[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
CHINA'S REPRESSION AND INTERNMENT OF UYGHURS: U.S. POLICY RESPONSES
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
__________
Serial No. 115-164
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov,
or http://www.Govinfo.gov
______
_________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
32-303 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018
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
MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California
PAUL COOK, California LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
RON DeSANTIS, Florida [until 9/10/ JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
18] deg. 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
JOHN R. CURTIS, Utah
VACANT
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
TED S. YOHO, Florida, Chairman
DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRAD SHERMAN, California
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio AMI BERA, California
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DINA TITUS, Nevada
MO BROOKS, Alabama GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
ANN WAGNER, Missouri
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
WITNESSES
Adrian Zenz, Ph.D., independent researcher....................... 9
Mr. Nury Turkel, chairman of the board, Uyghur Human Rights
Project........................................................ 21
Justin Jacobs, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of History,
American University............................................ 33
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Ted S. Yoho, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Florida, and chairman, Subcommittee on Asia and the
Pacific: Prepared statement.................................... 3
Adrian Zenz, Ph.D.: Prepared statement........................... 11
Mr. Nury Turkel: Prepared statement.............................. 23
Justin Jacobs, Ph.D.: Prepared statement......................... 35
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 52
Hearing minutes.................................................. 53
The Honorable Ted S. Yoho:
Amnesty International report titled, ``China: `Where Are They?'
''........................................................... 54
Letter dated September 26, 2018, from Amnesty International to
the Honorable Ted S. Yoho and the Honorable Brad Sherman, a
Representative in Congress from the State of California...... 62
Adrian Zenz, Ph.D.:
Support Document #1............................................ 66
Support Document #2............................................ 74
The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress
from the Commonwealth of Virginia: Prepared statement.......... 82
CHINA'S REPRESSION AND INTERNMENT OF UYGHURS: U.S. POLICY RESPONSES
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., in
room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ted Yoho
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Yoho. This hearing will come to order.
Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us today for
a topic that does not get the attention it deserves in
Congress.
The word ``dystopia'' is frequently used to describe the
Chinese Communist Party's repression in the northwest of China.
There is good reason for this. What's happening there should be
confined to science fiction but, unfortunately, it's not.
The party calls this region Xinjiang, and those who live
there sometimes refer to it as East Turkestan. The Uyghurs, a
Turkic Muslim people, have historically been the region's
majority population and remain a plurality.
Xinjiang falls along the Silk Road. Its capital is closer
to Kabul than Beijing, and it remains culturally and ethnically
distinct from China.
The People's Liberation Army brought Xinjiang into modern
day's People's Republic of China in 1949 by invasion. Today,
the party is seeking to eliminate Xinjiang's uniqueness using
methods ripped straight from fiction.
Authorities have turned the region into a high-tech
militarized police state using cutting-edge technology to
subject normal people to pervasive surveillance, including AI
facial and voice recognition and forced genetic sampling.
Authorities compile vast amounts of data on individuals and
assign them arbitrary scores, which can drastically alter their
lives. In some areas, there are police outposts every few feet.
Information, communication, and travel are restricted.
Astoundingly, about 1 million people are being detained in
rapidly expanding networks of concentration camps where they
are forced to undergo so-called political reeducation that can
only be described as brainwashing, brutality, torture, and
death.
For those who are targeted, even fleeing will not keep them
safe. PRC authorities surveil them abroad and punish their
families to coerce their silence or force their return.
The party has used the specter of terrorism to excuse its
abuses and scapegoat the victims. But the truth is the victims
are men and women, young and old, from every walk of life.
They are not targeted based on extremism. They are targeted
based on their religion and ethnicity. The party's so-called
strike hard campaigns are specifically intended to surveil,
profile, punish, and round up the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and any
Turkic Muslim whose lives are distinct from the party's vision
of what it means to be Chinese.
The CCP's--the Chinese Communist Party's--actions are
transparently seeking to destroy normal Islamic religious
practices, the Uyghur culture and language, and even the
genetic concentration of Uyghur heritage in the Xinjiang.
Chillingly, the party says their objective is ethnic
harmony. Ethnic harmony sounds nice. Based on their action, it
seems that ethnic harmony means that no one is allowed to be
different from the atheist, Mandarin-speaking, ardently
socialist Han nation.
The greatest tragedy of the 20th century occurred when the
world stood by as cruel nationalist parties targeted an ethnic
minority as part of an evil plan to re-engineer society.
Whether it is the genocide of Rwanda, Sudan, or, as the
full committee highlighted today, in Burma, the world has a
poor record of stopping genocide or ethnic cleansing.
We did have that hearing this morning and it is just
unconscionable that we talk about never again will we allow
what happened under the Hitler regime, yet here we are, 70
years, roughly, later and it's happening over and over again.
It is my hope that we can help shine a light on what could
be the next of these blights on humanity as another
totalitarian regime is building crematoriums near its
concentration camps.
We must speak out with the loudest possible voice. Can
there be a clear warning sign? We have been down this road too
many times. The sort of human rights violations that the CCP is
perpetrating on a massive scale in this district should
disqualify the PRC from global leadership.
Such abuses contravene the most fundamental rights and
basic personal freedoms. Yet, China remains one of the world's
most influential countries, and because of this, few on the
international stage are willing to speak out about the PRC's
repression and internment of the Uyghurs and others.
My hope is that today, with the assistance of our expert
panel, we can begin to address this disparity and work toward
options for the overdue U.S. policy response to this crisis.
And with that, members present will be permitted to submit
written statements to be included in the official hearing
record.
Without objection, the hearing record will remain open for
5 calendar days to allow statements, questions, and extraneous
material for the record, subject to length limitations and
rules, and the witnesses' written statements will be entered
into the hearing.
I will now turn to the ranking member for any remarks he
may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Yoho follows:]
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Mr. Sherman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Today is a day when we focus in this room on China's war
against Muslims. This morning in this room we heard how China
is aiding Myanmar--Burma--and their military in the either
genocide or close to genocide of the Rohingya and the ethnic
cleansing of hundreds of thousands or 1 million individuals who
have known no other home other than Burma.
And this afternoon, we focus on China's domestic policy.
China is repressing its Uyghur population in the province of
Xinjiang on a massive scale.
The Chinese Government has, as noted in a recent U.N.
meeting, turned Xinjiang into something resembling a massive
internment camp shrouded in secrecy--a sort of no-rights zone.
I look forward to learning more from our witnesses. What
China is doing there is terrible. I don't know--I'd have to
learn more--before I'd endorse the chairman's use of the words
``extermination'' or ``crematorium.''
But, clearly, what we are seeing is hundreds of thousands,
perhaps 1 million, being held in so-called reeducation camps.
The people running the government in Beijing are the sons--
not so much the sons and daughters, but sons of those who were
put into reeducation camps during the Cultural Revolution.
The fact that they would then turn and put 1 million people
into reeducation camps, concentration camps, detention camps,
in this case pretty much solely because of their ethnicity and
religion, is absolutely outrageous.
An article in ``Foreign Policy'' noted that the official
purpose of the internment camps is to ``purify people's
thoughts,'' eliminate extremism, and to instill support for the
Communist Party.
The idea that you could win friends among a people by
interning them strikes me as bizarre. Beyond this forced
indoctrination, the internment camps allow police to physically
remove people from society and then say, well, nobody on the
streets of Xinjiang opposes the Communist Party.
A report by Human Rights Watch mentions that in 2014 when
China launched its so-called ``strike hard'' campaign against
``violent terrorism,'' the number of people arrested in
Xinjiang has increased threefold compared to the previous 5-
year period.
Chinese repression dramatically scaled up in 2016 when the
Communist Party secretary in Tibet relocated to assume
leadership in Xinjiang.
China is going after Uyghurs living abroad. There are
accounts of Uyghurs being sent back by Middle East countries
where they worked or lived in violation of international
obligations, with these Middle Eastern countries knowing that
those Uyghurs will be interned when they are sent back to the
clutches of the Chinese Government.
Further, China suppresses the religious and cultural rights
of Uyghurs, as Amnesty International points out. Its
regulations on religious affairs ban many religious activities.
This allows China to suppress basic religious rights.
The Chinese Government limits the use of the Uyghur
language. China detains ethnic Uyghur writers and Web sites,
editors, et cetera. All these Chinese efforts to weaken could
lead to the elimination of Uyghur cultural identity.
The ethnic balance in Xinjiang has changed dramatically. In
1949, that province was only 6 percent ethnic Chinese. Now it's
40 percent of the population and 75 percent of the capital.
It's time to call out China. In August, I joined the House
and Senate colleagues in a letter to Secretaries Pompeo and
Mnuchin regarding this issue.
We urged the application of the Global Magnitsky Act
sanctions against senior Chinese officials who oversee mass
detention of Uyghurs.
It called for sanctions against businesses assisting the
Chinese officials in mass detention, and asked the State
Department to condemn these abuses.
We ought to especially call out the Muslim countries that
are saying nothing. Whether that be Turkey, Pakistan, the Gulf
States, it is simply outrageous that they do so little to help
the Rohingya and turn their back completely on the Uyghurs.
America should be given credit for protecting Muslims as we
did in Bosnia and Kosovo. Now we are the number-one aid source
for the Rohingya and we are the leading voice for the
protection of Uyghurs.
And I notice that at the United Nations if Israel builds
one apartment building--huge fireworks, whereas when China
moved millions of ethnic Chinese into this province--not a
peep. And I am not saying that every bit of construction done
by Israel is consistent with a two-state solution.
But it is interesting to see how a single apartment
building can cause Muslim nations to speak in the most extreme
terms and then be silent on what China is doing, both in its
own borders and with regard to the Rohingya.
I yield back.
Mr. Yoho. I think this meeting is important because we are
going to bring that out, you know, the questions about whether
or not there are crematoriums, is correct.
I think that'll come out in this. The Uyghurs, we know,
prefer burial. China prefers cremation, and we will talk more
about that.
But at this time, with no objections I'd like to turn to
Ms. Comstock for opening remarks.
Ms. Comstock. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. I
really appreciate you holding this hearing today.
As both the chairman and ranking member have noted, this is
something really important that needs a lot more attention. I
am sorry that this doesn't get more attention. But I appreciate
you making the record here today and exploring this further.
I certainly associate myself with all the remarks
previously made and talk about the horrible atrocities
occurring in northwest China where reports have surfaced that
Uyghurs and Kazakhs have been detained in reeducation camps,
forcing Muslims to renounce Islam and embrace the Communist
Party.
Additionally, reports have been made by reporters that have
made it into the region as well as those who escaped the camps
and gone abroad--that Uyghurs are subject to torture, medical
neglect, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and other
deadly forms of abuse at these reeducation camps.
As a member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and
as somebody who worked with my predecessor, Congressman Frank
Wolf, who I know worked with both of you on these important
issues, it is extremely important to me that we bring greater
light to these human rights abuses internationally, and
especially when they regard suppression of religious freedom.
One of my constituents is here today. Ferkat Jawdat is in
attendance with his sisters and other members of his family. He
is a U.S. citizen who has his home in Chantilly, Virginia,
where he works for a government contractor providing support to
the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and we thank him
for his service and we thank him for being here today. He also
has a 1-year-old child, a daughter.
Thank you for being here today. However, his life has
become a living nightmare since February 2018, when his mother
was sent to one of these reeducation camps.
He now does not know about her whereabouts, when she will
be released, or why she was taken. You can imagine that
nightmare, Mr. Chairman, and that's why I thank you so much for
having this hearing and highlighting this.
This is real to the people in my district and I know
throughout the country. He worries that she is being tortured,
or worse, fears that she may already have been killed.
We are working to bring this to the attention of Secretary
Pompeo, Ambassador Branstad, and Ambassador Cui asking for
answers regarding his mother.
We know he's not alone in his suffering. At least 1 million
people have been detained in camps and Uyghurs account for 21
percent of the arrests, despite making up only 1.5 percent of
the population. Clearly, this is a religious freedom issue and
atrocity.
I am so grateful for this hearing today so that we can shed
much-needed light on this issue and work to find real solutions
to this problem and the very human and tragic outcomes that we
are seeing here, and I thank you again for being here today.
Mr. Yoho. I thank the gentlelady for her comments, and this
is something that we want to expose and the best way, you know,
whenever these atrocities go on, is to expose them--expose them
through witnesses, expose them through the media, and keep
talking about them until we can get enough outrage from people
to come out, you know, out of reeducation camps.
I think it's something that should scare us. I think we
have all heard of George Orwell's book, ``1984.'' He missed the
mark by about 34 years. You know, he talked about this, and to
hear what's going on. I just got back from Mongolia, South
Korea, and Japan--I'm still not sure what country I'm in--but
to hear what the Chinese wanted to do in the Asia Pacific
region with the 5G network is something they can offer to other
leaders of other countries and say, look, what we can do, we
can monitor your systems, we can rank your systems to see if
they are a good Communist Party member or a bad one, and if
they don't reach a certain level we can send them to
reeducation camps.
And I think that's going to come out more in this hearing,
and so what I'd like to do now is--we are honored to have you
guys here and we are going to have you guys here and we are
going to have you--I am going to introduce you and then you'll
have 5 minutes to speak, and I think you all know how to use
the system there.
Turn your microphone on. The lights will go green, yellow,
and red. It's 5 minutes.
And we have Dr. Adrian Zenz, a noted expert on China's
policy toward minority groups--thank you for being here; Mr.
Nury Turkel, chairman of the board at the Uyghur Human Rights
Project; and Dr. Justin Jacobs, an associate professor in the
Department of History at American University.
And before we start, does the gentleman from California
have an opening statement?
Mr. Rohrabacher. Yes, I do, and let me apologize. This is
one of the more frustrating parts about being a Congressman. We
have got three hearings, all of which are really important, at
the same time.
Mr. Yoho. And I've got a bill on the floor I am supposed to
be talking about. Don't worry about it. [Laughter.]
Mr. Rohrabacher. Oh, my gosh. But the people--the Uyghurs
and the people of China should get the message that we are
willing. Even though we have really busy days we are not too
busy to come here to talk about their plight and what's going
on in China and the Muslims that are being murdered by the
Government of Burma. They call it Myanmar now.
But we have that type of slaughter of Islam. You have the
slaughter of Islam in China as well. We need to be--make sure
that the Muslim population of the world knows that we are not
against their religion and we are not against people who
practice that religion.
We are against the radical Islamic terrorists who,
basically, attack the United States. But people who live and
have lived in their societies for a long time throughout the
planet, when they are under attack, which is what's happening
in China, we are on the side of those people, whatever their
religion is, and in this case they happen to be Muslims.
And the Uyghurs have played a very important role over the
years because we have known them. I've met them. They are a
very respectable part of that culture in that part of the
world.
But China, the Government of China today is behind, of
course, the slaughter of the Muslims down in Burma and the
Government of China, of course, is doing everything to do to
stamp out the Uyghur movement in China.
So with that said, I hope that our friends throughout the
world get the word and understand what's happening today. We
care about Muslim people in China. We care about them in Burma.
We care about them when they are under attack and it is not--
and we don't want just war--this war mentality between Islam
and Christianity.
So, Mr. Chairman, by holding this hearing today, I
appreciate and I applaud you for sending this positive message
toward this big hunk of the world that we can work together to
make it a better world and respect each other's rights.
So I will be running back and forth now between these two
and three hearings that I am involved in. But I will be
watching on the monitor when I am not here and reading your
testimony otherwise.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher, and if you get a
chance, talk on my bill on the House floor. [Laughter.]
Dr. Adrian Zenz, please go ahead.
STATEMENT OF ADRIAN ZENZ, PH.D., INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER
Mr. Zenz. First, I would like to thank the chairman, the
ranking member, and the other members of the subcommittee for
inviting me to testify about the situation--what China refers
to as the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.
The research performed by myself and others conclusively
shows the existence of a large-scale extrajudicial detention
network for the purpose of subjecting Xinjiang's Muslim
minorities, but also some ethnic minority Christians, to
intensive political reeducation and indoctrination procedures.
The evidence I gathered largely comes from the Chinese
Government itself--reports, budgets, bids, recruitment notices,
along with corroborating evidence from satellite images.
These are the account of my research findings including
large-scale police recruitments and the installation of
extensive surveillance networks, provided in the written
statement.
All the information we have consistently points toward the
fact that Xinjiang's unprecedented securitization and
reeducation campaign was inaugurated by the region's party
secretary, Chen Quanguo, in spring 2017.
In this campaign, up to 11 to 12 percent of Xinjiang's
Muslim minority adult population has been detained in
reeducation camps, at times referred to as ``vocational skills
training,'' or simply, ``training institutions.''
Public bid documents state that some of these so-called
training facilities are heavily secured with high walls,
fences, barbed wire, security cameras, reinforced doors and
windows, and other security features typically found in
detention centers or in prisons.
Recruitment notices likewise starting in spring 2017
indicate an unusually large intake of teachers for what is
simply referred to as training facilities that only mandate a
junior or senior secondary education, along with Chinese
language skills.
Typically, vocational skills teachers in China as well as
in Xinjiang are required to possess a tertiary degree in the
relevant subject.
Overall, it is reasonable to assume that Xinjiang's current
reeducation campaign exceeds the scale of the entire former
national reeducation through labor system, a system that was
abolished in 2013 because the government itself considered it
to be no longer appropriate for a modern society governed by
the rule of law.
It should be made clear that China has faced a credible
terrorist threat from Uyghur resistance groups and that
measures against actual religious extremism are certainly in
order for any nation facing such challenges.
However, China's extra-legal internment of large shares of
Xinjiang's Muslim minority population is tearing apart the
lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people who have no
splittist or extremist intentions and pursue harmless and
appropriate cultural and religious practices.
Chen Quanguo's reeducation campaign is destroying the very
fabric of Xinjiang's minority societies: Separating families,
leaving children orphaned, instilling fear and resentment, and
sowing the seeds of hate.
In the name of combating terrorism, this campaign
constitutes a monstrous crime against humanity on a scale and
level of sophistication that has only rarely been witnessed in
modern history.
Seasoned scholars who have studied the region for decades
are appalled at what they perceive to be an unprecedented
repression with unforeseeable long-term consequences.
My recommendations are as follows: Firstly, that the United
States Government investigates whether American companies are
involved in supplying technologies and products used in Chinese
surveillance or other security-related systems that may also be
deployed in Xinjiang. If so, the export of such products to
China should be stopped.
Secondly, to sanction the responsible Chinese officials,
for example, through the Global Magnitsky Act. The main effect
of such sanctions may not necessarily be the sanctions
themselves but the symbolic force they exert and the resulting
increase in public awareness.
Thirdly, that the government would regularly and
consistently speak up in regards to this issue in all relevant
contexts.
Being aware of the fact that the suppression of core
aspects of minority identities in Xinjiang is reflective of a
wider campaign to systematically curtail social and religious
freedoms among both minorities and the Han majority throughout
China.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Zenz follows:]
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----------
Mr. Yoho. Thank you for your testimony.
Next, we will go to Mr. Turkel.
STATEMENT OF MR. NURY TURKEL, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, UYGHUR
HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT
Mr. Turkel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and
members of the subcommittee, for inviting me to attend this
year. It's an honor to be here before you.
The Uyghur Human Rights Project commends the subcommittee
for convening this hearing on the U.S. policy response.
We would also like to express our appreciation to the
subcommittee members who have co-signed bipartisan letters
calling for sanctions and urging pressure for the release of
the relatives of Uyghur American citizens.
The human rights emergency facing Uyghur people in China
requires an urgent response. For decades, the Chinese
Government implemented policies of racial discrimination, and
criminalization of Uyghurs' distinct ethnic and religious
identity.
In the 2 years since the new party secretary took office,
we have seen how these policies paved the way for the
dehumanization of the Uyghur people. This should raise an
urgent alarm about what is next for the Uyghur people in China.
It is also important to be clear about the Chinese
Government's claim to be carrying out a counterterrorism
campaign, which is nonsense.
Prior to 9/11, China's Government justified repressive
policies by claiming to be fighting separatism. Hundreds of
political prisoners were locked away for expressing their
identity or peacefully protesting government abuse and
corruption.
After 9/11, the same policies were suddenly recast as
counterterrorism. Today, it's very clear that these policies
have nothing to do with security concerns.
The most obvious evidence is the large-scale facilities
being built to keep Uyghur children under state control from
preschool age. As we speak, millions of Uyghurs don't know if
they will ever see their parents, sons, daughters, their young
nieces or nephews, ever again.
Finally, United States Government must respond vigorously
to threats and retaliation against the American citizens of
Uyghur origin on U.S. soil.
It is time to act. My recommendations for Congress are as
follows.
One, to guide policy through the government we urge the
subcommittee to introduce an abiding resolution endorsing an
urgent U.S. policy response to the Uyghur crisis. The long
overdue Uyghur Policy Act is needed to definitely state U.S.
support for Uyghurs' civil and political rights and to mandate
adequate measures to reverse the current crisis.
The Congress should also press for an immediate
congressional fact-finding visit to the Uyghur region.
Ambassador Branstad should personally lead efforts for the
release of the Uyghur American citizens' relatives in China.
We also endorse the enforcement of the Magnitsky Act and
going after the companies' individuals assisting with China's
state security agencies.
Congress should also review U.S.-China law enforcement
cooperation. American officials need to use this channel to
vigorously raise the shocking treatment of Uyghurs by China's
security forces.
Law enforcement agencies should also investigate threats
and retaliations carried out against Uyghur Americans and other
Uyghurs living in the United States.
The United States should publicly affirm its policy not to
extradite or deport Uyghurs living in the U.S. and urge other
governments to join Germany and Sweden by publicly announcing a
halt to all deportation of Uyghurs to China.
Congress should appropriate funds to support Uyghur human
rights and civil society groups working to advance human rights
and environmental protection in their homeland.
The U.S. delegation at the United Nations should have
strong congressional backing for vigorous action. China has
been in the hot seat for its crimes against humanity in the
Uyghur region exactly once in the last 19 months, which was
August 10th at the CERD review panel in Geneva.
Going forward, the United States must field a strong
delegation at China's UPR on November 6th.
Finally, we know of Uyghur students who cannot pay their
tuition at American universities because their parents are
detained in China. In this humanitarian urgency, Members of
Congress should support these students' request for tuition
waivers and scholarships.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my gratitude to
the U.S. Congress for the bipartisan support and its effort to
hold human rights abusers in China to account.
Thank you again for the opportunity to shine more light on
the tragic situation facing the Uyghur people in China.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Turkel follows:]
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----------
Mr. Yoho. Thank you, Mr. Turkel.
Dr. Jacobs.
STATEMENT OF JUSTIN JACOBS, PH.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
Mr. Jacobs. Distinguished members of the committee, thank
you for holding this hearing on China's policies in Xinjiang
and for inviting me to testify.
From 1949 to 2001, the Chinese Communist Party generally
regarded the mostly Muslim population of the Xinjiang Uyghur
autonomous region as deserving of some form of cultural
autonomy within China.
These longstanding views have come under sustained assault
over the past 15 years, during which time China has been
gradually accelerating its policies of cultural assimilation,
intrusive surveillance, and unlawful detention of the Uyghur
ethnic group, with the devastating intensification of the more
coercive aspects of these measures in the past 2 to 3 years.
Since 2009, a series of violent incidents appears to have
convinced the Chinese Communist leadership that it must solve
its so-called Uyghur problem in Xinjiang once and for all.
The result is the oppressive security apparatus, arbitrary
system of indefinite detention, and coercive assimilationist
measures now on display in Xinjiang, all of which have been
institutionalized and normalized in the past 2 years.
Ever since the appointment of Chen Quanguo as party
secretary of Xinjiang in 2016, surveillance and assimilationist
policies previously tested in Chen's prior posting to Tibet
have been greatly expanded and accelerated in Xinjiang.
With regard to cultural assimilation, the elimination of
bilingual education in minority languages such as Uyghur, a
policy previously applied only at the university level, has now
been instituted in primary and secondary schools as well.
The state also provides new financial incentives for Han
men to marry Uyghur women, and Uyghurs who wish to sell their
property must apply for government permission to do so.
Mosques are frequently closed down without explanation and
Islamic insignia, such as the crescent moon, have been removed
from those that remain open.
The euphemistic political reeducation schools are now
believed to be responsible for the arbitrary and indefinite
incarceration of anywhere from several hundred thousand up to 1
million Uyghurs, or between 3 to 10 percent of the entire
population. It is clear that all members of the Uyghur ethnic
group are being considered for mass internment in these camps.
Leaked documents and press reports reveal the existence of
mandatory quotas for internment.
Chen Quanguo and Beijing appear to be committed to the
permanent institutionalization and further expansion of these
reeducation camps, with evidence of massive construction
projects continuing to leak to the outside world.
Chinese leaders believe that their approach in Xinjiang is
working. As a result, we should not expect to see any voluntary
retrenchment or scaling back of the new measures on the part of
Beijing.
Indeed, this frightening dystopia did not originate in
Xinjiang and it will not end in Xinjiang. The United States is
uniquely positioned to take on a global leadership role
concerning this crisis.
Not only have the major global powers mostly failed to
confront China on its treatment of the Uyghur people, but even
the leaders of majority Muslim countries have until recently
tended to shy away from raising the issue with Beijing.
Going forward, I believe that there are four policy options
that may help to ameliorate a few of the worst abuses of the
system and encourage Beijing to reevaluate its role in
perpetuating the human rights crisis on a scale not seen in
China since the days of Mao Zedong.
First, in accordance with the Magnitsky Act, the United
States should consider the adoption of sanctions against key
members of the Chinese Communist Party associated with the
implementation of the excessive and indiscriminate policies in
Xinjiang.
Second, the United States should call for the release of
the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who have been unlawfully
and arbitrarily detained in the so-called ``political
reeducation schools'' and other extralegal facilities in
Xinjiang.
Third, the United States should urge the Chinese Communist
leadership to avoid excessive and indiscriminate incarceration
and surveillance measures that target entire religious and
ethnic groups within China.
And fourth, the United States should encourage China to
uphold the provisions in its own constitution that provide for
the cultural, linguistic, and religious autonomy of its
minority groups.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for your
attention and consideration.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Jacobs follows:]
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Mr. Yoho. I appreciate all of your comments, and I think
your last statement is how China's constitution says they
should incorporate all this and they should be doing all this,
but as we see over and over again, China leads by lie, deceit,
and coercion.
They say one thing, they do something else. It's like when
they were telling President Obama in the Rose Garden that, we
are not militarizing the South China Sea on reclaimed lands
that we cannot call islands because islands denote ownership--
it's reclaimed lands--that we are not militarizing them, and we
see over and over again they speak deception while they do
underhanded things.
Very dangerous place to be, and, again, I can't think of
anything more Orwellian on the planet than what China is doing.
I think you guys have all seen this Radio Free Asia
report--Xinjiang rapidly building crematoriums to extinguish
Uyghur funeral traditions--to extinguish Uyghur funeral
traditions. It's a very disturbing report when you read through
this about what they are doing.
It says, amid concerns over expansion of the burial
management centers in XUAR, or Xinjiang, a job posting listed
on the official government Web site for the region's capital,
Urumqi, last month called for 50 security personnel with above
average health who are physically and mentally fit,
exceptionally brave, to work in the crematorium located in the
city's district for a salary of more than 8,000 yen and that is
the U.S. equivalent of $1,215 per month.
I think it's kind of interesting--50 security personnel of
above average health who are physically and mentally fit to
work in a crematorium.
I think what we are seeing here is a repeat of what we've
seen too many times in history, and shame on us, shame on the
free world, to turn a blind eye and not stand up to this.
And how do you stand up to it? Can one nation stand up to
it, or does it take the world community realizing this, define
it for what it is? And, again, we've seen this in Syria--
400,000-plus people have been slaughtered.
We see what's going on with the Rohingya being slaughtered,
and we see what China is doing, stepping up to create a pure
race. Hitler wanted the Aryan race, obviously, and then we see
Xi Jinping, clearly articulated underlying in the Xinjiang
region where he said the aim of liberating thought is to better
standardize thought.
Then he goes on and says in the speech at the nineteenth
CCP National Congress he addressed the need for ethnic harmony
to keep China on a path to success--ethnic harmony--we must do
more to safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and
development interests and staunchly oppose all attempts to
split China or undermine its ethnic unity and social harmony
and stability.
And I think those are very clear things. They want
everybody thinking the same way on the same page, and that
would be awesome if we could do that in every culture.
And if you believe in what we stand for in this country
with our Constitution--that rights come from a Creator, not
from government--that we institute government--we, the people,
do--to protect our God-given rights, wherein the Chinese party
they view the role of the citizen to serve the Communist Party.
There is no higher authority in life in China than the
Communist Party, and those that aren't following what the
Chinese Communist Party says need to be sent to re-thought
camps or reeducation camps and, henceforth, it requires to have
crematoriums for those that don't and so they can extinguish
that.
What is the PRC's vision for ethnic harmony? We'll start
with you, Dr. Zenz. Am I off on this or are we seeing a repeat
of Adolph Hitler, in a different language?
Mr. Zenz. My personal opinion on this issue, Mr. Chairman,
is that China considers itself as a multi-ethnic nation or even
empire in the past and under current CCP leadership.
It's a superficially diverse multi-ethnic Chinese nation
under the leadership of Chinese culture. In this context, China
does not have any interest to destroy or eliminate an ethnic
group but, rather, to integrate and to assimilate.
It's my belief that we are not looking at an intentional
genocide in terms of the large-scale killing of an ethnic
group. What I perceive is very--what I perceive is very
consistent with a Communist practice to try to change a people.
Here we see a Communist attempt to change a people
particularly away from religion, which is not only limited to
Uyghurs but also to other religious groups in other parts of
China.
With the Uyghurs it's being done with particular intensity
due to the sensitive location and the fact that violent
incidents have occurred.
And on the second line we also see an attempt to ethnically
and linguistically assimilate a people into the core culture of
the Chinese nation, which is the Han Chinese culture, which
permits a certain remnant of ethnic culture to remain.
People can speak their language, to an extent. They can
keep harmless cultural customs, although the space for that has
been shrinking under the current Chinese regime. There was much
more space for this under previous Chinese regimes.I21As a
result, I believe we are looking at these camps at political
reeducation. These camps will naturally have higher mortality
rates due to their conditions.
People who are sick and elderly or suffer from mental
conditions will, naturally, die quicker. We will have,
therefore, higher mortality rates due to the conditions of
these camps.
I do not believe that there is an intent to systematically
move into mass killing. Of course, I can be proven wrong. But
if you ask my opinion, that's what it is.
I also believe that the crematoria that are being built
that you refer to, all of China is moving toward cremation by
2020, not just Xinjiang.
Of course, this has some very convenient side effects
besides saving room, of course, in a country with a high
population density, although Xinjiang autonomous region does
not have a high population density.
It does restrict and eliminate religious practice related
to funerals. Many religions, of course, including Islam have
very important funeral rites of spiritual and religious
importance.
So this is another way to encroach upon a territory
occupied by religion, and another aspect is, of course, if
people do die in reeducation camps or the detention facilities,
it is very convenient to cremate them because you do not have
anybody attending the funeral. You can then choose to tell and
inform the family members at a later stage.
Mr. Yoho. Let me--let me stop you there for the sake of
time.
Mr. Zenz. Yes. I am done, in any case.
Mr. Yoho. Okay. Thank you, and I appreciate that and I want
to come back to that.
At this time, we'll go to the ranking member, Mr. Sherman.
Mr. Sherman. Thank you. I am glad that--when I heard
crematorium next to concentration or internment camps, one
hearkens back to the Nazis where they were not cremating those
who had died, they were using crematoriums in order to kill.
That being said, Dr. Zenz, are there funerals and burials
taking place in the province now or are they forcing Uyghurs to
use cremation instead?
Mr. Zenz. I think there is limited empirical information on
the matter. But the evidence we have would be consistent with
what is being sought to be implemented in the rest of the
nation to shift toward cremation.
Mr. Sherman. Push people in that direction.
Mr. Zenz. Yes, which is forced. Which is forced. It's not
voluntary, and particular in Xinjiang.
Mr. Sherman. So I guess someone will be buried today who
died of natural causes, but another family might be pushed into
accepting cremation as opposed to burial or Islamic burial?
Mr. Zenz. That is very much the trend, especially in
Xinjiang. Yes.
Mr. Sherman. Yeah, I'm talking only in Xinjiang.
Mr. Zenz. Yes.
Mr. Sherman. I don't know which witness to ask, but Turkey
used to be an advocate for what is called East Turkmenistan. Is
Turkey continuing to advocate for the Uyghurs or have they
backed off? Does anyone know?
Mr. Turkel?
Mr. Turkel. I would be happy to answer that question.
Before addressing your important question, I would like to
point out the unstated goal of the Chinese Government under
this claim that they're working to achieve social stability.
In any--under any wildest imagination you don't achieve
social stability by calling somebody's ethnicity or ethnic
cultural appreciation as a tumor, religion as a mental disease.
It makes no sense in any----
Mr. Sherman. Okay. If you could focus on my question.
Mr. Turkel. And then in addressing your question, Turkey
has been historically--was historically supportive of the
Uyghur struggle for cultural, linguistic, and historic reasons.
In 2009, the current Turkish President said that he thinks
what is happening in East Turkestan is sort of genocide,
knowing the genocide word is a very sensitive word in Turkey.
But in the last couple years, the Turkish Government has
taken a 180 degree turn--has become very close to the Chinese
Government. Specifically, they signed an extradition treaty and
also the Turkish foreign minister in Beijing stated that Turkey
will not be allowed for anti-China activities.
Having said that, if you flip through any newspapers
published in Turkey, you will be hard-pressed to find anything
on the ongoing madness in East Turkestan today.
Mr. Sherman. So they've gone from supportive to
deliberately influencing their newspapers to not even report
what China is doing to the--to these Turkic peoples.
What about Pakistan? Have they been willing to speak out
for the Uyghurs?
Mr. Turkel. Pakistan has also had a horrible history of
collaborating with China.
Mr. Sherman. Which Muslim government or----
Mr. Turkel. Unfortunately----
Mr. Sherman [continuing]. A government of a Muslim country
has been the loudest and most dedicated to protecting the
Uyghurs?
Mr. Turkel. Unfortunately, none, as we speak. Only
Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim recently expressed concern.
That's pretty much about it.
Mr. Sherman. Expressed concern. But none of them have
sanctioned any Chinese leaders?
Mr. Turkel. None, unfortunately.
Mr. Sherman. Or sanctioned Chinese businesses? Which
religious customs or rights is China prohibiting?
Mr. Turkel. The--China's Government sanctions pretty much
everything related to Islam, especially in the last 19 months.
Mr. Sherman. So if you don't eat during daylight in
Ramadan, what will they do to you?
Mr. Turkel. Foreign Policy magazine listed 48 ways that
you'd be considered an extremist in the eyes of the Chinese
Government under this new draconian rule of regulation imposed
April 2017 that sanctioned a normal beard, adherence to Islamic
diet----
Mr. Sherman. You mean eating halal food makes you an
Islamic extremist?
Mr. Turkel. This is under their new regulation. There are
policy papers that have been written. Reports have been
published on this particular issue. Foreign Policy magazine
lists 48 behaviors that you and I----
Mr. Sherman. And the Foreign Policy magazine is translating
a Chinese regulation----
Mr. Turkel. That's correct.
Mr. Sherman [continuing]. That says you can--you are
classified an Islamic extremist and subject to internment if
you eat halal food?
Mr. Turkel. Even greeting in an Islamic way. Today, Uyghur
families cannot even say ``salaam alaikum'' as part of their
culture.
Mr. Sherman. So they're, basically, prohibiting the
practice of Islam while not allowing perhaps a vague Islamic
cultural identity and the Muslim nations of the world lift not
a finger.
Mr. Turkel. That's the ironic world that we find ourselves
today, unfortunately.
Mr. Sherman. I yield back.
Mr. Yoho. Next, we'll go to Mr. Rohrabacher from
California.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Let me ask the panel, didn't Mao have a period of time
after he took over where he--was it ``let a thousand flowers
bloom'' or something like that? Do you remember what I am
talking about?
And, apparently, there was--in order to calm people down
about this new power structure in China it came off as if the--
well, it's not going to be so bad after all, and then when all
the flowers began to bloom, meaning all the people became--
coming out and expressing what they really believed about
communism and about life, he had mass arrests and after that
they had, of course, that effort that happened in the '60s
where they just--a cultural revolution and just wiped all those
people out who had exposed themselves to something other than
the Communist ideology.
Well, what it sounds like to me is that what we have now--
let 1,000 flowers bloom--I was right. Okay. What we seem to be
having now and what you're describing is that the Chinese
Government is going through another period where it is clamping
down in order to stamp out those forces in society, especially
those containing religion like the Uyghurs have that part of
their culture--they're trying to stamp that out in order to
secure that they--themselves from any opposition based on that
cultural difference.
Does that pretty well sound like we are going through that
phase? It sounds like to me, especially when we hear your
testimony talking about how there are relocation camps and
there are--there is an infrastructure being built to brutally
eliminate the Uyghur tradition in that part of China--just
eliminate it from the world.
And so thank you for being here and giving us those
details, and I was listening to what you had to say and I would
say it's frightening but it's consistent with what, frankly,
those of us who've been worrying about China and the Communist
Government of China, although, I don't even know if you can
call it a Communist government.
It's just a vicious, one of the most iron-fisted
dictatorships in the world. And whether or not--how they think
about Marx or Lenin is irrelevant to that.
However, when you have a group that might be opposing that
who has a religious conviction the Uyghurs are finding that out
now.
But you have had--the Falun Gong, as you know, have had a
very peaceful oriented philosophy--a spiritualist type
philosophy. They're being brutally repressed, being murdered
and their organs are sold to Westerners at times, and then, as
I say, we got the--is it Rohingya down in Burma.
The Chinese are actually the ones who have organized and
armed the Burmese Government and the military to go down there
and commit the genocide--the genocide that is taking place with
the Rohingya.
So I hope that we get the attention of some of the people
and, number one, your suggestions, whichever one it was, about
activating the Magnitsky Act--it's a good idea--when you have
people committing crimes against humanity.
I disagreed with the title, Magnitsky, but I certainly
agreed with the substance of what that act was all about and is
all about. We should do that. We should actually--and but most
importantly, your testimony is as well.
Mr. Chairman--because we've got to make sure American
corporations aren't involved with providing the technology
needed for this repression--this wave of repression to succeed
in China and some of our own companies need to be held
accountable.
One last question--we are mentioning countries that have
stepped forward. Has not Albania stepped forward and taken in a
group of Uyghurs or am I mistaken about that?
Mr. Turkel. Thank you very much. May I address your
question?
Good to see you, Congressman Rohrabacher. We've known each
other quite a long time.
Albania has not stepped up. Albania took some Uyghurs being
detained in Guantanamo years ago.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Right.
Mr. Turkel. But Kosovo, interestingly enough, after the
Ministerial that Secretary Pompeo organized several weeks ago,
is one of the countries, along with the U.K., Canada, and the
United States, to sign on the joint statement. That's the only
Muslim country----
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay. So Kosovo has but----
Mr. Turkel. Not Albania.
Mr. Rohrabacher. But Albania has not?
Mr. Turkel. Not yet.
Mr. Rohrabacher. So--okay, I will check that out. Let me
just note that I've been told a number of times that Albania
and the Kosovars have been done but Albania was--in particular
was mentioned to me. So we'll look into that.
Mr. Chairman, that may be something the committee can
verify and I appreciate that information.
Mr. Turkel. Thank you.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for having this
hearing today. I am going to run to that other hearing and then
to the vote and then to the other thing.
So sorry I can't stay for the whole thing.
Mr. Yoho. You will be in shape at the end of the day.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay.
Mr. Yoho. So where do we go from here? Again, we don't
normally have people comment. If you can give just one comment,
and this is the only time we are going to do it. So don't
anybody else raise your hand, and keep it short, please.
[Off-microphone comment.]
Mr. Yoho. Let me address that after Mr. Chabot. Thank you.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be very brief.
I am trying to do two things at once here. I apologize. I was
in the back room with a meeting with some folks from Puerto
Rico.
Again, I apologize, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for letting us go
next. Let me begin by just saying, having served as the chair
of this subcommittee for a number of years and having travelled
through the Asia-Pacific region a number of times, I think many
of us are very aware of China's terrible human rights record
and the case in Xinjiang is truly Orwellian.
Uyghurs are routinely subjected to the most extreme and,
really, absurd surveillance. They face random checks,
restricted freedom of movement, and they cannot travel abroad.
Worse, authorities have made extensive use of video
surveillance, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence
to track every Uyghur's every move.
Most dystopian of all, authorities also maintain detailed
records on Uyghurs including DNA samples, eye scans, and blood
types.
Unfortunately, Beijing has spread its repression well
beyond Xinjiang. Uyghurs around the world, including here in
America, often face threats to their families at home unless
they comply with Chinese authorities' demands and help monitor
fellow Uyghurs.
Beijing claims to be worried about terrorism. But every
country faces counterterrorism challenges without locking up
over 1 million people. And the bottom line is Beijing is
terrorizing their Uyghur population and it's just unacceptable.
So just a couple of questions and I would welcome any of
the gentlemen here to respond. Over the past couple of years,
the situation in Xinjiang has worsened considerably and we know
that China's economic influence is quite comprehensive and can
be pretty daunting, and Mr. Sherman got in this to some extent
but I would like to go a little bit further.
And I would ask to what extent has this influence caused
other countries, particularly the--some of the larger Muslim
population countries to overlook or refrain from public
criticism of China's treatment of the Uyghurs?
And I would offer that to anybody who might--Mr. Turkel,
you might be the best person because you touched on it before.
Mr. Turkel. There are a couple of possible ways to answer
that question.
One is to those Muslim countries, it appears that the
Uyghurs happen to be the wrong type of Muslim to show sympathy.
Mr. Chabot. You said the wrong kind of Muslim?
Mr. Turkel. Yes, and then the other possibility is that
China happens to be the wrong type of adversary for them to
take on.
And then finally, this committee holds a hearing about the
Chinese coersive influence campaign that have been very
effective in the Muslim countries. There was a question about
Pakistan. Pakistan has been very supportive of Chinese efforts
to silence the Pakistani Uyghur citizens even.
And in the Gulf States, particularly UAE, Egypt, has a
horrible track record of deporting Uyghur students, which has
been also reported by various media outlets, and in Malaysia,
in a previous administration, has also deported some Uyghurs.
In the refugees issues they have been very, very
cooperative with the Chinese Government. But on the moral
issues, they have been looking the other way.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, and I think I've got time for one
more question, Mr. Chairman.
It's my understanding that some members of the Uyghur
diaspora have been targeted by Chinese authorities and I would
ask how have Chinese authorities sought to co-opt or coerce or
punish members of the Uyghur diaspora around the world and
particularly here in the United States?
Mr. Turkel. They use two different methods. One, they use
the remaining family members in China as leverage against the
free Uyghurs who have citizenship in Europe and North America.
So by using their family members, they silence public
criticism. And then we had also recently Voice of America did a
report on a public event here in Washington, DC. It
specifically states that none of the Uyghurs who spoke with the
reporter were comfortable disclosing their names.
I can assure you that many Uyghurs today living and
breathing in this free country are afraid of coming to this
hearing.
So the Chinese export of its oppression and the
psychological damage--emotional damage, the crippling anxiety
that they have caused is immeasurable in various communities,
particularly in the Western societies.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, if I could just conclude. I mean, I think
what was just said, it's very disturbing when one considers
that people would be fearful--people living here in the United
States would be fearful to come to a hearing before the United
States Congress because of what might happen across the globe
to their relatives back home and I think that the
administration ought to look into this and we ought to do
everything possible to make sure that people know that in the
United States it truly is a place to be free and one ought not
to have to worry about their relatives being harmed back home
from the PRC or anybody else.
I yield back.
Mr. Yoho. No, I think you're very spot on. But, you know,
you look at the long arm--the reach of the Chinese Government
now with the intelligence they have, with the technology, and
then looking to the future, when we get closer to perfecting
artificial intelligence and then put in quantum computing,
that'll be light years of where we are today. The control they
can have on society over here for the people back home, as you
just said, they'll be afraid to speak up.
And I find it very disturbing because, again, we've seen
this throughout history. You know, if you don't fall in line
with the government, we want you to report and we want you to
report your neighbors.
On these so-called reeducation camps--and the only place I
know of them in modern time were in Nazi Germany, in North
Korea, and now we see them in China--have you guys talked to
many people that have every come out of the reeducation camp?
I mean, what is the average time in a reeducation camp and
how many people come out?
Mr. Turkel.
Mr. Turkel. Not many. Not many. We have only a handful of
former detainees who have been speaking with Western media.
There is a Kazakh citizen who has been testifying and told us
the stories of an 11-month ordeal.
He's a Kazakh citizen travelling in China and he came up
and described his experience in those camps, and his parents
had been taken away, and he apparently could not continue to
live in Kazakhstan--recently had been relocated to Turkey, and
Radio Free Asia recently went to Turkey to interview the actual
victims of those detention facilities and their accounts have
been heart-wrenching--going through tortuous condemnation,
denunciation, renunciation of their identity, watching so-
called anti-separatist videos praising Xi Jinping, singing Red
songs, very poor health conditions, diet.
Even today--last night I read a Radio Free Asia report
about a 31-, 32-year-old young woman who died in one of those
detention facilities. And earlier, Radio Free Asia also
reported an 82-year-old Islamic scholar who was apparently
tortured to death in prison, and, as reported recently, his
entire family had been taken away.
And one thing that we need to point out here--the Chinese
Government is attacking Uyghur intellectuals.
Mr. Yoho. Sure.
Mr. Turkel. Elites, business leaders, musicians, athletes.
Just reported last night again by Radio Free Asia, the vice
president of Xinjiang University, president--former president
of Xinjiang Medical University, and the four top officials at
Kashgar University all have been taken away.
And the person who is in charge of educational affairs
reportedly, by Radio Free Asia, received the death penalty,
which is--I literally cannot come up with a better word----
Mr. Yoho. It's just hard to comprehend.
Dr. Jacobs, anybody else, have any comments on that? Dr.
Zenz?
Mr. Zenz. If I may go ahead--I would add to this that the
information we have on this is fairly limited. But what we do
have is very consistent. The information is consistent that
people go in. More and more people go in. Very few people go
out. Numbers are increasing.
I should also point out that in 2014 and 2015, the
reeducation system for de-extremification grouped Uyghurs into
four groups, and the most hardened, stubborn, and dangerous
received 20 days of reeducation.
These days, it's unread of that anybody would be detained
on no crime at all, no suspicion, no charge, no nothing
whatsoever, and be released in--as quickly as 20 days. It's
unheard of.
Mr. Yoho. Yes. I just find it extremely frightening.
Dr. Jacobs, do you have any other comments?
Mr. Jacobs. The only other evidence that we've had are from
people who have come out and they then toed the party line as
well and you will get this utopian account of how great the
camps are.
Mr. Yoho. Right.
Mr. Jacobs. And they'll come out saying, you know, this is
necessary. The only way you're going to get contrary testimony
to that is by people who have been able to leave China and are
not afraid of family members back home suffering repercussions.
Mr. Yoho. Right. I want to address our audience back there
that wanted to make a statement. Unfortunately, I can't do that
because we didn't have prior permission from both sides.
We'll be happy to get a statement that we can enter into
this and maybe read it at a future one. Not to slight you or
anything, but we are--you know, we checked on the rules and I
can't do that.
You know, again, I just don't want to sound like a broken
record. We've seen this too many times in history and we see
what China is trying to do to create a one China, one mind set,
one culture.
Yet, they're going after the people of Tibet, trying to
rewrite history, trying to erase that culture. We've seen that
in other parts of China--trying to erase that, and we see that
with the Uyghurs.
We see where they're going with this new technology to get
people to toe the line. If you don't toe the line, you go to
the reeducation camps. The way we understand it there has been
over 1 million people put into these.
We know the party elites that don't toe the party line are
put into reeducation camps and we know they have over 1 million
of those. But very few come out. It's like that song of the
Eagles, ``Hotel California''--you can check in but you can't
check out.
And, you know, the thought that we are repeating those
atrocities of the past are very disturbing and with the DNA and
the retinal scans and things that they're tracking people,
there's a U.S. company--Thermo Fisher--I understand that's
involved in genetic testing equipment used for forced tests.
Do you guys have any ideas of what Congress should do with
any company that is involved in having their equipment involved
in this? Sanction them, being--you know, get the word to them,
don't participate?
Dr. Zenz.
Mr. Zenz. I think some companies may not fully realize what
is going on or what it means to sell equipment to Xinjiang.
Maybe they should be realizing by now. But I think the first
item would be a significant awareness raising in the public and
amongst, of course, companies.
Elevate the issue, and then issue relevant decisions on it.
But I think especially the publicity--the awareness--and also
the cost involved.
Mr. Yoho. No, I think that's a great idea and that's
something that we can do on this committee, and if you guys are
aware of any companies involved in their equipment being used
in this, and it's like you said--they may not even know.
But if we can get that to them and bring an attention to
this, I would think our companies would say, you're not using
our equipment.
I find this shocking, you know. This is deeper than I
thought--the control that China is doing--and, you know, some
of the reports I read that they talk about there is no higher
power than the Chinese Government--no deity, nothing else.
And I am so glad that we are in this country where we
realize our rights come from a Creator, not from the
government, and that China wants to turn everybody into a
policing state and then they have the technology to make sure
that they can follow through with that.
What we plan to do on this committee, and it's happened so
many times, the information we deem from you will go into
resolutions, letters to the different companies--different
entities that are involved in this, and we've got some good
results out of this.
You know, we've got the Cambodia Democracy Act that the
cronies around Hun Sen said would never go anywhere. Their
media attacked us. Yet, that bill got passed here in the House
and we are going to continue to do things like that.
The DPRK Act, the Taiwan Travel Act--those are all things
that came out of committee hearings like this, that we put
pressure on those countries and we are going to continue to do
that.
Again, I just find this very disturbing and I hope anybody
that's listening to this that's in this audience, you see
George Orwell's ``1984.'' It is here and it is real, and this
is the beginning of something that could be really catastrophic
for the rest of the world and I think this is something that we
need to get the message out for the family members that are
here.
You're practicing Uyghurs and you have family members
either left in China that are going through this process. You
know, stay strong. Keep the word out there. Keep us--keep us
informed.
It's shining the light on it through committee hearings
like this, getting on the news, and I know you put yourself at
risk or your family at risk. But if we go down the road and we
do nothing, we will look back and have the regrets, and we just
want to make sure we don't make those regrets of the past.
With that, this meeting is adjourned. I appreciate
everybody being here and thank you for your input.
[Whereupon, at 3:26 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Material Submitted for the Record
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Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Ted S. Yoho, a
Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and chairman,
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
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Note: The preceding document has not been printed here in full but may
be found at https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/
ByEvent.aspx?EventID=108718
Material submitted for the record by the Honorable Ted S. Yoho, a
Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and chairman,
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
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Material submitted for the record by Adrian Zenz, Ph.D., independent
researcher
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Note: The preceding document has not been printed here in full but may
be found at https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/
ByEvent.aspx?EventID=108718
Material submitted for the record by Adrian Zenz, Ph.D., independent
researcher
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Note: The preceding document has not been printed here in full but may
be found at https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/
ByEvent.aspx?EventID=108718