At a hearing today of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), CECC Chairman U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) and CECC Co-Chairman Sen. Marco Rubio examined evidence of the Chinese government’s global efforts to stifle discussion of its human rights record and repressive policies. Entitled “The Long Arm of China: Global Efforts to Silence Critics from Tiananmen To Today,” the hearing looked specifically at methods employed by the Chinese government to intimidate, harass, imprison and censor the work of journalists, rights advocates and human rights lawyers living outside of China. 

   “China is not only interested in containing the spread of ‘Western values and ideas’ within China, but is actively engaged in trying to roll back democracy and human rights norms globally,” said Chairman Smith. “It would be fitting to have an empty chair at the witness table today representing every dissident fearful of sharing their story, every writer whose work has been censored or edited by Chinese authorities without their knowledge and every journalist whose critical reporting has been blocked or tempered—not just in China, but in the West.” Click here to read Chairman Smith’s Statement.

   Recent efforts by China include pushing Thailand to crackdown on dissidents critical of Beijing or to forcibly repatriate Muslim Uyghur refugees and Chinese asylum seekers; the disappearances and alleged abductions of five Hong Kong booksellers to China; clandestine efforts to discredit the Dalai Lama through a Communist Party-supported rival Buddhist sect; harassment of family members of foreign journalists and human rights advocates; and threats to the operations of non-governmental organizations engaged in work in human rights and rule of law work in China.

   Witnesses included: Dr. Teng Biao, a prominent human rights lawyer who spoke about the cancelation of his book project with the American Bar Association (ABA) because of fears the Chinese government would cancel the ABA’s programs in China; Angela Gui, the daughter of abducted Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai; Su Yutong, a journalist who lost her job at a German radio station because she criticized the station’s lack of human rights coverage on China, and; Ilshat Hussein, President of the Uyghur-American Foundation whose family is harassed and detained because of his global human rights work. Witness testimony and an archived webcast of the hearing will be posted here.

   “China’s efforts present real strategic implications for the U.S. and the international community,” said the long-term congressional human rights leader who has held more than 50 hearings on human rights abuses in China. “The Congress will continue to press the Administration to advance human rights in China. But we must also look ahead and make a compelling case for the next Administration about the centrality of human rights to U.S. interests in Asia. It is increasingly clear that there is direct link between China’s domestic human rights problems and the security and prosperity of the United States. Losing sight of these facts leads to bad policy, bad diplomacy and the needless juxtaposition of values and interests. It also sends the wrong message to those in China standing courageously for greater freedoms, human rights and the rule of law.”

   The CECC, established by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 as China prepared to enter the WTO, is mandated by U.S. law to monitor human rights, including worker rights, and the development of the rule of law in China. Its members are a bipartisan combination of Congress and White House appointees.

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