    [House Hearing, 115 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

     DISAPPEARED, JAILED, AND TORTURED IN CHINA: WIVES PETITION FOR THEIR
                               HUSBANDS' FREEDOM

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                     SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
                            GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND
                          INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

                                     OF THE

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                         ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                  MAY 18, 2017

                                   __________

                               Serial No. 115-31

                                   __________

            Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
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                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                     EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
    CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey     ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
    ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida         BRAD SHERMAN, California
    DANA ROHRABACHER, California         GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
    STEVE CHABOT, Ohio                   ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
    JOE WILSON, South Carolina           GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
    MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas             THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
    TED POE, Texas                       KAREN BASS, California
    DARRELL E. ISSA, California          WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts
    TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania             DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island
    JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina          AMI BERA, California
    MO BROOKS, Alabama                   LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
    PAUL COOK, California                TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania            JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
    RON DeSANTIS, Florida                ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
    MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina         BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
    TED S. YOHO, Florida                 DINA TITUS, Nevada
    ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois             NORMA J. TORRES, California
    LEE M. ZELDIN, New York              BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois
    DANIEL M. DONOVAN, Jr., New York     THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York
    F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr.,         ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
        Wisconsin                        TED LIEU, California
    ANN WAGNER, Missouri
    BRIAN J. MAST, Florida
    FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
    BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
    THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia

         Amy Porter, Chief of Staff      Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director

                   Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
                                     ------

        Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
                          International Organizations

                   CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
    MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina         KAREN BASS, California
    DANIEL M. DONOVAN, Jr., New York     AMI BERA, California
    F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr.,         JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
        Wisconsin                        THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York
    THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

                                   WITNESSES

    Ms. Chen Guiqiu, spouse of Xie Yang..............................     6
    Ms. Wang Yanfang, spouse of Tang Jingling........................    27
    Ms. Jin Bianling, spouse of Jiang Tianyong.......................    42
    Ms. Li Ching-Yu, spouse of Li Ming-Che...........................    47

              LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING

    Ms. Chen Guiqiu: Prepared statement..............................     9
    Ms. Wang Yanfang: Prepared statement.............................    30
    Ms. Jin Bianling: Prepared statement.............................    44
    Ms. Li Ching-Yu: Prepared statement..............................    50

                                    APPENDIX

    Hearing notice...................................................    62
    Hearing minutes..................................................    63
    The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress
      from the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on
      Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International
      Organizations:
      Testimony of Jiang Tianyong from November 10, 2009, hearing....    64
      Letter from scholars to Xi Jinping on Li Ming-Che..............    66
      List of Xie Yang's torturers...................................    70

                      DISAPPEARED, JAILED, AND TORTURED IN
                        CHINA: WIVES PETITION FOR THEIR
                               HUSBANDS' FREEDOM

                                  ----------

                             THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

                           House of Representatives,

                     Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,

             Global Human Rights, and International Organizations,

                         Committee on Foreign Affairs,

                                Washington, DC.

        The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o'clock
    p.m., in room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon.
    Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
        Mr. Smith. The subcommittee will come to order, and good
    afternoon to everyone and welcome to our hearing this
    afternoon.
        Lawyer Xie Yang was tortured for the better part of 2 years
    because he dared to represent China's poor and persecuted. The
    account of his detention is both harrowing and horrible.
        Xie Yang was sleep deprived and kept in isolation. Squads
    of police punched and kicked him for hours at a time. He was
    forced to sit for hours on a precarious stack of plastic
    chairs, his feet dangling painfully off the ground. Police made
    threats to his wife and children and said that they would turn
    him into an invalid unless he confessed to political crimes.
        Xie Yang and his fellow human rights lawyers wanted the
    best for China but what they got was the very worst. Since July
    2015, almost 250 lawyers and legal assistants were detained,
    sending a chilling message to those fighting for legal reforms
    and for elemental human rights.
        We are here today to shine a bright light on the brutal,
    illegal, and dehumanizing use of torture and forced
    disappearance of human rights lawyers and rights advocates in
    China. We shine a light on dictatorships because nothing good
    happens in the dark and, as we will learn today, there are some
    very, very dark places in China.
        Chinese officials repeatedly tell us and they tell me all
    the time that I should focus more on the positive aspects of
    China and not dwell so much on the negative. That is a
    difficult task when you read Xie Yang's story or read Gao
    Zhisheng's account of his torture, and his wife and his
    daughter previously have testified before our subcommittee, or
    read the account of many other very, very brave women and men
    who are standing up for human rights in China.
        It is a difficult task when you look at Li Chunfu and his
    brother, Li Heping. These are some of China's best and bravest
    and brightest, and now women and men with broken bodies,
    shattered minds, broken noses and faces, men and women who have
    aged 20 or more years after just 2 years or 3 of solitary
    confinement or torture. It is shocking, offensive, immoral,
    barbaric, and inhumane. It is also completely possible that
    Chinese officials believe the international community will not
    hold them to account.
        While President Xi Jinping feels feted at Davos and lauded
    in national capitals for his public commitments to openness,
    his government is torturing and abusing those seeking rights
    guaranteed by China's own constitution and, of course, its
    international obligations. One Oxford University scholar said
    that Xi Jinping has built a ``perfect dictatorship,'' an
    increasingly repressive garrison state that avoids any
    international censure.
        Through the United Nations and the sanctions available in
    the Global Magnitsky Act, however, we should be seeking to hold
    accountable any Chinese officials complicit in torture, human
    rights abuses, and illegal detentions. Xie Yang identified at
    least 10 police officers who tortured him. We have a list of
    those officers who he has named. They need to be investigated
    by the administration and sanctions meted out individually to
    these individuals who have visited such horror and cruelty upon
    him.
        We are in the process of gathering names of others as well.
    I, as chairman of this subcommittee, will send those names to
    President Trump, Secretary of State Tillerson, U.N. Ambassador
    Nikki Haley and the chairs and ranking members of the House
    Foreign Affairs and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
    pursuant, again, to the Magnitsky Act protocol. We will seek
    U.N. investigations into the torture of China's human rights
    lawyers and human rights offenders. As we all know, on several
    occasions the Special Rapporteur for Torture has looked into
    the use of torture in China and has found it to be absolutely
    systematic.
        If you are arrested and you are a religious prisoner or you
    are a political prisoner, a prisoner of conscience, you will be
    tortured and you will be tortured with depravity and with utter
    cruelty.
        We know that this also violates China's obligations as a
    signatory to the U.N. Convention Against Torture. Where's the
    enforcement?
        We will also seek investigations under the Global Magnitsky
    Act, as I said. I introduced the House version of that bill,
    which as signed into law last year. That law explicitly--and it
    says explicitly--that any foreign government officials who
    engages in or is complicit in torture can be sanctioned by
    denying entry visas into the United States or by imposing
    financial sanctions. Those who tortured Xie Yang and Li Heping
    should never benefit from access to the United States or to our
    financial system. We will hear testimony today from some of the
    wives who have suffered.
        When a prisoner of conscience is sent off the jail and
    suffers it's not just that dissident who suffers. It is the
    wives, the families, the extended families. Very often they are
    rounded up as well and interrogated and beaten.
        You know, we have the great Chen Guangcheng in our audience
    today and his wife, Beijing. When Chen suffered the barbarity
    of the Chinese dictatorship for speaking up on behalf of women
    who have been coerced into forced abortions in Linyi, he
    suffered in prison, then under house imprisonment. But his wife
    and his children also suffered and showed incredible bravery
    during that entire terrible ordeal. But he persevered, he
    persisted, and today is now free and speaks out very boldly and
    effectively on behalf of human rights abuses in China.
        Pastor Bob Fu, who will be doing some of the translation,
    he too was incarcerated as a prisoner of conscience. But,
    again, he persisted along with his wife as well and found their
    way to freedom and now speaks out boldly as leader of ChinaAid.
        Finally, we will hear about Mr. Li from Li Ming-Che, his
    wife, who will also be providing testimony to us today. After
    entering mainland China in March of this year for a personal
    trip, Mr. Li went missing for 10 days before the Chinese
    officials confirmed that he was being held on so-called
    national security grounds.
        Let me just say we all know this--what a joke. People ask
    for human rights protections and they are accused of national
    security violations. It just doesn't pass the straight face
    test and it's about time that subterfuge and that lie, that big
    lie, is fully done away with and exposed.
        Many fear that Mr. Li is being detained under a harsh new
    Chinese law to monitor and control foreign-funded NGOs enforced
    earlier this year as part of the crackdown on civil society.
        As some of you may know, I also chair the Congressional-
    Executive Commission on China along with Marco Rubio, and every
    year we put out a very extensive account of the human rights
    abuses in China. One of the big changes--worsening changes--
    there are many--is the fact that the NGOs are now being--who
    had very limited freedom to begin with--have far less now just
    as religious organizations and denominations are also being
    cracked down by this cruel dictatorship.
        Let me just conclude by saying that we welcome the
    testimony of these wives. I hope and I pray and we will monitor
    to ensure that because they have spoken out boldly and in a
    open forum like today that any further retaliation against
    their husbands or any members of their families will be watched
    closely and Xi Jinping will be noticed and I do hope the Trump
    administration will be bold and effective as well as Secretary
    Tillerson in raising individual cases, because when you raise
    the individual cases, obviously, it helps all the others as
    well.
        I yield to Mr. Castro.
        Mr. Castro. Thank you, Chairman, for your remarks and for
    your leadership on human rights issues worldwide.
        Ranking Member Bass is unable to join us here today. I am
    not the superstar that she is but I am glad that she's allowed
    me to be the ranking member this afternoon in her absence.
        Let there be no doubt that the United States will marshal
    its political and economic might for the cause of human rights
    around the world and that we will ask the same of our allies.
    As we move further into the digital age, information is more
    accessible than ever, which means that the suffering and harm
    to people is also more visible than ever.
        The United States and nations around the world cannot turn
    away from what we see and we must take action. The tenure of
    Chinese President Xi Jinping has been accompanied by an
    increasingly harsh crackdown on any individuals and groups
    deemed to be subverting state power. The passage of the law on
    the management of foreign NGO activities raises serious
    concerns. According to the 2016 State Department report on
    human rights, the Chinese law describes foreign NGOs as
    ``national security threats'' and requires all NGOs to undergo
    a difficult registration process.
        In doing so, the Chinese Government has greatly restricted
    the political space of its civil society. Chinese environmental
    activists, ethnic minorities, religious leaders, and political
    dissidents, among others, are routinely arrested and given
    years long prison sentences, often for actions as trivial as
    posting a comment online. And the lawyers representing these
    individuals often suffer equally severe treatment. Chinese
    human rights lawyers are routinely harassed by the Chinese
    security apparatus, detained for extended periods of time,
    tortured, charged with crimes, and sentenced to lengthy prison
    terms.
        Last month, President Trump met with President Xi where
    they discussed economic and political issues. The meeting came
    at a time when China's crackdown on human rights reached new
    heights. While President Trump raised the issue of human rights
    with President Xi, Secretary Tillerson dismissed the idea of
    discussing human rights in a separate dialogue. The Secretary
    instead stated that U.S. core values of human rights would be
    part of U.S. economic or political dialogue with China.
        Yet, Secretary Tillerson was the first Secretary of State
    who did not attend the annual release of the State Department's
    human rights report since the mid-1990s.
        We here in Congress will pay close attention to the actions
    of the administration and ensure they follow through on U.S.
    commitments to advancing the cause of human rights in China and
    in nations around the world.
        Today, we will hear from four brave women who continue to
    show their courage by testifying in front of the United States
    Congress. Each of their husbands has endured unjust
    imprisonment and inhumane treatment under dubious
    circumstances. They deserve our appreciation for taking great
    risks by providing firsthand accounts of China's increasingly
    restrictive political environment.
        The perseverance of our witnesses and their families is a
    reminder that the fight for just and accountable government is
    a cause worth fighting for. It's also a reminder that progress
    toward a free and fair society is fragile and must be pursued
    every day.
        And, of course, being a Member of Congress from Texas, I
    want to acknowledge that one of our witnesses has been residing
    there. After narrowly escaping Chinese authorities in Thailand,
    Ms. Chen made her way to my home state. We are happy to have
    you here, Ms. Chen.
        Again, I want to thank each and every one of you for
    sharing your stories and your family stories with us today. I
    yield back.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Castro.
        I would like to introduce our distinguished witnesses and
    again thank them for--thank you for your bravery and courage in
    coming forward.
        We will begin first with Chen Guiqui, who is the wife of
    Christian human rights attorney, Xie Yang. Xie Yang focused his
    professionally life in helping those victimized by the
    Communist regime's forced demolitions and migrations as well as
    impoverished people whose rights were trampled on by the
    Chinese Government.
        Because of his work, he was taken away on July 11th, 2015
    as part of Xi Jinping's nationwide crackdown on human rights
    defenders. I mentioned some of the horrific ordeal that he has
    endured in my opening and we will hear from his wife very
    shortly.
        We will then hear from Wang Yanfang, who is the wife of
    Tang Jingling, who is a human rights lawyer whose clients have
    included villagers fighting government corruption and victims
    of illegal land appropriation. In 2006, Tang's license to
    practice law in China was suspended, after which he became
    involved in a nonviolent civil disobedience movement in China.
        In 2012, he was detained for 5 days following his work
    investigating the death of a human rights defender. In 2014,
    Mr. Tang was detained on suspicion of inciting subversion of
    state power in the weeks leading up to the 25th anniversary of
    the Chinese Government's violent crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
    He was tried in July 2015 along with two other prominent
    political advocates, and Ms. Wang is currently staying in the
    U.S. while she advocates for her husband's release.
        We will then hear from Jin Bianling, wife of Jiang
    Tianyong. Jiang Tianyong is a veteran human rights lawyer who
    has worked on prominent cases including those of Chen
    Guangcheng and Gao Zhisheng. He has also worked on cases
    advocating for the rights of AIDS and hepatitis B-infected
    people as well as other human rights and humanitarian cases.
        From 2009 to 2012, Chinese officials harassed, kidnapped
    and physically tortured Tang and on numerous occasions for his
    human rights work. In November, he traveled to Hunan to pay a
    visit to Chen Guiqui, the wife of the imprisoned human rights
    lawyer who will speak momentarily. He was kidnapped while
    returning to Beijing on November 21st and placed under
    residential surveillance for alleged subversion of state power.
    He is now being held.
        Finally, we will hear from or we will hear from Li Ching-
    Yu, the wife of detained Taiwan community college worker Li
    Ming-Che. Ms. Li graduated from the Department of Labor
    Relations at the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan where she
    and her husband met and began to participate in social
    movements. Before 2014, Mr. Li began discussing Taiwan's
    historical experiences and issues of transitional justice with
    a group of Chinese friends through the instant messaging app
    WeChat.
        In 2015, Mr. Li's WeChat account was blocked from using the
    group chat feature and Mr. Li began proactively seeking books
    as gifts to his Chinese contacts who are interested in human
    rights and/or modern history. Around February, 2016, he was
    called on friends through WeChat to raise funds for the family
    of a Chinese civil rights activist.
        Later that year in August 2016, the books he sent to
    Chinese friends were confiscated. He went missing as he was
    entering China from the city of Macao, on March 19, 2017, so
    that is just a few weeks ago. Ten days later after his forced
    abduction, the Taiwan Affairs Office admitted he was in custody
    and that is why we are here today to seek his release as well.
        Because we do want to hear all of you, Mr. Castro and I
    will take a brief respite to go vote. But we will then come
    back and we look forward to your testimony and I apologize for
    that inconvenience.
        We stand in recess subject to the call of the chair.
        [Recess.]
        Mr. Smith. The subcommittee will resume its sitting and I
    would like to yield to Randy. Randy, any comments you might
    have?
        Mr. Hultgren. I'll be very brief but I just wanted to say
    thank you for being here. Just humbled and amazed by your
    courage, by the stands that you are taking but also that your
    husbands are taking and it is so important for us to hear your
    stories to be able to share that with others. But also know
    this is, it is hard for us to still even comprehend or wrap our
    mind around what you are going through and what others like
    your families are going through.
        So our hope is meetings like this, hearings like this, can
    encourage and push those entities that are doing these horrible
    atrocities to stop, to free your husbands and to make sure that
    this doesn't happen to anyone else's husband. So thank you for
    being here.
        I'll look forward to hearing more of what we can do and,
    hopefully, seeing some positive results in very difficult
    circumstances.
        So thank you, Chairman. I yield back.
        Mr. Smith. I thank Chairman Hultgren for coming but also
    for his great work that he does as chairman of the Lantos Human
    Rights Commission. He does wonderful work there including on
    human rights abuses in China. So thank you, Randy.
        I would like to now ask Chen Guiqui if you could provide
    your testimony.

            STATEMENT OF MS. CHEN GUIQIU, SPOUSE OF XIE YANG

        [The following statement and answers were delivered through
    an interpreter.]
        Ms. Chen. Honorable Chairman Chris Smith, Honorable
    Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
    International Organization Representatives, ladies and
    gentlemen, I am the wife of human rights lawyer Xie Yang.
        I would like to thank God, the Trump administration,
    ChinaAid Association, and the hardworking diplomats. I also
    want to express my gratitude toward Representative Chairman
    Smith as well as other politicians and the friends who are
    concerned with the development of human rights and the judicial
    system in China.
        With your help, my two daughters and I escaped from the
    jaws of death and arrived in the United States, the land of
    freedom. With your help, I am able to stand here to speak on
    behalf of the victims in China who do not have a voice.
        I would like to give you a better idea of human rights
    conditions in China. And the next I will--with the help of Bob
    Fu to help me. So I have a request to submit the torture record
    of my husband and also my husband's declaration on January 13,
    2017, about his torture as part of the record.
        Mr. Smith. Without objection, all of those additions will
    be made a part of the record and that goes for all of our
    wives. Whatever it is you'd like to become a part of the record
    will be, without objection.
        Ms. Chen. Thank you so much. Xie Yang represented dozens of
    cases on behalf of the downtrodden, including poor Chinese
    citizens who have had their houses or land seized from them
    without compensation, dissidents, members of China's religious
    communities, and other marginalized and persecuted groups.
        Due to his work defending human rights, he was jailed and
    brutally tortured. After Xie Yang was arrested by national
    security agents in Changsha and placed in secret detention for
    6 months, his captors brutally tortured him attempt to make him
    confess and provide evidence against his colleagues.
        The methods of torture included beatings delivered in
    rotation by a roster of guards, exhausting interrogations for
    over 20 hours at once, having cigarette smoke blown into his
    face and eyes, starvation, dehydration, and the refusal of
    medical treatment for his illness. To force him to surrender,
    his interrogators even threatened to arrange a car accident to
    injure his wife and children. He was beaten by a prison guard
    named Yuan Jin during his detention.
        On November 21, 2016, his defense lawyer, Zhang Chongshi,
    visited Xie Yang for the first time and witnessed Yuan Jin
    beating him while he was waiting. Xie Yang's head swelled up
    and began to bleed.
        Inmates who have been released from his detention center
    told me that he was not allowed to access money so he could not
    even buy toothpaste and toilet paper, not allowed to
    communicate with others.
        He was purposely singled out. The guards specifically
    arranged for criminals sentenced to death to live with Xie Yang
    so that he would be beaten up and harassed. The publication of
    Xie Yang's torture account has had an immediate impact both
    inside China and internationally, as I just submitted today.
        Xie Yang's court session was held on May 8, 2017. None of
    the witnesses showed up. None of the defense lawyers I hired
    showed up. I did not even receive a notice of the court
    session. Instead, Xie Yang attended the session with an
    official lawyer appointed by the government. The friends who
    planned to witness the court session were seized and arrested
    by the national security agents.
        Xie Yang was forced to admit his guilt and deny the torture
    he suffered in the detention center. Regarding the fact that he
    was not allowed to see his lawyer for 16 months or communicate
    with the outside world, he was forced to acknowledge that his
    rights were protected. He was bailed out after the court
    session but still has not regained freedom. The national
    security agents followed him wherever he goes.
        I strongly hope the Honorable President Trump and the U.S.
    Congress can immediately and effectively urge China's central
    government to investigate the actual facts behind the torture
    of those arrested in the 709 crackdown, simultaneously enacting
    legal sanctions against those who practice torture.
        I request that China clearly ensures that other
    incarcerated prisoners of conscience do not continue to receive
    harm. I call on President Trump to conscientiously implement
    the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, punishing
    those who we have irrefutable evidence of them practicing
    torture and infringing on human rights.
        I earnestly request that President Trump meet with the
    family members of the Chinese people who have suffered before
    he goes to China, as he's visiting with them publicly with this
    concern for China's worsening religious freedom, rule of law,
    and human rights conditions.
        I also ask that he publicly give China's leaders a list of
    prisoners of conscience and to free the 709 case's victims.
        Chen Guiqui. Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Chen follows:]

        [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                  ----------

        Mr. Smith. Ms. Chen, thank you so very much for your
    testimony and, again, for you and all of the wives for your
    bravery.
        We'd like to now ask Wang Yanfang. So Ms. Wang.

         STATEMENT OF MS. WANG YANFANG, SPOUSE OF TANG JINGLING

        [The following statement and answers were delivered through
    an interpreter.]
        Ms. Wang. Honorable Chairman Smith, Honorable Subcommittee
    on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
    International Organizations representatives, ladies and
    gentlemen, my name is Wang Yanfang, wife of human rights
    lawyer, Tang Jingling.
        I would like to express my gratitude to Representative
    Chris Smith, Senator Marco Rubio, Representative Nancy Pelosi,
    Representative Hultgren, and many other Representatives, as
    well as Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid Association, for your
    attention to and support of my husband and many other victims
    of human rights abuse in China. I would like to request the
    committee to archive my husband's report on the violation of
    human rights in Chinese prisons. The rest of my testimony will
    be read by Jasmine Chia Shih.
        As the institution of religious freedom, rule of law, and
    human rights continues to deteriorate in China, support for the
    victims of the international community is very valuable and
    precious.
        This is also an important milestone in joint endeavors to
    maintain universal values all over the world. In the past few
    decades, people of many countries terminated their seemingly
    powerful and long-lasting autocratic regimes through nonviolent
    resistance and fulfilled the transition from autocracy to
    democracy.
        My husband is a well-known human rights lawyer. He is also
    the initiator and a keen advocate of the civil disobedience
    movement. He is dedicated to promoting the civil disobedience
    movement, hoping to bring forth a democratic and free China. In
    1995, the national security police began to monitor Tang
    Jingling after he expressed his lifelong mission to promote
    democracy in China. In 1999, he published an article on China's
    democratization in Guangzhou. Then, he was forced to leave the
    big law firm he was working for.
        As a human rights lawyer, he's been involved in many major
    cases of human rights abuse, political rights abuse, and
    workers' rights abuse. For example, in 2003, a petition was
    initiated to abolish the internment and repatriation
    regulations and cancel the temporary residence permits policy
    after college student Sun Zhigang's death. Tang Jingling served
    as the legal counsel. In 2004, he was the defense lawyer for
    the two people charged in the Xingang labor unrest case in
    Dongguan.
        In January 2005, he defended the newly elected village head
    in the Shibi Third Villagers' campaign to remove old village
    officials. In August 2005, he was one of the key lawyers in the
    case of the Taishi villagers' campaign to remove village
    officials. Due to his involvement in human rights cases, the
    authorities forced his law firm to terminate his employment and
    suspended his lawyer's license.
        In 2006, he planned to attend an event in the U.S., but he
    was stopped at customs and his passport was confiscated by the
    police. He's still not allowed to leave the country to this
    day. After losing his lawyer license, he participated in many
    human rights cases as a citizen, including the poisonous
    vaccine lawsuit, the investigation of Li Wangyang's death, and
    many other cases involving land property, forced demolition,
    and so on.
        My husband graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University in
    1993. He began to participate in law in 1998. He lost his
    lawyer license in 2005. Due to his work in human rights
    protection during the Jasmine Movement in February 2011, he was
    charged with inciting subversion of state power and was
    detained in a black jail where he was threatened and tortured,
    including extensive sleep deprivation for 10 days in a row. He
    was allowed to sleep for 1 to 2 hours a day after he began to
    have some dangerous symptoms like trembling all over, numbness
    in both hands, and heart discomfort until he was released on
    August 2, 2011.
        He initiated and promoted the civil disobedience movement
    to seek justice for people at the bottom of the society. But
    his wife was forced to lose her job in May 2008.
        During his detention in February 2011, I was forcibly
    brought to Conghua and detained. They took my phone, bruised my
    arms, and didn't allow me to notify my family and lawyer, which
    caused my severe depression and poor health. Then the police
    tricked my mother to go to Guangdong to take care of me, and I
    was put under house surveillance for a long time. I was not
    allowed to meet with any family and friends. I was not even
    allowed to leave my home. More than 20 people took turns
    watching me. I was completely isolated from the outside world
    for almost 5 months. When my husband was released, my physical
    and mental health had been severely damaged.
        On May 16, 2014, Tang Jingling was criminally detained on
    the charge of ``picking quarrels and provoking troubles'' and
    was arrested on June 20 with the charge of ``inciting
    subversion of state power.''
        On September 23, his mother passed away on hearing of his
    arrest. His lawyer and I applied to bail him out to attend his
    mother's funeral. But the authorities ignored everything on
    legal, moral, and humanitarian levels and rejected our request.
    They didn't notify him of her death until October and caused
    deep sorrow. The authorities forbade his lawyer to meet with
    him for 6 months while his case was being transferred to the
    procuratorate.
        During the 2 years in the detention center all
    communication was banned. There was no way to guarantee his
    rights.
        On January 29, 2016, he was sentenced to 5 years
    imprisonment with the charge of inciting subversion of state
    power. He's serving the sentence in Huaiji Prison, Guangdong
    Province.
        Since he was arrested in August 2013, I was put under 24-
    hour surveillance, which brought huge emotional pressure and
    fear to me. However, I've been appealing for my husband. I
    request the release of him.
        On July 1, 2014, I went to Hong Kong to attend a
    demonstration and appealed in the media to urge people to pay
    attention to Tang Jingling and other prisoners of conscience
    like Yuan Chaoyang and Wang Qinqying. I was threatened by the
    police after returning to Guangdong and my freedom was
    restricted during the so-called ``sensitive'' period. After the
    massive arrest of human rights lawyers on July 9, 2015, I got
    in touch with families of arrested human rights lawyers and
    went to the Supreme People's Procuratorate with them.
        In August, I was not allowed to leave home. Since Tang
    Jingling worked as a lawyer more than a decade ago, he
    participated in many human rights cases and promoted civil
    disobedience movement. Consequently, he lost his lawyer
    license. He was detained, monitored, arrested, tortured and
    sentenced, and I lost my job, was harassed, summoned,
    monitored, and detained.
        Today, other 709 case lawyers are still suffering from such
    torture. Many prisoners of conscience are still unable to meet
    with their lawyers and families. Christian churches are still
    being shut down. Christians are still being detained and
    sentenced.
        Thus, I sincerely plead with President Trump and the U.S.
    Congress to urge the Chinese Government guarantee Tang
    Jingling's right to meet with his lawyer and his right to
    reading, communication, medical treatment, and food with enough
    nutrition as well as ensure that Tang Jingling, Wang Quanzhang,
    Jiang Tianyong, Wu Gan, Yuan Xinting, and other 709 case
    lawyers and prisoners of conscience have their basic human
    rights in prison and make certain that they are not being
    tortured and are released to reunite with their families.
        I hope President Trump can meet with families of the
    victims in the U.S. before his visit to China, talk about his
    attention to China's worsening religious freedom and human
    rights situation during his visit, and give the list of
    prisoners of conscience to the Embassy.
        I believe this is also an important action to maintain
    universal values all over the world.
        Thank you. Wang Yanfang.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Wang follows:]

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                                  ----------

        Mr. Smith. Thank you so very much for your very moving
    statement.
        And I would like to now yield such time as you may consume
    to Ms. Jin.

        STATEMENT OF MS. JIN BIANLING, SPOUSE OF JIANG TIANYONG

        [The following statement and answers were delivered through
    an interpreter.]
        Ms. Jin. Honorable Chairman Chris Smith, Honorable
    Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
    International Organizations Representatives, ladies and
    gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention to my husband
    Jiang Tianyong's suffering.
        Jiang Tianyong is a Chinese human rights lawyer. He began
    to advocate for human rights in 2006, representing hepatitis B
    patients, AIDS patients, and numerous Falun Gong practitioners.
        In order to promote the legal rights of lawyers, he
    contributed to the direct election of the Beijing Lawyers
    Association and exposed corruptions within the Beijing judicial
    system, such as blackmailing and racketeering. I am willing to
    provide photographic evidence of our heavy surveillance
    surrounding our house in China and also the audio recording of
    my husband when he was disappeared during the Jasmine
    Revolution.
        On October 29, 2009, Jiang Tianyong participated in a U.S.
    congressional hearing and spoke on the main theme, which was
    the problem with China's legal system and religion.
        I am bearing witness to how the national security police
    retaliated against our entire family as a result of this
    testimony.
        Ever since Tianyong was forced to stay home on sensitive
    dates, such as meetings of the National People's Congress, the
    Political Consultative Conference, June 4, which is the
    anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, or during
    important political leaders' visits to China, he could only get
    out of the house by taking their police cars. I have videos to
    verify all of this.
        Beginning on February 15, 2011, Tianyong disappeared for 2
    months during the Jasmine Revolution. He was brutally beaten,
    deprived of sleep, forced to watch CCTV news, sing songs, and
    recite patriotic articles to praise the Chinese Communist
    Government, and write thousands of pages of repentance letters.
    The videos can serve as evidence.
        On May 3, 2012, five national security agents from the
    Haidian District, Beijing, represented by Du Yuhui, beat
    Tianyong up when he attempted to visit the barefoot lawyer,
    Chen Guangcheng, at the hospital. Tianyong temporarily lost his
    hearing due to the perforation of his left ear's tympanic
    membrane. The police repeatedly took Tianyong away for
    questioning and threatened him, saying that our child could not
    go to school if he refused to cooperate. They also said that I,
    as his wife, could be affected as well. The long-term
    harassment and threats consumed me.
        I even thought of suicide. My child's mental condition was
    severely disrupted. Desperate, I brought my daughter to the
    U.S. in May 2013.
        On March 20, 2014, the local national security agents
    arrested Tianyong again in Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang while he
    was representing Falun Gong practitioners. The police broke
    eight of Tianyong's ribs during the 16 days of detention. I
    have the diagnosis from the hospital as proof.
        On November 21, 2016, Jiang Tianyong disappeared on his way
    back to Beijing after visiting the family members of lawyer Xie
    Yang. Now the government has already banned him from meeting
    with lawyers for 178 days and we do not know where he is
    detained. Tianyong's parents have been put under surveillance.
    The national security agents follow them wherever they go.
    According to the news on May 12, 2017, Tianyong has been
    tortured, and his legs are too swollen to walk.
        In order to safeguard human rights and the universal worth
    of defending legal rights, I strongly hope the Honorable
    President Trump and the U.S. Congress can immediately and
    effective urge China's central Government to investigate the
    actual facts behind the torture of those arrested in the 709
    crackdown, simultaneously enacting legal sanctions against
    those who practice torture and request that China clearly
    ensures that other incarcerated prisoners of conscience do not
    continue to receive harm.
        In addition, I want to mention that Tianyong has already
    received a letter confirming his political asylum in the United
    States. I hope that President Trump can negotiate with the
    Chinese Government during his visit and let Tianyong reunite
    with me and my daughter.
        May 19th is Tianyong's 46th birthday. I hereby make a wish
    on behalf of Tianyong and our family. I hope he can regain
    freedom so his aging parents would not have to worry constantly
    and his daughter could have her wish fulfilled and embrace her
    father.
        I hope I can forever set aside my heart, which anxiously
    worries about Tianyong, and a tranquil and merry life can come
    to our household.
        Thank you. Jin Bianling.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Jin follows:]

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                                  ----------

        Mr. Smith. Ms. Jin, thank you so very much.
        I would like to now yield to Ms. Li.

          STATEMENT OF MS. LI CHING-YU, SPOUSE OF LEE MIN-CHE

        [The following statement and answers were delivered through
    an interpreter.]
        Ms. Li. Chairman Smith, members of the committee, good
    afternoon. I am Li Ching-Yu, wife of Li Ming-Che.
        I would like to thank each of you for upholding and
    defending the values of freedom and democracy, values that
    human rights activists, including my husband, have dedicated
    their entire lives and energies to. I would also like to
    express my gratitude toward all the congressmen, especially
    Chairman Royce and Chairman Smith, who strive to maintain and
    further secure the implementation of the Taiwan Relations Act.
        I am deeply honored to be here today alongside these three
    respectable women who have gone through such perilous
    situations for the cause of democracy and human rights.
        It's after hearing about their journeys that I realized how
    fortunate I am as a Taiwanese. I further understood the
    blessings of our democracy, which exists today, thanks to the
    support of the U.S. Government and all the 20th century
    Taiwanese human rights activists, as mentioned by Chairman
    Royce in the March 14, 2014, hearing on the TRA.
        My husband, Li Ming-Che is from a--is from a Chinese
    refugee family that emigrated to Taiwan following the
    nationalist government in 1949.
        His background and emotional connection to China have
    contributed to his supports of Chinese human rights efforts.
    From 2012 until his disappearance, he gave online lectures
    through WeChat on the democratization of Taiwan and the history
    of the White Terror period. He also managed and contributed to
    a social justice fund for the purpose of financially supporting
    Chinese political prisoners and their families experiencing
    economic hardship that stemmed from their support of the values
    of freedom, justice, and democracy.
        On March 19, 2017, while on an annual visit to China to
    meet with people he worked on the fund with, my husband was
    subjugated to enforced incommunicado detention. It's been 61
    days since I last saw him. I am concerned. I am concerned about
    his health, for he suffers from high blood pressure. I am
    concerned for his safety. I do not know where he is for the
    Guangdong government has refused to disclose the location of
    his detention.
        The deprivation of my husband's liberty by the local
    Guangdong government is arbitrary and transgresses Articles 9,
    19, and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
    Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual
    Assistance Agreement, and International Covenant on Civil and
    Political Rights.
        It was not long after my husband's enforced disappearance
    that I learned about his detainment from a middleman. Since
    current cross-strait relations are highly abnormal, many such
    cases that involve Taiwanese people being detained or arrested
    in China are settled through brokers. These brokers for the
    most part represent the interests of the PRC. I was shown a
    copy of a letter that was written under involuntary
    circumstances by my husband.
        This letter was in the hands of Li Jun-min, a
    representative of the PRC Taiwan Affairs Office. He threatened
    me, insisting that I cancel my trip to Beijing and also silence
    myself. Li expressed clearly that the detention originated as a
    result of the provincial government of Guangdong's desire to
    show its strict enforcement of the newly-passed foreign NGO
    management law. He threatened that if I were to go to Beijing,
    the local Guangdong government would release a video of my
    husband admitting to having committed criminal actions.
        The U.S. has long insisted that its policy of no
    negotiation with terrorists is to be firmly followed. I also
    believe in that policy. I refuse to negotiate with a broker on
    such unequal grounds. If I did, it would be harmful and
    shameful to my family, my country, and my fellow human rights
    activists.
        Additionally, to my great disappointment, the Chinese
    Government has unreasonably revoked my travel visa, even though
    I have clearly and calmly explained that I only wanted to
    travel to better understand the situation.
        China's position toward human rights and the rule of law is
    drastically different from that of Taiwan and other civilized
    democratic countries. China should not assume that their
    military and economic growth could force Taiwan to be annexed
    by it.
        If China maintains that my husband's actions of spreading
    the values of democracy and aiding the family of members of
    political prisoners can pose a threat to its national security,
    I believe the people of Taiwan will become not only more
    certain of their unwillingness to be annexed but also hesitant
    to preserve a close relationship with China. It has only been
    around 20 years since Taiwan successfully overthrew the White
    Terror's one-party dictatorship. So it is highly unlikely that
    we will be willing to accept another despotic government.
        I have no other choice but to come and stand before you to
    ask for help from you. United States of America is the leading
    democracy in the free world. It was built upon the unalienable
    rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
        The U.S. has long been the protector of justice, freedom,
    and democracy everywhere. It has accepted the moral obligation
    to aid people deprived of their natural rights. The American
    Congress' unwavering dedication toward these values has
    influenced many countries including my home country, Taiwan, to
    embrace the spirit of human rights and democracy.
        The U.S. Congress has also voluntarily taken the
    responsibility as specified in Section 2, Clause 3 of the
    Taiwan Relations Act, to preserve and enhance the human rights
    of the people of Taiwan.
        Therefore, I stand alone before you today to plea for your
    help for my husband. I am pleading to the United States to
    continue to act as according to the TRA. I am pleading the
    United States to continue to support the value of which it has
    always unbendingly defended. I am pleading to the United States
    to continue to uphold the values of which it was formed upon. I
    am pleading to the U.S. Government to pressure China to
    recognize the provincial government of Guangdong's illegitimate
    detention of my husband, Li Ming-Che, and free him.
        Thank you. Li Ching-yu.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Li follows:]

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                                  ----------

        Mr. Smith. Ms. Li, thank you very much as well for your
    testimony.
        Finally, the Taiwanese Government is working behind the
    scenes to resolve the case of Li Ming-Che, although I am sure
    such efforts are hindered by Taiwan's complicated diplomatic
    ties with Beijing.
        As I've said before, Taiwan is an important democratic ally
    and a beacon of peace and democracy in Asia. The U.S. should
    remain committed to the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six
    Assurances as the cornerstone of U.S.-Taiwan relations.
    Political issues between China and Taiwan should be resolved
    through appropriate mechanisms between the two sides. The
    Chinese Government's decision to detain Li Ming-Che singled
    Chinese officials' willingness to break its international human
    rights obligations for political gains, again, needlessly
    straining the cross-strait ties.
        We do have a video, about a 4-minute video. It was sent to
    us by the wives of lawyers of Li Heping and Wang Quanzhang. It
    features Wang Qiaoling and Li Wenzu and it will now play for
    us.
        [Video shown.]
        Thank you so very much for those insights, horrible and
    brutal as they are, concerning the torture.
        Let me ask a few questions and then I will yield to my
    colleagues for any questions they might have, and first of all,
    let me begin by saying to Ms. Jin how heartbroken I and others
    are over your husband's incarceration.
        I will remind members of our subcommittee that your husband
    testified on November 10, 2009, at a hearing that I chaired. He
    very much wanted to present testimony as a human rights lawyer.
        It was the Tom Lantos Commission and I was chairing that
    hearing, and without objection, his testimony from that hearing
    will be made a part of this record as well.
        But he was very firm, very clear in his testimony. He
    talked about working with Chen Guangcheng on behalf of women
    who had been subjected to the brutality of the one-child-per-
    couple policy--a policy that treats women as chattel and kills
    their children and does so right up into the 9th month of
    pregnancy. As we all know, under that brutal policy there are
    now missing about 62 million females, a direct result of sex-
    selection abortion, causing huge disparities in the male-female
    ratio.
        But, as you know, Ms. Jin, your husband bravely tried to
    defend the women from this assault and for that he was
    incarcerated.
        I would add to that that he returned to China--and this
    underscores something that has to come out of this hearing and
    all of our efforts going forward. He went back to China.
    President Obama was in Beijing. He asked and thought he had a
    meeting with him along with some of the other human rights
    lawyers. He did not. And hours after the President of the
    United States left on Air Force One, he was arrested and his
    horrific ordeal that continues to this day continues.
        It shows, in my opinion, that there is a consequence for
    being so brave, which is why we are all concerned about you and
    your husbands and the fact that at the highest levels of
    government, and this appeal is to the President of the United
    States today and the Vice President, Mike Pence, that our voice
    has to be clear.
        We have to look Xi Jinping and other top leaders in the
    eye, have names, lists, the way Reagan did, and did so
    effectively during the worst days of the Soviet Union, when
    there was always a list of dissidents, human rights activists,
    and Jewish refuseniks that he would tender to the leaders of
    the Soviet Union, and those people--not all, but many of them
    got out and for many others the torture was ameliorated because
    we paid attention to what was going on.
        I would also add that we will ask President Trump--we will
    present him with your testimonies--and Vice President Pence--
    and ask him to meet with you and I would add we would ask him
    to meet with the five daughters as well and a few other very
    notable human rights activists who have suffered for their
    convictions in China.
        We had five daughters here presenting testimony in 2013. We
    called it the Five Daughters Hearing. They all had a dad who
    was incarcerated and subjected to torture. We asked President
    Obama to meet with them so that when he met with Hu Jintao, and
    after that Xi Jinping, he would have their cases and their
    pleas, their appeals, often through tears, uppermost in his
    mind to convey that agony to the leader of the Chinese
    Government.
        We tried for months to arrange that meeting. At the end of
    about 6 months we were told by the White House he doesn't have
    the time.
        Now, if President Trump and Vice President Pence gives the
    same indifference, same answer, which I think is a callous
    disregard for suffering people, I will be here at this podium
    speaking out against that lack of concern and empathy for
    suffering people.
        Those young ladies said at that hearing President Obama has
    two daughters--he'll understand what it's like for a daughter
    to speak on behalf of her father. You, as wives, are doing
    exactly the same and I want you to know we, in this
    subcommittee, both sides of the aisle, have nothing but concern
    and empathy for each and every one of you, for your husbands,
    for your families.
        And just a couple of very quick questions. When your
    husbands are incarcerated, and many of you spoke about this--
    Ms. Wang, you spoke of being severely damaged physically and
    mentally because of your husband's incarceration. The Chinese
    dictatorship knows that when they arrest your husbands or any
    dissident or prisoner of conscience the whole family goes to
    jail.
        They know that the friends of the family of the
    incarcerated individual goes to jail as well. All the more
    reason why we need to significantly up our voices, make our
    voices much clearer in Congress and at the White House, at the
    State Department, and added to that, we need to use the tools
    that are at our disposal from Country of Particular Concern for
    religious believers, sanctioning the Government of China for
    its egregious human rights violations on religious freedom, use
    the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and make them a Tier 3
    country, which they deserve to be for the government's
    complicity in human trafficking which is bad and getting worse.
        And then for the political dissidents like your husbands,
    who represent a cross-section of suffering individuals in
    China, including labor rights. There is no doubt that China
    does not respect ILO standards--International Labour
    Organization standards--from collective bargaining to even
    paying a decent wage, and with impunity they crush independent
    trade union efforts. We have had at our hearings in the past
    leaders of that movement come and testify and say, yes, they
    have a labor union run by the government--it is a farce.
        So my question would be the impact on the families and
    also, if you would, speak to your hopes and expectations of
    what we might do next.
        Again, I think you've said it in your testimonies--
    implement our laws. We have a toolbox filled with the capacity
    to hold China to account. Magnitsky is just the latest
    iteration of a tool that can't stay in that toolbox. And the
    Chinese Government must know, collectively as a government and
    individually, those who commit these crimes need to be held to
    account and we have the tools to do it.
        So yes, Ms. Chen.
        Ms. Chen. I have the latest news today. Those public
    security officers threatened my husband and the family members
    that if I do not return to China, they will give him a heavier
    sentence. So I feel, even in the United States, I don't feel
    safe, and I am haunted, and I really seek protection by the
    U.S.
        Mr. Smith. Would anybody else like to comment before I
    yield to Mr. Castro? Yes.
        Ms. Chen. So I call upon the U.S. Government to express to
    the Chinese Government to stop the--this kind of brutal
    persecution against the victims of the 709 cases and their
    family members and to restore their dignity. Because the
    Chinese Government is also a signatory country of the anti-
    torture international covenant. So I want to call upon the
    Chinese Government to release the videos of during these
    victims' incarceration and to show what they have gone through.
        And because all the family members of the 709 cases and
    others persecuted, their children are stopped by the Chinese
    Government for education and schooling, and President Trump has
    his own children, so I do hope he can meet with ours. We can
    express that to him face to face, and also our family members
    inside China.
        Mr. Smith. Ms. Jin.
        Ms. Jin. By June 1st, it is already 6 months of my husband,
    Jiang Tianyong's, enforced disappearance. Right now, both of
    his parents are being monitored and followed closely. They were
    forced to write promises that they would not communicate or
    have any contact with me. Of course, we just heard from Ms.
    Wang Qiaoling, the wife of Li Heping, who revealed the torture
    he had experienced. Jiang Tianyong also had been experiencing
    torture.
        And the similar experience of being drugged was also shared
    by other recently released human rights lawyers, like Li
    Chunfu, like Li Shuyun, and, of course, Li Heping. And to the
    point attorney Li Chunfu was even tortured with serious mental
    illness.
        Even last night, the Chinese official microblog, Weibo,
    showed a short video clip. On that video, it shows my husband,
    Jiang Tianyong, was kind of walking, and on that video, it
    claims that Jiang Tianyong was not tortured. But when I
    observed that short video, I noticed on the legs, both legs of
    Jiang Tianyong the kind of black and blue marks are still there
    on his legs, and his face has been very swollen and his right
    arm cannot move when he walked.
        So I could not believe what the government claimed, that he
    was not tortured. So I am deeply concerned about what's
    happening with Jiang Tianyong and his well-being and his life,
    and even until today he was denied lawyer's visitation. And
    further, Jiang Tianyong has already been approved as a U.S.
    asylee, granted by the U.S. Government in 2016 already. But the
    Chinese regime refused to let him exit from China. I hope
    President Trump can really express this point with the Chinese
    leaders and plead with the Chinese Government release Jiang
    Tianyong and to have family reunion here in the United States
    with us.
        Today is Jiang Tianyong's birthday. My daughter and I have
    been here for 4 years but we have never met again. My daughter
    is really, really eager to hug her daddy.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you.
        Mr. Castro.
        Mr. Castro. I think they just called votes and so I want to
    say thank you to each of you for your courage and your bravery
    in coming here to Congress and telling us your stories.
        I hope that you'll continue to give us counsel and guidance
    on how you believe the United States can be more helpful as it
    comes to China and the issue of human rights and we, in turn,
    will monitor not only your situations and the situations of
    your husbands but also of others who are going through similar
    things in China.
        And as I mentioned earlier, this should be an effort not
    only for the United States but also for the allies of the
    United States around the world.
        So your suggestions on how you believe that the friends of
    the United States, those nations who also believe in strong
    human rights can be helpful with respect to China and ensuring
    that China is a place that respects the human rights of its
    people and the freedoms of its people. Thank you for being
    here.
        Mr. Smith. Mr. Castro, thank you very much.
        Mr. Garrett.
        Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        It's troubling as I review the remarks of the ladies here
    today and consider that not only were the victims of the 709
    crackdown jailed and subsequently tortured because they were
    brave enough to take a stand in favor of human rights but that
    in fact it would appear that a meeting planned with the United
    States President may have been a pretext for an arrest of other
    individuals in China.
        As a member of this subcommittee, I understand that when we
    hold hearings such as this it is our responsibility to try to
    work to help people. But it is my fear that your courage in
    being here might be used as a pretext again to hurt people.
        With that said, I understand that as one Member of 435 and
    one of two chambers in a legislative body there is only so much
    that I can do. But I want to be abundantly clear for the record
    and for these brave women. To the extent that I have the
    ability to cast a vote that will deal favorably or unfavorably
    with the regime based on how it treats its own citizens and
    people who seek to affect positive human rights changes, I will
    consider their actions when I make my vote.
        To the extent that I have the ability to put forward policy
    that will shape the United States policy as it relates to
    nations based on how they treat their citizens and other
    citizens, I will consider these things in how I advance policy.
        And to the extent I am able to influence my colleagues and
    the executive branch of this government as it relates to
    relations with foreign nations to include dominant global
    forces such as the People's Republic of China, I will consider
    how they treat their people and other people as it relates to
    human rights when I seek to exert that influence.
        We shouldn't convene committee hearings to help people that
    we know have the potential to lead to greater harm to people
    without ensuring the folks that we seek to help, you all, that
    we will do everything in our power to make sure that all we can
    effect that is good is affected.
        With that, I offer my admiration and my thanks for the
    courage of these ladies, my encouragement for people who, in
    China as everywhere, seek basic human rights as outlined in
    foundational American documents--life, liberty, and the pursuit
    of happiness--but as aspired to by people across the globe and
    promise that within my small ability to make a difference I
    will side with human rights and with people who have suffered
    like yourselves wherever possible and I appreciate the chairman
    for creating this opportunity and I commend your courage, and
    to the extent it is appropriate you have my prayers and my
    promise to do what I can.
        Mr. Smith. Mr. Garrett, thank you very much for that very
    strong statement. And you are right, they all have our prayers
    as well as everything we can do as a committee in a bipartisan
    way and as a Congress to assist your husbands and the other
    lawyers.
        I remember years ago at a Northern Ireland hearing we had a
    woman whose husband was murdered--a human rights lawyer named
    Patrick Finucane--and the bottom line was that by killing and
    hurting lawyers who are really one of the last protections that
    citizens have to exercise due process rights and to get their
    case to resolve grievances, the Chinese Government is going for
    the jugular with this and I think all of us in the Western
    countries need to realize that our voices have to be raised
    higher and louder and more effectively than ever before.
        And as I said before, every tool that we have in our
    toolbox needs to be deployed on behalf of your husbands. If the
    lawyers are silenced, where does any aggrieved party go for
    help?
        Even in a flawed rule of law country like China, still, as
    your husbands did, you effectuated change. They spoke on behalf
    of victims and, in some cases, got durable remedy.
        So I want to pledge to you that we will all continue. We
    will make that request of the Trump administration, that you
    meet with him and with the Vice President, and we will do that
    immediately by way of letter and by way of phone calls and
    visits because he needs to look you in the eyes so that when he
    looks Xi Jinping in the eyes, he has your husband and your
    interests right there front and center.
        So if there is anything you would like to add in terms of
    what we might have missed, this is your opportunity before we
    run over to vote.
        We are joined by Chairman Mark Meadows. But if there is
    anything that you would like to add before we conclude. Yes,
    Ms. Wang.
        Ms. Wang. I would like to add on to what we hope the U.S.
    Government will be doing. My husband, Mr. Tang Jingling, was
    not participating in anything illegal. These are recognized by
    both the international community as well as China.
        Although he is sentenced to 5 years, I hope that he could
    be released. Mr. Tang was incarcerated due to his participation
    in nonviolent civil disobedience, and that resulted in his
    mother's death.
        I hope he could come home and visit his elderly father. I
    hope the U.S. would put extra emphasis and follow these
    situations of human rights victims or political prisoners and
    their families who are being persecuted. Because these actions
    are a violation of human rights, we hope that the U.S.
    Government will bring these concerns to the Chinese Government.
    The torturing of all the incarcerated people should stop. They
    should also stop the persecution against their families,
    lawyers, and their children. They should also stop their
    persecution against Christians, Buddhists, Falun Gong, or other
    religious groups.
        Thirdly, I would like to request that the Ambassador to
    China, Beijing would meet with these victims and families of
    these victims.
        I would also like to ask that before President Trump meets
    President Xi he would also meet with the families of these
    victims who reside in the U.S.
        Thank you very much.
        Ms. Li. My husband's incidents have caused a panic among
    Taiwanese NGO workers. I hope the United States could strongly
    pay attention to my husband's incident because all NGO workers
    around the globe might face the same situation. Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you.
        Without objection, a letter signed by several scores--I
    think there are about 40 scholars on behalf of your husband--
    will be made a part of the record. It includes a very diverse
    group of people, including the former the chief of staff for
    one of our colleagues, Senator Claiborne Pell, and without
    objection this will be made a part of the record.
        Anybody else before we close? And Mark, would you want to--
    Ms. Jin.
        Ms. Jin. I have another small request. I hope the U.S.
    Government can raise this issue and ask the Chinese Government
    to launch an independent investigation on the torture against
    the lawyers in the 709 cases, and especially the torture method
    of being drugged. Thank you.
        Mr. Smith. I would like to yield to my good friend and
    colleague, Mr. Meadows.
        Mr. Meadows. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you once again
    for being a voice for so many people who don't have a voice.
        I mean, there is one person out of 435 Members that is a
    champion and that is not to be disrespectful of my colleagues.
    I think he would recognize that there is a champion who always
    wants to make sure that he reaches out, and you are recognized
    by both Democrats and Republicans, and I just want to say thank
    you.
        But for each one of you, I want to also say that with my
    colleague opposite from a Democratic perspective but also on
    the Republican side that we will work in a bipartisan way to
    address these atrocities and these human rights violations. And
    I can assure you, at the very highest levels of our Government,
    they will be made aware of the personal tragedy that you have
    had to endure and so I just wanted to say that for the record
    that your testimony here today is meaningful and it will be
    shared in the appropriate way.
        And Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        Mr. Smith. Mr. Meadows, thank you very much and I really
    appreciate your work on behalf of human rights that has been
    longstanding and particularly as a member of this subcommittee.
    Thank you.
        The hearing is adjourned and I thank you all very much.
        [Whereupon, at 4 o'clock p.m., the subcommittee was
    adjourned.]

                                A P P E N D I X

                                  ----------

             Material Submitted for the Record

             [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

       Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Christopher H.
     Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and
     chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights,
                        and International Organizations

     [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

       Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Christopher H.
     Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and
     chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights,
                        and International Organizations

     [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

       Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Christopher H.
     Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and
     chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights,
                        and International Organizations

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

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