U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and U.S. Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA), Chair and Cochair of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), issued the Commission’s 2022 Annual Report on human rights conditions and rule of law developments in China on November 14, 2022.
“Xi’s attempt to replace universal rights with a ‘‘Chinese view of human rights’’ is unacceptable. The human rights of the people of China are inalienable and enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international norms and standards. Xi’s vision of a world safe for authoritarianism, where the power of the state supersedes personal freedoms and the strong can bully the weak, pits those who yearn for liberty against those in power who deny it to them for ideological or power-hungry ends,” said CECC Chair Merkley and Cochair McGovern.
The report highlights many recommendations for congressional and executive branch action, including:
- Increasing the capacity of the FBI and State Department to address transnational repression and PRC efforts to intimidate and silence Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, and members of the Chinese-American diaspora;
- Sanctioning individuals responsible for forced labor and extend sanctions authorities for PRC officials complicit in forced sterilizations and forced abortions in the XUAR;
- Expanding the use of existing sanction authorities for Hong Kong prosecutors and judicial officials engaged in the prosecution and detention of pro-democracy advocates;
- Creating immigration pathways for Hong Kong residents and Uyghurs to protect those fleeing PRC persecution;
- Limiting the PRC’s malign influence operations in the United States by creating the “China Censorship Monitor and Action Group” to protect U.S. businesses and individuals from censorship and intimidation;
- Conditioning access to U.S. capital market for any Chinese company providing support for the PRC’s mass surveillance capabilities or facilitating human rights abuses in China; and
- Expanding grant programs to assist Uyghur, Mongol, and other ethnic and religious minorities in cultural and linguistic preservation efforts.
For More:
http://www.docs.google.com/document/d/1h9F3ame6hZ3VOsuDl717uuCdPC4B7Gc0Mf7Yn6X5uVQ/
