Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Global Human Rights Subcommittee, today issued the following statement on this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco:

            “It is absolutely shameful that American business leaders, including executives from some of the nation’s largest corporations—Apple, Black Rock, Boeing and Pfizer, among others—gave not one, but two standing ovations in a banquet in San Francisco for Xi Jinping.

            “Xi is responsible for the repression of predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, underground Christians, and human rights activists in China, and for cracking down on freedom in Hong Kong. 

            “He has created a massive surveillance state that spies on its own people, while threating Taiwan and neighbors in the South China Sea militarily. And, his henchmen have set up shop in US cities harassing dissidents and human rights advocates for whom we have provided refuge.

            “At a time when China’s repression has deepened within and beyond its borders, the corporate toasting of Xi Jinping drastically contradicts America’s important commitment to human rights and the rule of law.  The CECC will continue its work to ensure accountability for any American corporation’s involvement in forced labor, targeted collection of DNA from ethnic minorities, and other human rights violations.”

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