undergirded U.S. policy toward China are unravelling. Trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges have not brought about fundamental political change or improved human rights in China. China’s domestic human rights problems adversely affect U.S. foreign policy priorities. We cannot afford to separate human rights from our other interests in China. The future health of the U.S. economy and environment, the safety of our food and drugs, the security of our investments and personal information in cyberspace, and the stability of the Pacific region will all depend on China complying with international law, allowing the free flow of news and information, and protecting the basic rights of China’s citizens, including the fundamental freedoms of religion, expression, assembly, and association.”  Cong. Smith’s opening testimony can be viewed here.

The 2015 Annual Report on human rights in China can be accessed on the CECC’s website (www.cecc.gov).