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

              THE COMMUNIST PARTY'S CRACKDOWN ON RELIGION IN CHINA
    =======================================================================

                                     HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                  CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA

                         ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                   __________

                               NOVEMBER 28, 2018

                                   __________

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                  CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA

                        LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

    Senate

                                         House

    MARCO RUBIO, Florida, Chairman       CHRIS SMITH, New Jersey,
    TOM COTTON, Arkansas                 Cochairman
    STEVE DAINES, Montana                ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina
    JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma             RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois
    TODD YOUNG, Indiana                  MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
    DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California         TIM WALZ, Minnesota
    JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon                 TED LIEU, California
    GARY PETERS, Michigan
    ANGUS KING, Maine

                         EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

                               Not yet appointed

                       Elyse B. Anderson, Staff Director

                     Paul B. Protic, Deputy Staff Director

                                      (ii)

                                 C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                                   Statements

                                                                       Page
    Opening Statement of Hon. Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from
      Florida; Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China.     1

    Statement of Hon. Christopher Smith, a U.S. Representative from
      New Jersey; Cochairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on
      China..........................................................     4

    Tursun, Mihrigul, Uyghur Muslim detained in Chinese
      ``reeducation'' camp...........................................     6

    Hoffman, Dr. Samantha, Visiting Academic Fellow, Mercator
      Institute for China Studies and Non-Resident Fellow, Australian
      Strategic Policy Institute.....................................     8

    Farr, Dr. Thomas F., President, Religious Freedom Institute......    10

                                    APPENDIX

                              Prepared Statements

    Tursun, Mihrigul.................................................    28

    Hoffman, Samantha................................................    32

    Farr, Thomas F...................................................    41

    Rubio, Hon. Marco................................................    46

    Smith, Hon. Christopher..........................................    48

                           Submissions for the Record

    Representative Cases From the Prisoner Database of the
      Congressional-Executive Commission on China, submitted by
      Senator Rubio..................................................    50
    Letter regarding Statement by Concerned Scholars, submitted by
      Sean R. Roberts, Director, International Development Studies,
      Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington
      University.....................................................    51
    Statement by Concerned Scholars on China's Mass Detention of
      Turkic Minorities, submitted by Sean R. Roberts................    51

    Witness Biographies..............................................    54

                                     (iii)

              THE COMMUNIST PARTY'S CRACKDOWN ON RELIGION IN CHINA

                                  ----------

                          WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018

                                Congressional-Executive
                                           Commission on China,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 3:09 p.m.,
    in room 106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Marco Rubio,
    Chairman, presiding.
        Also present: Representative Smith, Cochairman, and
    Senators King and Daines.

      OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARCO RUBIO, A U.S. SENATOR FROM
     FLORIDA; CHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA

        Chairman Rubio. Good afternoon. This hearing of the
    Congressional-Executive Commission on China will come to order.
        The title of this hearing is the Communist Party's
    Crackdown on Religion in China. We'll have one panel that will
    testify today. It will feature Mihrigul Tursun, a Uyghur Muslim
    who was interned in and survived a Chinese ``political
    reeducation camp.'' That's not what I call it. That's what they
    call it. But in fact, it is something more nefarious than that.
        Translating for her is Ms. Zubayra Shamseden. She is the
    Chinese Outreach Coordinator at the Uyghur Human Rights
    Project. We'll also hear from Tom Farr, president of the
    Religious Freedom Institute, and Samantha Hoffman, a visiting
    academic fellow at the Mercator Institute for China Studies and
    Non-Resident Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy
    Institute. I want to thank you all for being here.
        The Chinese Government, under the control of the Chinese
    Communist Party, has long imposed harsh policies against
    unregistered Christian churches, Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan
    Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other religious
    adherents.
        The Commission maintains a political prisoner database. And
    since that database was created, it has featured some 6,275
    cases involving individuals detained because of their religion.
    Currently, there are more than 750 active cases and countless
    others whose names we will never know. The Commission
    consistently advocates for Members of Congress and the
    administration to raise individual prisoner cases, and the
    database is an invaluable tool in that effort.
        Religious freedom in China is a vast topic and we will only
    begin to scratch the surface of it today. But consider the
    following: Uyghur Muslims are rounded up and interned in camps,
    Tibetan monks and nuns are forced to undergo political
    reeducation sessions, Falun Gong practitioners are reportedly
    sent to legal education centers for indoctrination, churches
    are shuttered, crosses removed, and Christian believers
    harassed and imprisoned.
        These are the daily realities in Xi Jinping's China. And it
    leads many observers to describe the current wave of repression
    as the most severe since the Cultural Revolution. Even as the
    government has carried out an extensive campaign to ensure
    ideological loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party above all
    else, impacting various sectors of society, not the least of
    which are religious communities, it has also targeted those who
    represent and advocate for them, not just the communities but
    those who represent them and advocate for them.
        The 709 Crackdown, as it was called, saw scores of rights
    lawyers and advocates detained, arrested, and tortured, forced
    to ingest unknown medications and confess to crimes that they
    did not commit. These brave men and women have been the tip of
    the spear in representing China's repressed and persecuted
    Christians and Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun
    Gong practitioners.
        Of the rights lawyers who have courageously defended the
    rights of their fellow citizens in Chinese court, several
    continue to serve sentences, including Wang Quanzhang and Gao
    Zhisheng. Those who have independently documented the truth of
    Chinese citizens persecuted for their beliefs became targets of
    the persecution themselves.
        One fearless example is citizen journalist and human rights
    defender Huang Qi. We are extremely concerned that he is in
    danger of making the ultimate sacrifice for telling these
    stories because his government is currently deliberately
    denying him access to medical treatment while he is in prison.
        However, set against this grim backdrop, something
    remarkable has happened--the number of religious adherents in
    China has grown. This shows the utter failure of the Chinese
    Communist Party's policies in this regard.
        Today's hearing provides an opportunity to better
    understand the scale and scope of the current crackdown, to
    identify cross-cutting trends across different religions, to
    examine the elevated role of the United Front Work Department
    and what this means for China's faithful, and to put forward
    policy recommendations to address this crisis.
        This Commission has been particularly seized this year with
    the ongoing crackdown in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
    targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslim groups. Our
    annual report that was released in October describes these
    grave abuses at length, abuses which I believe, and most would
    agree, constitute crimes against humanity.
        During a July hearing on Xinjiang, we heard sobering
    testimony from Ms. Gulchehra Hoja, a Radio Free Asia Uyghur
    Service journalist and an American citizen, who had been
    personally impacted by the crackdown. Dozens of her own family
    members have been detained, have disappeared.
        And as sobering as her story is, she is not alone. Not only
    have her fellow Uyghur Service journalists been similarly
    impacted, but countless other Americans have as well. It seems
    that every week the Commission--which we chair--is contacted by
    Uyghurs living in the United States desperate for news about a
    loved one who has vanished into the growing labyrinth of camps.
        Today we are honored to have with us Ms. Tursun. Her story
    is harrowing, and we are truly grateful for her courage in
    coming forward.
        Also grabbing headlines in recent months is the growing
    repression facing Christians in China. Beijing authorities
    recently banned Zion Church, one of the largest unofficial
    Protestant Churches in the city, which typically drew up to
    1,600 worshippers on any given Sunday. Robbed of their worship
    space, members of the church have reportedly taken to quietly
    meeting in parks and in homes.
        In September, reports emerged of authorities burning Bibles
    and compelling Christians to sign papers renouncing their
    faith. Meanwhile the Holy See and the Chinese Government
    apparently have reached an agreement this fall--the precise
    details of which have not been made public--it has been
    reported that Beijing would now recognize the Pope as the head
    of the Catholic Church in China. The Vatican would recognize
    seven excommunicated Chinese bishops appointed by the PRC
    authorities. The Chinese authorities would appoint future
    bishops while the Pope would have veto power over their
    nomination.
        There is growing concern--rightfully so--that this
    agreement may put in greater peril those Catholic believers who
    maintain as part of their faith that they cannot and will not
    worship under clergy that have been selected by the Chinese
    Government. There is also alarm that any deal betrays the
    memory of Catholics who refused to renounce papal supremacy and
    were persecuted for it, while demoralizing those who still
    stand faithful.
        As the hearing title denotes, the Communist Party is at the
    center of this crackdown. The Party Central Committee issued a
    massive restructuring plan for Party and government agencies to
    be completed by the end of this calendar year. The United Front
    Work Department, which Xi Jinping, like Mao before him, calls
    the magic weapon of the Communist Party, was further empowered
    in this reorganization.
        This year its role in overseeing religious affairs was
    expanded, underscoring the Party's enduring fear at the growth
    of religious belief as a threat to their grip on power. As the
    Party conducts United Front work to ensure that outside groups
    are in line with its agenda, the evidence is also clear that
    Chinese officials are only too willing to expand their
    repression overseas to intimidate and harass Americans and
    legal permanent residents of the United States, including those
    in the Uyghur community.
        Ms. Tursun's story reminds us that China's suppression of
    religious faith and religious communities is real. It is evil.
    It is too horrendous to ignore.
        In the 21st century, we must not, cannot, and should not
    accept the mass internment of individuals based on their
    religious faith, on the basis of their cultural identity. Nor
    can we accept the efforts to stamp out all unofficial religious
    communities in China that maintain as a matter of faith that
    they do not want to be beholden to the leadership of the
    Chinese Government, or frankly, any government.
        Now without objection--well, I wanted now to turn it over
    to Congressman Smith, who's our cochair, for his opening
    statement. And then I want to hear from our witnesses, and I
    want to thank you all for being here.

    STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER SMITH, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM
     NEW JERSEY; COCHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON
                                 CHINA

        Cochairman Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        The present-day assault on religion in China is the most
    comprehensive attempt to manipulate and control religious
    communities since the Cultural Revolution. What is happening
    under Xi Jinping's leadership is a systematic effort to
    transform, co-opt, or destroy the very nature of religious
    communities.
        Regulations of religious affairs issued in February
    tightened existing restrictions, and new draft regulations will
    further clamp down on religious expression online. Churches,
    mosques, and temples have been demolished, crosses destroyed,
    children under the age of 18 are prohibited from attending
    services, and the Communist Party is now commissioning a new
    religious text that will remove content unwanted by the atheist
    Communist Party.
        Xi Jinping talks about realizing the China Dream, but when
    Bibles are burned, when a simple prayer over a meal in public
    is an illegal religious gathering, and when over a million
    Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims are interned in political reeducation
    camps and forced to renounce their faith, that dream is an
    unmitigated nightmare. Xi Jinping's war on religion is also a
    distinct challenge to U.S. religious freedom diplomacy and to
    international standards on freedom of religion.
        There is a dire need to continue shining a light on the
    stunning and outrageous detention of nearly a million Uyghurs
    and other Muslim ethnic minorities. Senator Rubio and I have
    tried to be a voice for those repressed.
        Ms. Tursun's powerful testimony today reminds us that we
    cannot be silent when the Chinese Government is constructing a
    high-tech police state in Xinjiang Province whose goal is the
    forced assimilation of an entire ethnic minority population and
    the sinicization of their religious beliefs and practices.
        I do commend the administration, particularly Secretary
    Pompeo and Vice President Pence, for speaking out forcefully. I
    would urge the administration to support the bipartisan Uyghur
    Human Rights Policy Act that Senator Rubio and I introduced,
    and to sanction Chinese officials and businesses complicit in
    these crimes against humanity.
        In the past year--and it was referenced by our chairman--
    pressure has mounted on independent Protestant and Catholic
    churches. Clergy are now in prison--they have been, but even
    more so--churches have been forcibly closed, and the human
    rights lawyers who defend religious believers have been jailed,
    disappeared, or tortured into silence.
        Gao Zhisheng, Jiang Tianyong, and so many others, have been
    detained, disappeared, and tortured for standing up against
    persecution.
        An open letter signed by over 500 Protestant leaders
    inspires and should motivate each and every one of us to double
    our efforts on behalf of those who are fighting this
    repression. In the midst of an intense campaign of repression,
    these 500 Protestant leaders wrote: ``For the sake of the
    Gospel, we are willing to suffer all external losses brought
    about by unfair law enforcement. Out of a love for our fellow
    citizens, we are willing to give up all of our earthly rights.
    For the sake of the Gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses,
    even the loss of our freedom and our lives.'' This type of
    courageous conviction requires not only our admiration but our
    action.
        Let me turn just for a brief moment to the issue of
    Catholicism in China, where a deal has been struck that will
    reportedly give the Pope veto power over Chinese Government-
    approved candidates for bishop. Vatican Secretary of State
    Cardinal Pietro Parolin admits, ``It is not a good deal,'' but
    believes it is important to unify the underground Catholic
    Church and the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association.
        Cardinal Zen, however, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, has
    questioned whether Vatican officials making these decisions
    ``know what true suffering is.'' The reports are that the deal
    is provisional and full details are secret. However, the devil
    is in the details, including the fate of underground churches,
    the 30 underground bishops appointed previously over Beijing's
    objections, and Vatican relations with Taiwan.
        I would just note parenthetically that back in 1994, I met
    with Bishop Xu of Baoding. He celebrated mass. He was out of
    prison just for a very brief time, was re-arrested a few years
    later, and he spent probably about 40 years, at least 30 plus,
    incarcerated. He had absolutely no animosity to the Chinese
    state. He said, As a true Christian, I love them. I pray for
    them, even though they beat me. Bishop Xu of Baoding, an
    amazing man. He is one of those underground Catholic bishops,
    and as we all know, there are several others who are still
    being held in detention.
        I do hope and pray that this agreement will bring true
    religious freedom for Catholics in China, but I have my doubts.
    Since the agreement was reached, underground priests are
    detained, pilgrimage sites have been closed, crosses continue
    to be toppled from churches, formerly excommunicated community
    bishops were welcomed in Rome, and the United Front Department
    officials in October convened a reeducation session for
    priests. So that's the harbinger, I think, of some very bad
    additional things to come.
        The President and Xi Jinping will meet, as we know, in
    Argentina this week seeking ways to defuse U.S.-China tensions.
    It should be conveyed to Xi Jinping in absolute clarity by our
    President that his war on religion is not only an egregious
    wrong against the Chinese people, it is also highly
    counterproductive strategy. Taking a hammer and sickle to the
    cross or jailing a million Muslims will not only ensure that a
    tougher China policy will be widespread and bipartisan but will
    garner even global support.
        We need to do more in this area. This hearing, again, I
    think helps us get further clarity, so we can speak
    authoritatively and passionately on behalf of religious
    freedom.
        Thank you very much.
        Chairman Rubio. Thank you.
        And now I want to begin with this. I read this testimony
    earlier and it is--I want everybody to hear it. It is
    incredibly powerful. It is the testimony that we're about to
    hear from Ms. Tursun and it is going to be translated.
        So I thank you for being here, for your bravery and courage
    in appearing, and for the great service you are providing your
    fellow men and women in the world in testifying today about the
    reality of what is happening, what happened to you, and what is
    happening to so many.

    STATEMENT OF MIHRIGUL TURSUN, SURVIVOR OF TORTURE IN A CHINESE
                             DETENTION CAMP

        Ms. Tursun. I would like to thank the United States
    Government and the American people for saving my life and
    bringing me to America, the land of the free.
        Because my English is not good enough, I would like my
    translator to read my statement.
        My name is Mihrigul Tursun and I am 29 years old. I am a
    Uyghur. Over the last three years, I was taken to Chinese
    Government detention centers three times. I spent a total of 10
    months in the camps.
        Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify about my
    personal experience. I ask that my written testimony be
    submitted for the record.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Tursun appears in the
    Appendix.]
        In May of 2015, I returned to China from Egypt where I
    studied English. I was arrested at the airport and my two-
    month-old triplets were taken away. The officers handcuffed me,
    put a dark sack over my head, and took me to a detention
    center.
        After three months, they told me I could be with my sick
    children until their health improved, and released me. My
    oldest son had died in their hands.
        In April 2017, I was taken to a detention center for the
    second time. I was interrogated for four days and nights
    without sleep. After being in the camp for three months, I kept
    having seizures and losing consciousness. I was finally
    released to a mental hospital. From there, my father took me
    home and I gradually recovered.
        In January of 2018, I was detained for the third time. They
    put chains on my wrists and ankles, put a black sack over my
    head, and took me to a hospital. I was stripped naked and put
    under a big computerized machine. Then I was dressed in a blue
    uniform with a yellow vest worn by serious criminals and taken
    to a camp.
        Now I would like to tell you about what I experienced in
    these camps. I was taken to a cell which was built underground
    with no windows. There were cameras on all four sides so the
    officials could see every corner of the room. There were around
    60 people in one of the cells where I was held. At night, 15
    women would stand up while the rest of us would sleep sideways,
    and then we would rotate every two hours. Some people had not
    taken a shower in over a year.
        Before we ate breakfast--which was water with very little
    rice--we had to sing songs hailing the Communist Party. We had
    to repeat in Chinese, ``Long live Xi Jinping,'' and ``Lenience
    for those who repent and punishment for those who resist.''
    Anyone who could not memorize a book of slogans and the rules
    within 14 days would be denied food or beaten. Sometimes there
    was no food all day, and when there was food, it was mostly a
    steamed bun.
        They forced us to take unknown pills and drink some kind of
    white liquid. The pill caused us to lose consciousness and
    reduced our cognition level. The white liquid caused loss of
    menstruation in some women and extreme bleeding in others and
    even death.
        I also experienced torture in a tiger chair the second time
    I was detained. I was taken to a special room and placed in a
    high chair. Bands held my arms and legs in place and tightened
    when they pressed a button. The guards put a helmet on my
    shaved head. Each time I was electrocuted my whole body would
    shake violently, and I could feel the pain in my veins. I
    thought I would rather die than go through this torture. I
    begged them to kill me. They insulted me with humiliating words
    and pressured me to admit my guilt. They told me my mother and
    son had died, my father was serving life in prison, and that my
    family was torn apart because of me.
        In another cell where I was held, there were 40 women
    between the ages of 17 and 62. When I left the cell after about
    three months, there were 68. Most of them were educated
    professionals such as teachers and doctors.
        I witnessed nine deaths in my cell in three months. I
    cannot imagine how many deaths there must be in all of the
    camps.
        In the camps I met a 23-year-old woman named Patemhan. Her
    crime was attending a wedding in 2014 that was held according
    to Islamic tradition, where people did not dance, sing, or
    drink alcohol. She said 400 people who attended that wedding
    were all taken to the camps. When she was taken, she had left
    her two kids in the field. She agonized every day about where
    her children were. One night she suddenly dropped to the floor
    and stopped breathing. Several people with masks came and
    dragged her away.
        After more than three months in the camp, I came out and
    was again able to see my kids. Thanks to the help of many
    wonderful people, I was able to come to the United States.
    Words cannot describe how joyful I felt when I landed in
    Virginia two months ago. But I'm not completely free from my
    traumatic experience and I fear that the Chinese Government is
    still monitoring me. My brother recently left a voicemail on my
    cell phone. He said, ``How could you do this to your parents?
    What kind of daughter are you? You should go to the Chinese
    Embassy right away and denounce all of the things you said
    about the Chinese Government in the interview you gave to Radio
    Free Asia and tell them you love China. Tell them you were
    pressured by the Uyghur organizations in the U.S. to lie about
    your detention and torture in the camps. And take back
    everything you said. Otherwise, China can get you wherever you
    hide.''
        I am trying to start a new life in America, go to school,
    and take care of my son and daughter. But now I'm terrified
    that the Chinese Government could still threaten me from so far
    away.
        Please protect the Uyghurs in America from the Chinese
    Government's threats. Please help Uyghur refugees around the
    world who will be taken to the camps if they are forced to
    return to China. Please take action to save the people who are
    being tortured right now.
        I hope the U.S. Government will take strong action against
    the officials responsible for torturing me and for the death of
    my little boy and the death of so many innocent Uyghur people.
    My people look to the United States as a beacon of hope. It is
    the only country that can tell China to stop its ethnic
    cleansing of the Uyghur people.
        I still remember the words of the officers when I asked
    what my crime was. They said, ``Being a Uyghur is a crime.''
        Distinguished Congressmen--if you ever go to China, please
    ask where my mother, father, and siblings are. Thank you.
        Chairman Rubio. Thank you very much.
        Ms. Hoffman? Take the microphone, please.

     STATEMENT OF DR. SAMANTHA HOFFMAN, VISITING ACADEMIC FELLOW,
    MERCATOR INSTITUTE FOR CHINA STUDIES; AND NON-RESIDENT FELLOW,
      AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE'S INTERNATIONAL CYBER
                             POLICY CENTRE

        Ms. Hoffman. Chairman Rubio, Chairman Smith, distinguished
    members of the Commission, thank you for the opportunity to
    discuss this topic of critical importance.
        I will begin with four observations about the nature of the
    Chinese Communist Party's crackdown on religion. First, the
    CCP's crimes against scapegoated religious groups are directed
    from the highest level of the Chinese Communist Party. The
    clearest central-level authority directing these actions is the
    United Front Work Department of the CCP Central Committee.
        The United Front Work Department oversees ethnic affairs
    and, by definition of this role, is ultimately responsible for
    the concentration, internment, and reeducation of predominantly
    Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The United Front Work Department
    oversees religious affairs and the effort Xi Jinping describes
    at the 2015 Central United Front Work Department Conference as
    persisting in the direction of sinicization of religion in
    China.
        It is by definition not only responsible for the mass
    internment of Muslims in Xinjiang but also the growing
    persecution of Christians and other religious groups in China.
        Number two, the CCP's actions are linked to a state
    security strategy that prioritizes the protection and expansion
    of the CCP's power, not the protection of China with or without
    the CCP.
        The crackdown on religion is a visible manifestation of a
    much larger effort to defend the CCP's version of the truth.
    Embedded in the explanation for the sinicization of religion is
    the closely related CCP concept of cultural security. Cultural
    security does not protect Chinese civilization. Instead, it
    aims to eliminate ideological threats that political opponents
    can use as vehicles to challenge the Party.
        In reality, the CCP's claims to hold the truth may be more
    strongly contested by everyday social demands that,
    intentionally or not, expose falsehoods in the CCP's narrative.
    It is one likely reason why the Party, in addition to religious
    communities, also sees, for instance, the women's rights
    movement or activities of student labor organizers in China as
    a threat. Beyond mobilization power, it exposes the CCP's false
    narrative that Chinese culture and the Chinese people are
    somehow different in regard to universal human rights.
        Third, the CCP's choice to employ language such as a
    ``people's war against religious extremism'' to describe its
    actions suggests that the CCP is acting on a broader threat
    perception. This threat perception has always been present in
    the CCP's thinking, but the clearest source of the present-day
    crackdown is the Falun Gong sit-in demonstration in 1999 where
    senior members of the Chinese Communist Party, including of the
    People's Armed Police and the PLA, were involved in using the
    same state security resources that were meant to protect the
    Party, to mobilize--and instead of using those resources
    against the group that they are supposed to mobilize against,
    actually being a part of that group.
        The Color Revolutions in eastern and central Asia during
    the early 2000s are another example. Making scapegoats of
    groups like Uyghurs, or Christians, or Tibetans, the CCP points
    to examples like the Color Revolutions and Jasmine Revolutions,
    or even the Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe to justify the
    tightening and expanding of its own power.
        The CCP warns that internal and external hostile forces
    seek to infiltrate political parties, religious and ethnic
    groups and incite division in Chinese society. The anxiety is
    aimed at shoring up loyalty within the Party and convincing
    Chinese society of their need for the Party's paternalism.
        Finally, the root cause of the CCP's actions are not the
    victims of its aggression. The victims are scapegoats used to
    mask the CPC's core weaknesses and to justify the expansion of
    the CCP's unchecked power. The core weaknesses are the unending
    contestation for power within the Party and the Party's
    struggle to maintain control over China's narrative. These
    weaknesses do not make the CCP's failure inevitable. In fact,
    as the CCP's victims in Xinjiang have learned, this combination
    of strength and weakness can be catastrophic.
        So, if you take one point away from my testimony today,
    it's that in order to help the victims in Xinjiang and help
    other persecuted religious groups in China, we need to think
    more broadly than those groups themselves. And that means that
    the Committee needs to think about long-term responses. And I
    don't have those answers for you today. But what I can offer
    you are short-term solutions that can at least help to stall
    the CCP's progress.
        First, a strong response to the CCP's persecution of
    religious groups must address the problem at its core.
    Individuals in Xinjiang, such as Party Secretary Chen Quanguo,
    are directly implementing the CCP's securitization policies,
    and Xinjiang should be immediately sanctioned. Sanctions should
    not, however, end at the local and regional levels of
    government.
        Beyond the actual source of the problem is a broader state
    security strategy that is clearly centrally directed. The U.S.
    Government should start by targeting all officials connected to
    the control of religions. This includes known members of the
    State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Central Committee Xinjiang
    Work Coordination Small Group office, and high-level officials
    in the United Front Work Department. I've listed several
    specific individuals in my written testimony.
        Second, sanctions should also extend to both Chinese and
    international companies that are involved in the construction
    of the Chinese surveillance state, which support the CCP's
    human rights violations. It's not a complete solution, but it
    could stall the CCP's progress and buy time while policymakers
    research more long-term effective policies. And I would just
    add that if anyone is concerned about economic damage to U.S.
    companies, that line would put a monetary price on human life.
        Finally, overseas Chinese communities must be protected.
    Western governments must take steps to protect overseas Chinese
    from all kinds of CCP encroachment that has taken place for
    decades but are now increasingly augmented and drawn to our
    attention.
        Thank you.
        Chairman Rubio. Thank you.
        Dr. Farr.

     STATEMENT OF DR. THOMAS F. FARR, PRESIDENT, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
                               INSTITUTE

        Mr. Farr. Chairman Rubio, Cochairman Smith, Senator King,
    thank you for holding this important hearing.
        Before I begin, let me say that after hearing the testimony
    of the brave Ms. Tursun, no one can doubt the evil of the
    regime we are here to discuss.
        Thank you for inviting me to give my views on the Vatican's
    provisional agreement with that regime. It's noteworthy that
    this Sino-Vatican agreement was concluded amid the most
    systematic and brutal attempt to control Chinese religious
    communities since the Cultural Revolution.
        President Xi Jinping's strategy includes persecution
    intended to alter the fundamental nature of at least three
    religions. One is Islam as practiced by the Uyghurs in Xinjiang
    Province, which we've heard about. Another is Tibetan Buddhism,
    the object for decades of a brutal Chinese strategy of violence
    and cultural destruction.
        The third is Roman Catholicism, whose distinctive teachings
    on human rights and religious freedom for all people pose a
    particular obstacle to the Chinese state, especially to the
    Marxist-Leninist understanding of religion, human nature, and
    human dignity.
        I want to explore the possible effects of the provisional
    agreement on what is a very dangerous moment for Catholics in
    China. The Vatican's primary goal is said to be that of
    unifying Chinese Catholics by approving bishops who are in
    communion with Rome but at the same time recognized by Chinese
    authorities. Other objectives are said to include reducing
    Chinese persecution of Catholics.
        These are worthy goals, but it's difficult to see how the
    agreement will achieve them or help achieve them. Beijing has
    spent decades attempting to manipulate and control the Catholic
    Church, especially through the government-controlled Catholic
    Patriotic Associations.
        Those Catholics who remain loyal to the magisterium of the
    Church, the Holy Father, and fundamental Catholic teachings on
    human dignity and human rights are part of an underground
    Church whose adherents are subject to arrest, torture, and
    disappearance. Unfortunately, although the agreement is only
    two months old, there are already signs that its provisions
    will exacerbate this divide rather than heal it. The text of
    the agreement, as Mr. Smith said, has not been made public, but
    its contours are generally known.
        Chinese Catholic bishops will now be chosen in a process
    that begins with local Communist-controlled Catholic Patriotic
    Associations presenting the names of candidates to dioceses
    where a vacancy for a bishop occurs. Diocesan priests and lay
    Catholics will then vote on the candidates. The winner's name
    will be sent to the government-controlled Council of Bishops
    who will then provide the name to the Vatican. There the
    candidate could either be accepted or rejected by the Pope.
        The Vatican apparently hopes that the Pope's veto power
    will ensure the orthodoxy of the new bishops and facilitate
    reconciliation among China's divided Catholics. Unfortunately,
    it seems to me highly unlikely that a Chinese-controlled
    Council of Bishops will forward to the Vatican the name of a
    bishop candidate who is a faithful Catholic. A man chosen in
    this process is unlikely to be a witness to the truth
    proclaimed by the Church about, for example, the sanctity of
    life, human dignity, or religious freedom for everyone. It
    seems far more likely that the name of a candidate bishop sent
    to Rome will be chosen for his acquiescence to the Communist
    regime if not for his fidelity to its anti-Catholic purposes.
    Of course, the Pope can veto such candidates, but for how long?
    Vacancies in bishoprics do not harm the Chinese Government.
    They harm Chinese Catholics.
        The insidious effects of this bargain may already have
    shown themselves. Two official Chinese bishops attended the
    recent Synod on Youth in Rome, as Mr. Smith mentioned,
    apparently at the invitation of Pope Francis. But these bishops
    were and are Communist apparatchiks. They are both leaders of
    the aforementioned Council of Bishops controlled by the
    government. Unaccountably, the two left Rome before the synod
    was finished. Perhaps, Mr. Smith, they left to preside over the
    reeducation classes for priests you mentioned. Whatever the
    cause of their abrupt departure, it was not the action of
    bishops faithful to the Holy Father or the Catholic Church.
        Unfortunately, the persecution of Chinese Catholics has not
    decreased. If anything, it has intensified since the signing of
    the agreement. Mr. Smith gave a couple of examples. Let me
    mention also that within a month of the signing of the
    agreement, two Marian shrines had been destroyed by Communist
    officials in China.
        Unfortunately, the Sino-Vatican agreement seems to mirror
    the Vatican's failed Cold War diplomacy of the 1960s which was,
    frankly, unrealistic about the evil of Communism. It deeply
    wounded the Church in parts of Eastern Europe. On the other
    hand, the Vatican does have a distinct moral authority to
    counter the root causes of totalitarian evil, just as Pope John
    Paul II did in the 1980s in collaboration with President Reagan
    and Prime Minister Thatcher.
        In my view, the Holy See's role should be now as it was
    then, to press for human rights and especially for religious
    freedom for all religious communities in China and elsewhere.
    Given the current vile assaults on Uyghur Muslims and Tibetan
    Buddhists, the Vatican should be standing with them.
        As for China's Catholics, the Vatican should demand nothing
    less than libertas ecclesiae, the freedom of the Church to
    witness to its adherents, to the public, and to the regime, its
    teachings on human dignity and the common good.
        I sincerely hope I am wrong about the long-term effects of
    the Sino-Vatican agreement, but I don't believe it will help
    the Roman Catholic Church, China's Catholic minority, or the
    cause of religious freedom in China. The Chinese know what they
    are doing. The Vatican's charism in China, on the other hand,
    is not diplomacy but witness to the truth about God and man.
        Thanks for inviting me to address this important topic.
        Chairman Rubio. Thank you all for being here.
        I'm going to now turn it to--we have a vote at 4 o'clock.
    I'll stay--we have a few minutes after 4 to continue--and
    obviously the cochair is here. But I wanted to give Senator
    King a chance at the first question.
        Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        First, I want to thank our witnesses for moving and
    important testimony. It's rare that we have an opportunity to
    hear so directly about something like this that is so abhorrent
    and so at variance. In fact, it's almost impossible for us to
    understand, where freedom of religion is a basic premise of our
    entire society.
        And that leads me to my first question--and maybe Mr. Farr,
    you could tackle this. Why are they doing this? Why would a
    country that has a great culture, and history, and tradition,
    and strength, and a lot of entrepreneurship and--why are they
    being so cruel to relatively small groups that would appear at
    least to be a little--not a major threat to the endurance of
    their regime? Why are they going out of their way to do
    something which is bound to bring down upon them the opprobrium
    of the world?
        Mr. Farr. It's a good question, Senator, and a big
    question.
        Let me give you what I think--to cut to the chase--is the
    answer. Religion threatens Communism. Communism is a
    totalitarian understanding of the world and of what a human
    being is. Most religions posit an authority greater than the
    state. This constitutes a threat to the state, which is one
    reason we have the guarantee of religious free exercise in the
    First Amendment to our Constitution. Our Founders wanted to
    limit the power of the state by protecting the right of people
    to have a fidelity to something that's more important than
    government. Communism is precisely the opposite of this.
        So I think religion by its nature threatens them,
    particularly those religions that have deep theological reasons
    for fidelity to an authority greater than the state. The
    Catholic Church is distinguished by its adherence not only to
    an authority beyond the state, but to the right of everybody,
    every citizen in a state, to have religious freedom. That view
    constitutes a threat to the regime. I think that is the answer
    to your question, although it is more complicated than that.
    But I think that is the core answer.
        Senator King. It just seems that it is a disproportionate
    response to what is a relatively small threat given the numbers
    of people that----
        Mr. Farr. If I might just add, sir, the ``threat'' is
    growing because people are converting to religion in China.
    There is one estimate, speaking here about Christians, that
    within 20 years, China will have more Christians than any other
    country in the world. This scares the dickens out of the
    Chinese.
        Senator King. Ms. Tursun, let me ask you a variation of the
    same question. Why do you think you were treated so abominably?
    What threat did you present to the Government of China?
        Ms. Tursun. In China, many are facing religious
    persecution; it is not only just me. I am just one very simple
    representative of many.
        Senator King. But why, is my question.
        Ms. Tursun. Just because we are the owners of that land.
    The land belongs to us.
        Senator King. Let me ask another question. Ms. Hoffman, you
    talked about some kind of response. Is the United States
    responding in any concrete way today to this gross violation of
    human rights? Are there sanctions in place? Are there high-
    level discussions, negotiations--anything? Is there--are we
    doing anything about this is my question.
        Ms. Hoffman. I think--just to first add to your first
    question in order to answer that question. The root causes of
    what the CCP is doing in Xinjiang and elsewhere are the Party's
    weaknesses. It is the contestation for power within the Party
    that's unending. It is the Party's fear of loss of narrative
    control. And so it scapegoats groups like the Uyghurs to
    justify shoring up loyalty within the Party as well as to
    justify to the people their need for the Party's control.
        So I think that while it is important that the U.S.
    Government has certainly called attention to the issue in
    Xinjiang, I think that the U.S. Government needs to be thinking
    longer-term and broader-term.
        Senator King. Have we imposed any Magnitsky Act sanctions
    or anything of that nature?
        Ms. Hoffman. I believe one. Yes, one. But I think that
    sanctions need to go to the highest levels of the Chinese
    Communist Party. But that's only a starting point. Solving the
    problem is thinking long-term and I don't know that the U.S.
    Government is doing that yet.
        Senator King. A 19th century philosopher said, ``Power
    corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'' And we may
    be seeing that playing out before our eyes when there are no
    essential checks and balances. This is, unfortunately, a part
    of human nature.
        Thank you all for your testimony, and I appreciate your
    being here today.
        Chairman Rubio. Thank you, Senator King.
        I wanted to--first of all, Ms. Tursun, I wanted to thank
    you for coming. I know you are--I could see how difficult the
    testimony was for you.
        Ms. Tursun. Thank you.
        Chairman Rubio. And I want others who are here--I can see
    people holding up pictures and articles about your loved ones
    who are unaccounted for. And I want you to know we see that and
    we--if we were to--just the sheer volume, the number of cases
    and individuals that have gone through this is so massive that
    it would take forever to document it. But none of them are
    forgotten. The reason why we spend--this is I believe our
    fourth hearing, with other activity that we have done and--but
    today you've been their voice, Ms. Tursun, and I wanted to
    thank you for that.
        I have three questions that I hope you can address. The
    first is you testified briefly about fear--that even here in
    the United States you are being watched, harassed and followed.
    That is disturbing to us that someone living in this country,
    the Chinese Government could try to intimidate, whether it be
    through phone calls or other activity that you described in
    your written testimony.
        The first is, we obviously will talk to you after this to
    ensure that appropriate law enforcement authorities are aware
    of this to ensure that nothing--that you will be safe in this
    country and that nothing happens. And anyone knows that if
    anything were to ever happen, we would know who did it; we
    think that is the strongest form of protection. You deserve
    that.
        But I wanted--if you could briefly describe--have you had
    any incidents recently where you feel, not just the phone call,
    but individuals have followed you or you felt suspicious that
    you have been in any way the target of harassment potentially
    by those working on behalf of the Chinese Government?
        Ms. Tursun. Since I came to America, other than that kind
    of pressure that I have received from my family members like my
    father and my brother's text messages and also two suspicious
    phone calls, about two weeks ago in one of the markets in
    Virginia, I was catching an Uber and traveling and some person
    who was wearing black glasses, and also a black hat, came up to
    the car and was trying to talk to me through the windows of the
    car. And the car that dropped him off drove off in a different
    direction. And I was scared when he tried to talk to me through
    the window. And then the driver asked me, Do you know him? I
    said, No, I do not know. But I see he is Chinese. I understand.
        And I let the driver go fast, help me to run away and we
    went the other way and this driver brought me to my house. But
    I am always worried all the time. I do not feel I am safe here.
        The Translator. For example, Ms. Tursun is just thinking
    about this article she brought--it's from the Global Times--
    they mentioned her by name in that article, saying that what
    she said in the interview she had given to Radio Free Asia--
    that everything she said was a lie.
        And that reporter says that the Global Times recently
    reported from one of the reeducation camps of Xinjiang that the
    situation--the reporter described it completely different and
    says that what Tursun portrayed or described about the camps is
    even--that that kind of situation doesn't exist in Chinese
    prisons.
        So this is another threat that she felt directly from the
    Chinese Government which specifically mentions her name in the
    article.
        Chairman Rubio. The second question I have is, in your time
    in camp, were you ever forced to perform work or labor, any
    forced labor?
        Ms. Tursun. No, they don't allow us to go out from the
    room. They just lock us in the room. They don't allow us to be
    out.
        Chairman Rubio. So in her detainment, she was not even
    allowed to go out and even--they were basically detained in a
    sort of confinement with a handful of other people, some of
    whom died?
        Ms. Tursun. It is a cell. We have been locked up with many
    other people and we--if we recite, read something, we do it
    here. If we go to the bathroom, the toilet, we do it in the
    same place. If we stay, we just stay together. I mean if people
    die, they die among us. And I have witnessed nine people die in
    front of me.
        Chairman Rubio. There have been reports in the press about
    the forced collection of DNA from people throughout China, but
    particularly in the Xinjiang Region, some of it under the guise
    of a physical exam, others forced to provide blood samples and
    so forth as part of getting passports.
        In your time there, whether it was getting the passport--
    are you aware of these forced efforts to make people undergo
    physical exams, give blood samples and other--was that
    something you were subjected to either in confinement or when
    you applied with the authorities on entry or on exit?
        Ms. Tursun. Yes, I have witnessed that kind of practice,
    taking the blood sample and doing DNA tests. Before 2015, when
    you applied for a passport, that was one of the requirements,
    that you do have to have a blood test. And after 2015, doing
    blood tests and DNA tests, everything became compulsory. That
    compulsory practice--they applied it to from a one-month-old
    baby up until whatever age. So everybody was required to do
    blood tests as well as DNA sampling.
        Chairman Rubio. And you may or may not have any reason to
    know this, but the authorities who have compelled the turning
    over of DNA of everyone, a few months ago, put out a contract
    for DNA sequencers to be able to account for all of this and
    creating this massive database.
        And I regret to--it is a great shame that one of the
    companies who has provided those DNA sequencers and frankly
    takes great pride in the work they do, is an American company,
    Thermo Fisher Scientific, who just recently appeared in an
    article discussing what a great leader Xi Jinping is, which I
    imagine from their perspective is driven by the money they are
    making in that marketplace.
        And it gets to the broader issue of calling out these
    American companies who are participating in assisting them in
    the compulsory collection of DNA for purposes of collecting
    this massive database against the consent, or absent the
    consent, or even the knowledge of the people it is being
    collected from.
        And I apologize because I do have a vote, and the
    cochairman is here and is going to handle--he's got questions.
        I only wanted, Drs. Hoffman and Farr, I wanted to just
    basically say that it seems to me that at the core of all this
    is an obsessive desire on the part of the Chinese Government--
    which is not new--to create a sort of unified national identity
    which must be stripped of anything that competes with it:
    ethnicity, religion, ethnic cultural tradition. There can be
    nothing that competes with it.
        And they appear, as they have been in the past, to be
    extremely ruthless in their willingness to stamp that out at
    any cost, whether it's in Tibet, or Xinjiang, or any other part
    of their country. And I would add to that, that in addition to
    that willingness to stamp out anything that competes with the
    Party for people's loyalties or this national identity, that
    when they use terms like ``extremism'' and they use terms like
    ``dangerous,'' what they mean by those terms is not violence or
    advocacy of violence. What they mean by ``extremist'' is you
    don't agree with them, or you have loyalties to God or
    loyalties to a culture and identity that is not the one they
    want you to have. Is that an accurate assessment of what their
    goal is? Is that an accurate assessment of how they define
    ``extremism'' and ``dangerous''?
        Ms. Hoffman. Fairly accurate--the Chinese Communist Party,
    its concept of what we would call national security, I think is
    better translated as Party state security, and Party state
    security is fundamentally about protecting the Chinese
    Communist Party. And that means that there are dimensions that
    are dealing with the internal struggle for power within the
    Party and then dealing with everything outside of the Party,
    controlling the narrative, controlling the ideological space to
    ensure that the Chinese Communist Party can stay in power.
        And that means that these state security methods extend far
    beyond China's borders. And that's why you see the harassment
    of overseas Chinese, things like the social credit system, to
    try to essentially ensure that people can manage themselves to
    adhere to the Party's will.
        It's a long-term process that's not new under Xi Jinping.
    It's something that the Party has been doing forever. The
    changes at the beginning of the Reform Era were that the
    Chinese Communist Party can no longer rely on ideological
    mobilization alone. And then it had to come up with new ways
    for enabling Mao's mass line, essentially the idea that the
    Party shapes and manages how people behave. So it's using
    things like the surveillance state to attach political control
    to economic and social development.
        I hope that answers your question.
        Mr. Farr. I think you're exactly right, Senator. I think
    the Chinese are no different than the other totalitarian
    regimes of the 20th century--Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. They want
    to label as extreme anything that challenges them.
        And just two things that I would cite as evidence--one is
    bringing the State Administration for Religious Affairs, which
    has been there in one guise or another for a long time, closer
    to the Politburo by placing it officially under the United
    Front Work Department. But also the fact that parents can be
    given criminal sanctions if they allow their children to be
    exposed to religious education.
        That just tells you everything you need to know. They are
    afraid that their citizens are going to be infected with the
    virus of religion. So this is why Mao tried to destroy it. His
    successors know they can't destroy it, but they are going to
    try to manage and control, and I think Xi is simply the
    harshest of all the post-Mao presidents of China in doing this.
        Cochairman Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Let me, Ms. Tursun, if I could just ask you first. Again,
    in reading your testimony--it is very compelling. It shows
    tremendous courage. And again, all of us on this commission are
    deeply grateful that you have decided to come here and to bear
    witness so courageously.
        You did talk about 68 women in that small cell block, 430
    square feet. You mentioned that there were people there who had
    not taken a shower for a year, suggesting that they were in
    that terrible cell block for a year or more.
        You also spoke about the torture. And you did mention that
    nine women had died while you were there during those three
    months. And I am wondering if you could explain to us how those
    women died. Was it sickness? Was it depression? Was it
    beatings? And the torture, what was it that they were
    interrogating you about when they tortured you?
        And again, to underscore the barbarity of the Chinese
    dictatorship--in this case how they have grossly mistreated
    Uyghur Muslims--could you to some extent explain that torture?
    You talked about the tiger chair. In this Commission we've had
    hearings in the past where that hideous chair has been
    described in terrible detail. Were other women subjected to
    that same mistreatment? If you could . . .?
        Ms. Tursun. Thank you.
        First of all, I would like to tell you about 62-year-old
    Gulnisa. When I was detained in that cell, she had been held in
    that room for one year. That woman had high blood pressure as
    well as problems with her digestive system. She used to take
    blood pressure medicine when she wasn't detained, before. But
    since she was detained, she didn't take her medicine. Her whole
    body was swollen, and also she had some kind of red spots on
    her body. Many of us did not come close to her because we
    thought that we might catch her sickness. She wasn't able to
    stand sometimes but still was able to manage by sitting.
        During the three months that I stayed with her in that
    cell, she wasn't treated at all. Nobody took her to see a
    doctor or for treatment. And we raised the issue and we
    demanded that if it's possible for her to see a doctor, but
    they did not listen to us.
        One day before she passed away, the cell officials really
    kind of abused her, used very bad language to abuse her, and
    she was crying from that abuse. And she cried and that's how
    she passed away next day.
        And some of the women, they have died because of torture.
    For example, in 2017 they shaved my hair. And also they shaved
    my hair as well as electrocuted me. And they beat me. That's
    why I do not really hear properly from my right ear. I can't
    hear.
        And also sometimes the cell officers beat women.
    Especially, they beat on the stomach of the women and some
    women would die because of the bleeding. And I even heard that
    they use dogs to beat, and use dogs to torture as well. I heard
    it, but I did not witness that.
        Cochairman Smith. While you are speaking, are the torturers
    men, or women, or both? And is there sexual abuse?
        Ms. Tursun. All is men. All is men--the men torture women.
    Not women. Man tortures woman. I didn't witness sexual abuse,
    but I witnessed torture. But another abusive thing is they
    asked us to strip, take off all our clothes. They pass naked.
    The men do that. And also they beat you. When you are
    unconscious, they pour water over you and then make you come
    back again. And then they beat. All done by men. And they give
    a kind of medicine, and when you take that medicine, you feel
    like you are hallucinating. You don't feel yourself. And after
    that, after you take that medicine and they beat you, you don't
    feel that--you don't feel hurt or you don't feel anything.
        Cochairman Smith. Do they insult the prophet Muhammad and
    your faith?
        Ms. Tursun. Yes, because last time they beat me so hard,
    and then I tell him, please kill me and then God will help you.
    Please kill me. So he said, Where is your God? Tell him come
    here. Listen to me. They speak like this.
        Cochairman Smith. Right.
        I have some additional questions for you and for the other
    witnesses, but Senator Daines does have an appointment that he
    has to be at. So I would like to yield such time as he may----
        Senator Daines. Thank you, Chairman Smith, as well as
    Chairman Rubio. Thanks for holding this hearing.
        I want to thank the witnesses for coming today. I want to
    thank Ms. Tursun for her bravery, her courage for being here
    today, especially.
        I spent more than half a decade in China working in the
    private sector back in the 1990s. In fact, our two youngest
    children were born in Hong Kong. I've led Congressional
    Delegation visits to China the last three years. I have
    traveled to places beyond the regular places you go. Of course,
    we visit Beijing and places like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou.
    But also we have gone to some of the places somewhat farther
    away, to Urumqi where we saw the prominent Uyghur Muslim
    population, to Tibet where we saw their Buddhist population and
    the monks, to Dandong on the North Korean border.
        So we've seen the Muslim people there in China. We've seen
    the Buddhist monks in China. We've seen the Christians there in
    China. And it has allowed me to see firsthand some of the human
    rights abuses, the censorship and the challenges the Chinese
    people face, as well as the efforts that are being made to
    extend influence beyond the borders of China.
        As your testimonies--this Commission, the State Department,
    Human Rights Report and numerous others indicate, the state of
    religious freedom in much of China is in dire straits. It is
    critically important that we as a nation founded on freedom,
    the rule of law, the basic foundation rights of religious
    liberty, that we bring our influence to bear to advance human
    rights in China and around the world.
        Dr. Hoffman, I have a question for you. Are there
    particular tools or technologies that might be helpful for the
    U.S. Government or NGOs to support, to assist the persecuted
    populations in places like Xinjiang Province or elsewhere in
    China?
        Ms. Hoffman. On the technologies question, I haven't even
    thought about it from that perspective. So I'll have to maybe
    add that to my written testimony later and think about the
    answer to that.
        But I think the number one thing is to really think about
    the problem at its source. Religious persecution is a symptom.
    It's not the cause. The cause is the Chinese Communist Party.
    And I'm not quite sure that--and I said this in my testimony
    and I'll just repeat it--I am not quite sure that we're
    thinking long-term enough. And what happens the day that maybe
    the Chinese Communist Party isn't in power. We aren't prepared
    for that day.
        And I think in order to help the Chinese people we need to
    think about those kinds of questions. But it's a hard question
    to answer, so I'm not sure that I can give you a good answer
    today. But I think that there needs to be some kind of
    taskforce to think about these questions.
        And in terms of protection of certain groups, I'd like to
    point out--one thing I have come across in my research is
    something like the social credit system, for instance, how that
    extends overseas. That's not new. You have heard it in the
    testimonies today, but it is also something that the CCP has
    done for decades--that they extend their control beyond China's
    borders going back to--I know particular stories going back to
    the 1950s and 1960s.
        I've heard stories from people which I will not repeat
    today because they are confidential, but stories where people
    are harassed. They've got citizenship in a democratic country,
    but they still have family back in China or they have family in
    a democratic country without citizenship and those members are
    harassed. And there are things that we can be doing to protect
    them.
        There are Chinese Embassy officials going into businesses
    and telling people to install surveillance technology and then
    give them that information, to feed that back to them, the
    embassy. And it's not that the U.S. Government can help
    everybody; we need to know that the problems exist in the first
    place, but we need to create the conditions to allow people to
    report and feel comfortable reporting these problems.
        And going back to, I think I started to mention the social
    credit system, one thing I have come across is that the
    Ministry of Public Security is developing unified social credit
    codes for overseas Chinese as well. And that means the existing
    methods for control, what's been described--the harassment of
    overseas Chinese, the existing methods of control--will just be
    augmented for a system like this.
        So we need to be thinking about how to, for instance,
    sanction tech companies that are involved in the development of
    the surveillance state, including things like smart cities,
    because a smart city in China isn't what a smart city is in the
    West. The same technologies that are used to, say, address
    problems like traffic management or food and health safety are
    the same technologies that are used to exert the Party's
    control. And so I think part of the problem is that dual use
    has a new meaning and we really need to think about those
    problems, and in the longer term, solutions.
        Senator Daines. So Dr. Hoffman, we think about the
    influences extended beyond the borders to Chinese who are here
    in the United States, Uyghurs here in the U.S. What are you
    seeing in terms of that long reach, whether through technology
    or other means here, to gather intelligence, surveillance
    capabilities, on those who might be living abroad?
        Ms. Hoffman. Again, that's not a new technique. I know of a
    story of somebody in India in the 1960s who was harassed and
    beaten up so severely that they were permanently crippled, and
    I think partly blinded for the rest of their life, because they
    were running a Chinese language newspaper that the CCP had
    problems with. And I know of cases, like I mentioned, of
    students overseas who have written on their WeChat, ``Xi
    Jinping is not my president'' and have had embassy visits
    either to them, or local officials to their families back home.
        But it's not just those things. You know, that's a
    relatively small number of cases. Sometimes it's just something
    as simple as overseas student groups knowing that the CCP is
    present.
        A lot of my research focuses on this concept called social
    management. And social management is a combination of a
    cooperative and coercive control which means that it's not just
    the CCP using coercive tactics. It's also the CCP providing
    services. So something like a Chinese Student and Scholar
    Association is mostly a service for students. But it's also the
    CCP just quietly sitting there and saying, Hi, we are present,
    and every once in a while, they make that presence more known.
    But for the most part, it is just the CCP kind of expending or
    just allowing overseas Chinese to know that the same rules
    apply to them abroad as they do at home.
        Senator Daines. Thank you, Dr. Hoffman.
        I wanted to finish up my questions with Ms. Tursun. Could
    you provide any insight into how the Han residents of Xinjiang
    regard the treatment of the Uyghur population?
        Ms. Tursun. They do not respect us like they even respect
    an animal. We don't receive any respect from them. They can
    speak bad to us. We cannot. They can beat us. We cannot. The
    treatment is very different because like, for example, I can
    say that if we are lining up for getting something, if 10
    Uyghurs are standing in line in front, if one Chinese comes,
    the service person will serve the one Chinese who came last
    first. The 10 Uyghurs will be left out.
        For example from my house, I go out from my house. I go to
    the supermarket normal to me--about two or three miles away. In
    those three miles, the Chinese police must check me three or
    four times.
        Senator Daines. So if it were a non-Uyghur--right, if it is
    a Han Chinese----
        The Translator. For Han Chinese, they don't do that. They
    are not required to go through the checks. They are free.
        Ms. Tursun. We always go through the scan, the scanning
    system. Always, that's the requirement for the Uyghurs, but not
    for the Chinese.
        Senator Daines. Because of your faith and ethnicity?
        Ms. Tursun. It's not only Uyghurs. Because my Chinese ID
    says Xinjiang/Turkestan. Because I am from East Turkestan. We
    have Uyghurs, Kazakhs, we have many groups--but for Chinese,
    no. No need to check. Just because we are Uyghur, that's why we
    face this discrimination. For Chinese, there is no such thing.
    Just because we are Uyghur and from East Turkestan. That's why.
        Senator Daines. Thank you.
        Ms. Tursun. Thank you so much.
        Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Cochairman Smith. Thank you, Senator.
        I'll start with Dr. Farr on this question. As you know, a
    little over two years ago the Frank Wolf International
    Religious Freedom Act was signed into law and it provided a
    whole-of-government approach; it built on some of the early
    gains that were made by the original law authored by Frank
    Wolf. But some of the things we were not able to get into that
    law and--lessons learned over the years--and you as head of
    that office did a remarkable job--and I want that clearly
    stated on the record--for the IRFA office, International
    Religious Freedom office.
        But I'm wondering two years later--Ambassador Sam Brownback
    is obviously walking point as Ambassador for Religious Freedom.
    Secretary Pompeo is, I think, all-in when it comes to religious
    freedom--Vice President Pence and of course the President--but
    it always seems that China does not get the kind of focused
    scrutiny and call-out that it ought to. And certainly it does
    not get the linkage to policies. Even the IRFA sanctions--
    because they are a CPC country since the law was enacted--
    they're double-headed with the Tiananmen Square sanctions.
        And it seems to me there needs to be a significant breakout
    of penalty imposed upon--not just Magnitsky Act penalties, but
    other penalties. I think, Dr. Hoffman, you alluded to, more
    needs to be done on the Chinese Government. And I would say
    this for the record, and I've done it in this Commission
    before--I believe on human rights we were sold out by President
    Clinton.
        It's not a partisan dig, but he de-linked most-favored-
    nation status from human rights, of which human religious
    freedom was an integral part. He did it on May 26th of 1994. I
    remember it. It was a Friday afternoon. Most Members of
    Congress had left. A couple of people did instantaneous press
    conferences, including Nancy Pelosi and me, harshly criticizing
    that de-linkage--and the Chinese Government ever since has felt
    that human rights in general, religious freedom in particular,
    are ancillary issues and not at the core of our policy.
        So my first question would be, to you, is there any
    evidence that the new law, and the new emphasis, the new focus,
    is having an impact? Second, if I could--and this would be to
    maybe Dr. Hoffman and maybe to you as well--obviously this
    brutal, genocidal crackdown on the Uyghurs should rise to the
    level of the United Nations as never before. Another genocide,
    another place people being targeted in whole or in part--this
    seems as if it is in whole--to try to change, to replace, even
    the celebrations that occur are stopped. The melodies that are
    sung are barred and of course, people like our distinguished
    witness suffer brutal, brutal torture as do other women and men
    and children.
        What have the Muslim-majority countries done, including the
    OIC and others, to say, Stop this, China? It seems as if
    Beijing gets away literally with murder and, in this case,
    genocide.
        What are the other Muslim countries doing? There is a very
    strong network. They are very effective and very domineering in
    many ways at the United Nations. Have they raised their voices
    in unison, or as individuals? Are there countries that rise to
    the fore, Muslim-dominant countries that have spoken to the
    Chinese abuse of the Uyghurs?
        You, in your comments, make a very good, Ms. Tursun, a
    very, very strong statement that you hope the United States
    will lead the world community to end China's gross violations
    of universally recognized human rights, pressure China to close
    these concentration camps, and release millions of innocent
    Uyghurs and other minorities. You point out--I still remember
    the words of the Chinese authorities when you asked what your
    crime was. They said that you being a Uyghur is a crime. You
    say please take action against the Chinese officials
    responsible for my torture and the death of my little boy and
    the deaths of so many innocent Uyghurs in the camps. And you go
    on.
        Obviously, this weekend our President, President Trump,
    will be meeting with Xi Jinping face-to-face. If he were
    sitting right here, what would you say to him, all of you, as
    to what he should do? I get concerned with all presidents, that
    they raise it, but not in the way that gets results. It has to
    be linked to policy. It has to be very public, I believe,
    because private diplomacy certainly has not had any impact
    here. So what would you say to President Trump if he were here?
        Dr. Farr, you spoke of the whole issue of the Vatican. And
    I couldn't agree with you more that I think it was a colossal--
    I believe it's a colossal blunder. And I think Cardinal Zen in
    his op-ed in the New York Times--``The Pope Does Not Understand
    China,''--that was a very incisive commentary about the
    malevolence of China.
        You know it was Solzhenitsyn in his book ``The Gulag
    Archipelago''--and I remember reading it back in the early
    1980s, 1981, when the Soviet Union was very much in focus for
    its persecution of faith. And he said what people in the West
    don't understand is that it's not a disbelief in God. It is a
    hatred of God. It is militant atheism. And as you all have
    pointed out, it's also a threat to their power structure. So if
    you could speak to Cardinal Zen. I think he is a courageous
    man. He understands exactly as did Pope John Paul II what
    Communism is all about. It is not to be flattered or enabled
    and I do think--and I personally have met with the head of the
    Three-Self Movement and remember having a very discouraging
    conversation with her, the Protestant Communist front group,
    when she was telling me how important it was to implement the
    one-child-per-couple policy with its heavy reliance on forced
    abortion, which is a crime against humanity and a crime of
    gender against women.
        And I remember meeting with Joseph Kung, Cardinal Kung's
    nephew in Beijing, along with Bishop Fu, who is the head of the
    Patriotic Association. And Joseph Kung took him to the
    cleaners--to use an American expression--in his lack of
    understanding of Catholic dogma of the Bible. And it was like,
    Here's the man that is running the Church for the Communist
    Party, and now unfortunately there is a de facto, de jure
    collaboration with the Vatican for people just like him who are
    enabling repression and religious persecution.
        So on those few questions, if you could? Whoever would like
    to start first. Dr. Hoffman?
        Ms. Hoffman. On the question about what countries or
    other----
        Cochairman Smith. The Muslim countries, especially.
        Ms. Hoffman. The Muslim in particular--I think the best
    answer I can give to your question based on my research is that
    what we are seeing play out right now shouldn't be entirely
    surprising. The Chinese Communist Party's perception of
    threat--if you really read Party documents, it's written in the
    People's Daily, for instance going back--my research covers all
    the way to the 1940s, but even if you just go back to 1989 and
    Tiananmen, one of the big things that the Party is saying after
    that, for instance, is that, It's a good thing that the PLA
    stepped up this time and supported the Party, but what about
    next time?
        If you read, for instance, the PLA Daily in the years
    following the protests, one of the biggest threat perceptions
    the Party perceives is that actually the Party can't manage
    itself. And that carries over into 1999 with the Falun Gong
    Movement because again, many senior members of the Party are
    involved in that, senior members of the PLA, of the PAP, and
    reportedly the Ministry of State Security as well, using
    resources from the nascent surveillance state to coordinate and
    organize the sit-in protest.
        They're the same people who are supposed to defend the
    Party, and their job is to defend the Party, not the state, in
    a time of crisis. And then you have the CCP talking about
    threat perceptions in relation to the Color Revolutions in the
    early 2000s. And you can see that this threat perception was
    something that the CCP was willing to act on at any cost to
    preserve its power. And preserving its power doesn't mean that
    it's just protecting its power, it means that it's expanding
    its power. And that expands into places like trying to change
    the way that we talk about concepts like sovereignty or human
    rights.
        I was in China in August and in one of my meetings I said
    to somebody--I was with an American delegation--and the word
    sovereignty kept coming up, and I said to the person across the
    table from me, I'm pretty sure that we have different
    definitions of sovereignty. It's a difficult term to define
    anyway. But how would you define sovereignty? And he explained
    to me that sovereignty starts with political security and
    political security is the Party security and that if a person
    or a company says something like, Taiwan is not a part of
    China, for instance--this is the example that this person
    used--then they're violating our sovereignty.
        And so over time, the CCP tries to address its threat
    perceptions not only by what it's doing in Xinjiang but also
    changing the way that we're willing to talk about China in
    order to support the Party's project to stay in power. And so
    it's been acting on these long-term threat perceptions forever.
    And for a long time, these are dismissed. The threat
    perceptions are seen as somewhat--the Party is paranoid. And
    they are, but that matters.
        And so I think it's not a direct answer to your question,
    but it's the best answer I can give--that the writing's been on
    the wall for a very long time. We're just now seeing the worst
    consequences of the Party being exactly what it is.
        Cochairman Smith. That was a great insight.
        If you could, any countries that come to mind, Saudi
    Arabia, Iran, that might be speaking out against what's
    happening to co-religionists, other Muslims?
        Ms. Hoffman. To be honest----
        Cochairman Smith. Malaysia, the largest----
        Ms. Hoffman. This isn't something that I've paid particular
    attention to, so I don't want to give a bad answer to your
    question on the record.
        Cochairman Smith. Dr. Farr?
        Mr. Farr. You asked a bunch of good questions, Mr. Smith.
    I'm going to pick two, if I could.
        One is, what would I have the President say to Mr. Xi
    Jinping. I would have the President say to him, Stop
    persecuting your own people. It's bad for China's international
    reputation, and it's bad for China's economy. I think this is
    something this President, a point he could make that would be
    very, very powerful coming from him. And it also happens to be
    true. This is something that I wish our own religious freedom
    diplomacy would be involved in, and that is making the argument
    that religious freedom is good for the economy--or the reverse;
    i.e., that the absence of religious freedom harms the economy.
    For a Communist system you don't have to have full religious
    freedom. Just back off. Stop your crackdowns.
        This is not rocket science--although people don't seem to
    get it. Where you are brutalizing people, the economy is not
    going to grow. And whether it's in Xinjiang Province, or Tibet,
    or throughout China, if you can learn to allow people to be
    religious--Chinese citizens, these are not foreigners--they
    will be more economically productive.
        There's plenty of evidence. We can present the evidence,
    but I think it's also common sense. And coming from President
    Trump, I think this would be very, very powerful.
        And by the way, let's incorporate this into our
    International Religious Freedom policy with China. This is
    something I believe Ambassador Brownback believes and
    understands. Let's see it in China.
        The second question I would like to answer is--you didn't
    quite ask it this way, but I would say to the Vatican, If
    you're going to keep this agreement, this provisional
    agreement, demand more from the Chinese. For example, propose a
    way for underground bishops to be involved in the nomination
    process that goes to Rome. Rome should demand this.
        Second, provide a written guarantee in this agreement that
    you will criminalize any Chinese official, you will prosecute
    any Chinese official or Chinese citizen who effaces or destroys
    Catholic or other religious monuments, Marian shrines, or any
    other kind of shrine, church, synagogue, or temple--and here I
    would get into the problem of the Uyghur Muslims and the
    Tibetan Buddhists. Demand this for them as well. This is a very
    Catholic thing to do.
        The Catholic Church stands for the religious freedom of all
    Chinese religious groups and citizens. Incorporate this into
    this provisional agreement. Now, the Holy Father has spoken out
    on the persecution of non-Christians and non-Catholics. Why not
    put this into this agreement? Demand something other than this
    Esau's bargain that they seem to have gotten for a procedure
    which leads nowhere but the Pope vetoing bishop candidates put
    forward by Beijing. If he vetoes candidates, then the
    bishoprics simply stay vacant. The Chinese Communists don't
    care, but the Chinese Catholics do. A major risk is that one of
    the Communist apparatchiks nominated as bishop ultimately is
    accepted by the Vatican. I think the Vatican can do much better
    and they have the moral authority to do that.
        Cochairman Smith. What would you say to President Trump if
    he were here?
        Ms. Tursun. If President Trump were here right now with us,
    first, I would say, Please help us to close down all the
    concentration, reeducation camps and release all innocent
    Uyghurs.
        And also, if America as well as other Western countries
    could help the Uyghurs like myself who need help, who luckily
    came out from the country but are unable to go back. And there
    are many helpless Uyghurs like me who need the help of the
    United States and other countries.
        And then number three, I hope to tell him, please, please,
    America, if you can, help us. Turkestan is independent. Get
    China out from our country. Help my father and mother. Thank
    you.
        Cochairman Smith. Thank you. Dr. Hoffman, maybe you could
    answer. Has the United Nations, particularly the Human Rights
    Council, been effective in raising the issue of the Muslim
    Uyghurs in China?
        Ms. Hoffman. Although the issue's come up, I don't think it
    is effective enough. I don't think----
        Cochairman Smith. It certainly has not been a focus.
        Ms. Hoffman. No, I think the problem is that it seems
    that--well, you said it yourself. I think it seems that China
    gets a free pass so often. And I think that this issue
    should've never escalated to this point because, as I said
    before, this is something that we've seen happening.
        I was looking back when I was preparing for this testimony,
    reading some documents from this Committee back in 2005, where
    you could see the direction that things were headed in
    Xinjiang. So I don't think--no, I don't think that the UN, or
    the United States, or any government has done enough. But
    hearings like this help. And one thing I would add is that if
    the camps were closed tomorrow, that would obviously be a
    positive step, but that's not solving the problem because the
    problem is the Chinese Communist Party.
        Cochairman Smith. Okay.
        Yes, Dr. Farr.
        Mr. Farr. I was just going to say that the Special Rep, UN
    Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom, Ahmed Shaheed, is
    really quite good. And I have not looked. I should have. I
    would hope that he is speaking out against this and has
    attempted to visit China to do a report on what is happening to
    the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province. If he hasn't, then perhaps
    the Commission might write him a letter and suggest he do it.
        Cochairman Smith. Thank you.
        I would just, unless you have anything else you'd like to
    add, would conclude with just a couple of points.
        One--Rebiya Kadeer is here again with us today. And I
    remember when she gained her own freedom. She was warned, but
    she spoke out boldly and courageously on behalf of Uyghur
    Muslims and all people who are captive and harshly treated. I
    have always had a great admiration for her. And in keeping with
    this horrific crackdown by Xi Jinping, 40 members of her family
    now are either disappeared or incarcerated by China. There are
    six journalists with Radio Free Asia, Uyghur Division. They too
    have had their families rounded up and incarcerated or
    disappeared. All the more reason why this Government, and our
    President, and this Commission, and every one of us needs to
    quadruple our efforts to stop this horrific crackdown that has
    been initiated by Xi Jinping, in this case under the false
    guise of terrorism and other pretexts.
        I remember when 9/11 occurred. Obviously, there were many
    people of my own district who were killed in the Twin Towers
    and I worked on that issue with a lot of issues that followed
    with the families, including the Jersey Girls, four women who
    lost their husbands. They call themselves that. They were
    probably the main reason why we got the 9/11 Commission, but
    that said, as that was happening, the Chinese Government--and I
    immediately spoke to the Bush administration and people in it
    and said--the Chinese Government is using 9/11 as a way of
    focusing on the Uyghurs.
        Right away they were in solidarity with us, which was a
    false solidarity about their concern, but they were using it as
    a pretext to crack down on Muslims. So it's here we go again,
    and now it's on steroids under the dictatorship of Xi Jinping.
        But to Rebiya Kadeer, and all of those who are suffering so
    horribly, I just want to say how our hearts and our prayers are
    with you. But we have to add to that our effective actions and
    hopefully, under Senator Marco Rubio, who has been a great
    chairman of this Commission for the last two years--it has been
    my honor to serve as his cochairman.
        Paul Protic, who has been our deputy chief of staff and
    when I was chair, chief of staff, I want to thank him for his
    tremendous leadership as well.
        This Commission is needed now more than ever, as is the
    Government's response. And so my hope is that this will be a
    further catalyst to effective action.
        Again, I want to thank our distinguished witnesses. You
    have been remarkable, and you provide us with a great road map
    for the future.
        The record will remain open for 48 hours to receive any
    additional information, comments by members, and any additional
    material our distinguished witnesses would like to add.
        The hearing is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 4:56 p.m. the hearing was concluded.]

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                                A P P E N D I X

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                              Prepared Statements

                                  ----------

                     Prepared Statement of Mihrigul Tursun

        Chairman Rubio, Cochairman Smith, and members of the Commission, I
    would like to thank the United States Government and the American
    people for saving my life and bringing me to the United States of
    America, the land of the free.
        Over the last three years, I was taken to Chinese government
    detention centers three times. I spent 10 months in the camps in total,
    and experienced physical and psychological torture at the hands of
    government officials.
        Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify about my
    personal experience in China's so-called ``vocational schools'' or
    ``re-education centers.''
        My name is Mihrigul Tursun and I am 29 years old. I am of Uyghur
    ethnicity and I was born in Cherchen County in the southern region of
    East Turkestan, the Uyghur people's homeland, officially called the
    Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. When I was 12 years old, I was taken
    to Guangzhou for middle school, under the Chinese government's program
    to move Uyghur children to inner China at a young age. This ``Xinjiang
    Classrooms'' policy takes thousands of Uyghur children away from their
    families and immerses them in Han Chinese institutions, far from their
    native language and cultural environment. In effect, it forces Uyghurs
    to deny our cultural identity and religious beliefs, and to embrace the
    Chinese way of life.
        However, my experience in this state program actually made me more
    conscious of my ethnic identity. The constant discrimination and
    humiliation I experienced as a young Uyghur at a Chinese school in a
    Chinese city made me realize that I was different from the majority Han
    population.
        I went on to study Economics at Guangzhou University and then
    worked for a private company that does business with Arab countries. I
    always dreamed of studying English abroad and I finally had the
    opportunity to study at the British University in Egypt. On December
    10, 2010, I left my homeland to study in Egypt, where I met my husband.
    In March 2015, I gave birth to healthy triplets, two boys and a girl,
    who are Egyptian citizens. I had difficulty taking care of my three
    babies and on May 4, 2015, I took my mom up on her offer to help take
    care of my children and left for China with my three two-month-old
    triplets. My troubles began the moment I set foot in China.
        As soon as I came to the border control counter at the airport in
    Urumchi, I was taken to a separate room for hours of interrogation. My
    babies were taken away from me right at the airport. The authorities
    repeatedly asked me whom I met and talked to in Egypt. Then they
    handcuffed me, put a dark sack over my head, and took me to a detention
    center. I was not able to see or breastfeed my triplets.
        After three months, the Chinese authorities told me that I had been
    ``paroled'' because my children were sick. They told me I could be with
    them until their health improved, but they warned me that I was still
    under investigation. They held onto my passport, identification cards,
    and cellphone.
        I went directly to the hospital to see my children. My oldest son
    was in an emergency care facility and I could only see him through a
    glass window from far away, so I could not touch him to see if he was
    breathing. The next day, they gave me his dead body, saying he had been
    unable to breathe and they could not save him.
        While burying my four-month-old baby, I was tormented and filled
    with the guilt of not being able to save my son. All three babies had
    been operated on, on their neck area, when I was in prison. I was told
    they were fed through a tube on their necks since they could not eat. I
    did not understand why, because they were breastfeeding without any
    issues before we left Egypt.
        My other two children had developed health complications and I
    spent the next few months seeking medical treatment for them, including
    an eye surgery for my daughter. They have been suffering from health
    issues ever since.
        I was unable to return to Egypt because all of my documents were
    confiscated by the authorities and I had been blacklisted. There was a
    black dot in my identity card, which beeped wherever I went--a
    hospital, pharmacy, and even a bus, so police would check my card and
    had to approve every step I took.
        In April 2017, I was living at home in Cherchen County when the
    police took me to a detention center for the second time and
    interrogated me for about four days and nights without sleep. I was
    incarcerated for about three months and then released to a mental
    hospital because I kept having seizures and losing consciousness. My
    father was later able to take me home to treat me at home and I
    gradually recovered.
        In January 2018, I was detained for the third time for no reason.
    The authorities handcuffed me on my wrists and ankles, put a black sack
    over my head, and took me to a hospital. I was stripped naked and put
    under a big computerized machine. One female and two male officials
    examined my body while I was still naked and then dressed me in a
    prison uniform which was blue with a yellow vest. It had the number 54
    on it. A Chinese official reminded me that this outfit is usually worn
    by serious criminals who face capital punishment or lifetime in prison
    and that ``54'' in Chinese also meant ``I am dead.''
        Now, I would like to tell you about what I experienced in these
    camps during my incarceration. I was taken to a cell, which was built
    underground with no windows. There was an iron gate and the door opened
    through a computerized lock system. There was a small hole in the
    ceiling for ventilation and we were never taken outside for fresh air.
    There was a toilet bowl in the corner out in the open without toilet
    paper. There were cameras on all four sides so the officials could see
    every corner of the room, including the toilet area, and they could
    hear every noise we made. There was one light that was always on.
        When I first entered the cell, which was cell number 210, there
    were 40 other women between the ages of 17 and 62. The cell was getting
    more and more crowded every day. When I left the cell after about three
    months, there were 68 women.
        I knew most of the women in my cell. They were my neighbors, young
    daughters of my former teachers, and doctors, including a doctor who
    had been educated in the UK and treated me in the past. They were
    mostly well-educated professionals such as teachers and doctors.
        There were around 60 people kept in a 430-square-foot cell, so at
    night, 10 to 15 women would stand up while the rest of us would sleep
    sideways so we could fit, and then we would rotate every 2 hours. There
    were people who had not taken a shower in over a year.
        As I was crammed with other women on the floor with chains on my
    wrists and ankles also connected with a longer chain, I remember
    thinking about what I did wrong. Why am I here without any charge or
    explanation? What was my crime and why do I deserve such inhumane
    treatment? Why can't I use the bathroom in private and have toilet
    paper? Why can't I have water to take a shower or simply wash my face?
    Why don't I get enough bread to eat or water to drink?
        We were woken up around 5 a.m. each morning with loud alarms. We
    had to fold the six blankets we shared in the same way. If the blankets
    were not folded neatly and did not look symmetrical, the whole cell
    would be punished. They would take away the blankets so we would have
    to sleep on the cement floor.
        Before we ate breakfast, which was water with very little rice, we
    had to sing songs hailing the Communist Chinese Party and repeat these
    lines in Chinese: ``Long live Xi Jinping'' and ``Leniency for those who
    repent and punishment for those who resist.''
        We had 7 days to memorize the rules of the concentration camp and
    14 days to memorize all the lines in a book that hails the Communist
    ideology. Those women whose voices were weak or couldn't sing the songs
    in Chinese, or remember the specific rules of the camp, were denied
    food or beaten up. In theory, there were supposed to be three meals but
    sometimes there was no food all day and when there was food, it was
    mostly a steamed bun. I must note that the steamed buns we were eating
    got smaller and smaller even as the number of people in the camp kept
    increasing in number. We were never given any fruit or vegetables.
        They forced us to take some unknown pills and drink some kind of
    white liquid. The pill caused us to lose consciousness and reduced our
    cognition level. The white liquid caused loss of menstruation in some
    women and extreme bleeding in others and even death. I was also forced
    to take some unknown drugs. They checked my mouth with their fingers to
    make sure I swallowed them. I felt lethargic and less conscious, and
    lost appetite after taking these drugs.
        During many days and nights of interrogation, they asked the same
    questions: ``Who do you know overseas? Who are you close to? Which
    organization do you work for?'' I think because I lived overseas and
    speak a few foreign languages, they tried to label me as a spy.
        I clearly remember the torture I experienced in the tiger chair the
    second time I was incarcerated. I was taken to a special room with an
    electrical chair. It was the interrogation room that had one light and
    one chair. There were belts and whips hanging on the wall. I was placed
    in a high chair that clicked to lock my arms and legs in place and
    tightened when they pressed a button. My head was shaved beforehand for
    the maximum impact. The authorities put a helmet-like thing on my head.
    Each time I was electrocuted, my whole body would shake violently and I
    could feel the pain in my veins.
        I thought I would rather die than go through this torture and
    begged them to kill me. They insulted me with humiliating words and
    pressured me to admit my guilt. In fact, I had not been involved in any
    political activity when I was abroad. Then they attacked me
    psychologically and said, ``Your mom died the other day and your dad
    will serve a lifetime in prison. Your son was in the hospital and he
    also died. Your daughter's eyes will remain crossed permanently, and
    she will be thrown into the streets because you cannot take care of
    her. Your family is torn apart because of you.''
        This was very hard for a daughter and a mom to take. I felt a huge
    sense of guilt and worthlessness. I cried and begged them to kill me. I
    don't remember the rest. White foam came out of my mouth, I began
    losing consciousness, and I fainted.
        The most horrific days for me were when I witnessed the suffering
    and death of my cellmates. The nights were the busiest time in the
    camps; a lot of activity such as transferring people between cells or
    removing the dead bodies would happen at night. In the silence of the
    night, we would hear men from other cells groaning in agony. We could
    hear the beatings, the men screaming, and people being dragged in the
    hallways because the chains on their wrists and ankles would make
    terrible noise when they touched the floor. The thought that these men
    could be our fathers or brothers was unbearable.
        Unfortunately, I witnessed nine deaths in my cell of 68 people in
    three months alone. If my small cell, cell number 210, in a small
    county, experienced 9 deaths in 3 months, I cannot imagine how many
    deaths there must be all over my country.
        One victim was a 62-year-old woman named Gulnisa. Her hands would
    tremble, she had red rashes all over her body, and she could not eat
    anything. She was really sick, but the doctors in the camp determined
    that she was fine. The doctors at the camp were supposed to say the
    patients were fine because if they said the inmates were sick, they
    would be perceived as sympathetic or supportive of the patients. One
    night, Gulnisa was humiliated for not having memorized her lines in
    Chinese and she was crying when she went to sleep. She did not snore
    that night and her body was very cold when we tried to wake her up. She
    had died in her sleep.
        There was another 23-year-old woman named Patemhan. Her mom had
    died and her husband, father, and brother were all taken to the camps.
    Her crime was attending a wedding in 2014 that was held according to
    Islamic traditions, where people did not dance, sing, or drink alcohol
    at the wedding. She said all of the 400 people who attended that
    wedding were arrested and taken to the camps. When she was taken to the
    camp, she had left her two kids in the field. She had been in the camp
    for one year and three months and she agonized every day over the
    whereabouts of her kids. She had heavy menstrual bleeding for over a
    month and was denied any medical treatment. One night while she was
    standing with other women, she suddenly dropped to the floor and
    stopped breathing. Several people with masks came, dragged her by her
    feet, and took her away.
        I never thought I would come out of cell 210 alive. I still cannot
    believe it, but miracles do happen. Two hours before I was told I would
    be released, the Chinese authorities gave me an unknown injection. I
    thought the shot would slowly kill me and began to count the minutes
    waiting for my death. I was surprised to still be alive when the
    authorities gave me a statement to read and sign. I read it and swore
    to it, and they filmed me doing so. The statement said: ``I am a
    citizen of China and I love China. I will never do anything to harm
    China. China has raised me. The police never interrogated me or
    tortured me, or even detained me.'' The police warned me that I must
    return to China after taking my kids to Egypt and I must remember that
    my parents, siblings, and other relatives were at their mercy.
        On April 5, 2018, after more than three months, I came out of that
    cell and was able to finally see my kids. I did not find my parents at
    home, however, and was not allowed to ask about their whereabouts. I
    left my hometown three days later with my two children and stayed in
    Beijing for about 20 days because I was prevented from boarding the
    plane three times for allegedly missing documents. On my fourth
    attempt, I was able to board the plane and landed in Cairo on April 28.
        I was lost and in deep pain. I did not know what to do. My parents
    and siblings could be in those camps and the Chinese authorities could
    kill them if I did not return to China, but if I did return, I would go
    back to die in the camp and the true nature of those camps would go
    back to that dark cell with me. The Chinese government could still keep
    my parents and siblings in the camps or kill them.
        I gathered my courage and decided to tell the world about China's
    hidden concentration camps so those people who tortured me and others
    would be punished for what they did and the voice of those innocent
    people in the camps could be heard.
        Thanks to the help of many wonderful people, I was able to come to
    the United States. I cannot describe in words how I felt when I landed
    in Virginia on September 21, 2018. I was overwhelmed with the sheer joy
    of freedom and a deep sense of confusion that day. Did I already die in
    the camp and was now in heaven? Or was I really in this free and great
    country that I have always dreamed of coming to? It was too good to be
    true.
        I currently live in the United States with my two kids. Even though
    I am no longer in a concentration camp, I have not been completely free
    from the traumatic experience and the Chinese government's harassment.
    My life is still haunted by sudden episodes of fear and anxiety as a
    reminder of the horrific days I went through in the camps.
        My kids have physical and psychological health issues. They are
    scared when someone knocks on the door and afraid of being separated
    from me. I still have scars on my body from the constant beatings and
    pain in my wrists and ankles from the chains. I cannot hear in my right
    ear, caused by heavy beatings. I am scared of the dark but also scared
    of too much light or noise. Police sirens give me anxiety and increase
    my heartbeat. Sometimes I get shortness of breath, my whole body goes
    numb, and my heart hurts. I still have nightmares at night. Even though
    I was told I am safe here, I am still afraid at night that the Chinese
    police will knock on my door and take me away and kill me.
        I also fear that Chinese government officials are still monitoring
    me. Several weeks ago, a group of Chinese men were following me outside
    and continued to follow after I got into a car.
        The Chinese Government must have also forced my brother to reach
    out to me. He left a voicemail on the cellphone I brought from China.
    My brother said: ``How could you do this to your parents, to us? What
    kind of daughter are you? You should go to the Chinese Embassy right
    away and denounce all the things you said about the Chinese government
    in the interviews you gave to Radio Free Asia and tell them you love
    China. Tell them you were pressured by the Uyghur organizations in the
    U.S. to lie about your detention and torture in the camps, and take
    back everything you said. Otherwise China can get you wherever you
    hide.''
        I was terrified that the Chinese government could still threaten me
    from so far away. As I am trying to start a new life in America, go to
    school, work, and take care of my son and daughter, I am still scared
    that the Chinese government will try to hurt me.
        I will take this opportunity to kindly request that the U.S.
    Government take steps to provide assurance for my safety. Exposing the
    real nature of China's concentration camps puts my life and my kids'
    lives in danger even in the United States, so please do what is
    necessary to ensure that we remain safe in this country. Additionally,
    I was forced to swallow many unknown pills and given injections in the
    camp and I do not know what kind of drugs my kids were forced to take
    while I was in the camp. I would really appreciate the opportunity to
    go through a thorough medical examination and treatment.
        This is my story. But I am only one of the millions of Uyghurs and
    other ethnic groups targeted for punishment or death in concentration
    camps. I am blessed to have miraculously escaped the camps and I have
    the freedom to speak out on behalf of those being tortured in the
    concentration camps as we speak.
        The Chinese Government made it clear that the cost of my speaking
    out would be the lives of my parents and siblings. I feel unbelievably
    guilty for that, and it is a form of ongoing mental torture I suffer
    every day. But I believe I also have a moral obligation to tell the
    truth to the world so that someone can take action to stop this
    atrocity.
        My people look to the United States as the beacon of hope for the
    oppressed people around the world. While every other country in the
    world is turning a blind eye to this brutality to avoid falling from
    China's good graces, I want to tell the truth to the government of the
    United States, the most powerful country in the world and the only
    country that has the courage and the ability to tell China to stop its
    ethnic cleansing of Uyghur people.
        I hope that the United States will lead the world community and
    condemn China's gross violation of universally recognized human rights,
    and pressure China to close these concentration camps and release
    millions of innocent Uyghurs and other minorities. The Chinese
    government's systematic abuse of Uyghurs inside and outside the camps
    demonstrates that it thinks it is too powerful to be held accountable
    for its attempt to eliminate the Uyghurs as a people. I still remember
    the words of the Chinese authorities when I asked what my crime was.
    They said, ``you being an Uyghur is a crime.''
        Please take action against the Chinese officials responsible for my
    torture and the death of my little boy, and the deaths of so many
    innocent Uyghurs in the camps.
        Please help stateless Uyghur refugees around the world (who will
    certainly be taken to the camps if they return) seek refuge in this
    great country.
        And finally, if any Member of Congress goes to China, please ask
    where my mother, father, and siblings are.
                                     ______

                     Prepared Statement of Samantha Hoffman

        The United Front and the CCP's ``People's War'' Against Religion

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                    ------

                     Prepared Statement of Thomas F. Farr *

                The Vatican Accord with China: Riding the Dragon

        Chairman Rubio, Cochairman Smith, and members of the Committee,
    thank you for holding this important hearing and inviting me to give my
    views on the Vatican's September Provisional Agreement with China and
    its effects on the ground.
                                  introduction
        The Sino-Vatican Agreement was negotiated and is being implemented
    in the midst of the most systematic and brutal attempt to control
    Chinese religious communities since the Cultural Revolution. President
    Xi Jinping's policies should be seen as a particularly troubling aspect
    of the global crisis in religious freedom, one in which over three-
    quarters of the world's people live in nations where religion is
    highly, or very highly, restricted.
        China is one of those nations. For years it has been on the State
    Department's list of the most severe violators of religious freedom.
    President Xi's policies are now putting it in contention for the worst
    of the worst, along with North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.
        Xi's actions are intensifying--making even more brutal--a decades-
    long government strategy of undermining a major threat to the authority
    of the Communist state: religion is a source of authority, and an
    object of fidelity, that is greater than the state. This characteristic
    of religion has always been anathema to history's totalitarian despots,
    such as Stalin, Hitler, and Mao, and to brutal authoritarian states
    such as early 20th century Mexico or Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
        The problem for these regimes is that most religions, unless they
    are co-opted by the state, by their nature limit the power of the
    state. This of course is a major reason why the American Founders put
    religious freedom at the beginning of our Bill of Rights--to contribute
    to the checks and balances designed to limit the power of the national
    government.
        President Xi's strategy includes a renewed effort to alter by
    persecution the fundamental nature of certain religions. One is Islam
    as practiced by the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province, which the Chinese
    have recently targeted for genocide-like transformation or elimination.
    Another is Tibetan Buddhism, the object for decades of a brutal Chinese
    strategy of persecution and cultural destruction. A third is Roman
    Catholicism, whose distinctive teachings on human rights and religious
    freedom pose a particular obstacle to the Chinese state, especially to
    the impoverished Marxist-Leninist understanding of religion, human
    nature, and human dignity.
        Today I will focus on the Chinese Catholic minority, and in
    particular the September 2018 Sino-Vatican Provisional Agreement. I
    will explore the possible effects of the Agreement, including whether
    it is likely to achieve its stated ends; that is, to allow the Catholic
    faithful to have bishops who are in communion with Rome but at the same
    time recognized by Chinese authorities. This, it is hoped, will help
    unify the divided Catholic Church in China.
        I also want to examine whether a second, implicit goal of the
    Agreement is likely to be achieved, namely to improve the lot of
    China's persecuted Catholic minority, and to make Catholicism more
    attractive to the Chinese population.
     to set the stage: a brief historical overview of catholicism in china
        Let me begin with a brief historical overview of Catholicism in
    China. The earliest Christians appeared in China during the 7th
    century, but the church was not permanently established. A semi-
    permanent Catholic presence began in the 13th century with the arrival
    of the first of several Franciscan priests, the building of the first
    Roman Catholic church, and the installation of the first Catholic
    bishop.
        After three centuries of Catholic growth and retrenchment in China,
    the Protestant Reformation in Europe led to the creation of the Society
    of Jesus--the Jesuits. This new Catholic order evangelized worldwide,
    and reached China by the late 16th century. In 1601 Matteo Ricci
    installed a Jesuit mission, which established Catholicism in China for
    good, notwithstanding periodic fierce resistance by Chinese emperors
    and Communist rulers.
    ----------
        * Thomas F. Farr is President of the Religious Freedom Institute.
    As an American diplomat, Farr was the Director of the State
    Department's Office of International Religious Freedom (1999-2003). He
    was an associate professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign
    Service (2007-2018), and Director of the Religious Freedom Project at
    Georgetown's Berkley Center (2011-2018).
        In 1724 Christianity was banned by the Qing dynasty, but by the
    dawn of the 19th century an estimated 200,000 Chinese Catholics
    remained. With the entry of the Western powers into China, their
    numbers increased, as did the number of Protestant missionaries and
    conversions to Christianity. During the 19th and 20th centuries
    Christianity became associated with Western imperialism, a perception
    that endures to this day, and although the vast majority of Christian
    clergy and lay adherents are indigenous Chinese citizens, continues to
    fuel persecution.
        Throughout these centuries, Catholics in China encountered versions
    of what we are seeing today from the Chinese Communist government, that
    is, the assertion that Catholicism is incompatible with Chinese culture
    and must either be rooted out or adapted in ways that would change its
    fundamental nature.
        The triumph of Mao and the Communist Revolution in 1949 led to an
    attempt either to absorb all religion into Communist ideology or to
    destroy it. The new People's Republic expelled the papal representative
    and in 1951 broke relations with the Holy See. The next decade
    witnessed brutal treatment of Catholics, Protestants, and other
    religious groups.
        But by the 1960s, China's policy of taming religion was, like its
    economic policy, clearly failing. In 1966, Mao proclaimed that Chinese
    Communism had become too ``revisionist,'' and he initiated the Cultural
    Revolution. The new revolution would, in his words, ``sweep away all
    the monsters and demons'' that opposed his brand of Communism. For the
    next ten years the Red Guards mounted a sustained and brutal attack on
    anyone or any group seen as a threat, and that included the Chinese
    Catholic Church.
        While most of the official records of those devastating years were
    destroyed by Mao's successors, we know from survivors the terrible
    contours of what happened to Catholics and other religious groups.
    Churches were desecrated, looted and turned into factories and
    storerooms. Priests and nuns were tortured, murdered (some were burned
    alive), and imprisoned in ``re-education'' labor camps. Lay Christians
    were paraded in their towns and villages with cylindrical hats
    detailing their ``crimes.'' Millions of Chinese citizens died terrible
    deaths during the Cultural Revolution, including by starvation. Tens of
    millions were brutalized, their lives and families destroyed. The
    clergy and faithful of the Catholic Church were among them.
        In the end, the Cultural Revolution merely confirmed what Stalin
    and Hitler had already proven--religion cannot be destroyed, even by
    totalitarianism. The powerful need for religion is in the DNA of men,
    women, and children. Grudgingly acknowledging this reality, Mao's
    successors condemned the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and
    adopted a new strategy on religion--one that continues to this day.
        The religion policies of Chinese leaders from Deng Xiaoping, who
    succeeded Mao in the 1970s, to President Xi Jinping today have been
    variations on a theme: religion is by its nature a threat to the
    Communist Party and the rule of the Politburo. While Mao proved that a
    policy of eliminating religion is unrealistic, his successors have
    constantly experimented in finding the ``correct'' way to control, co-
    opt, and absorb religion into the Communist state.
              the context of contemporary chinese religion policy
        Ten years ago I wrote a book on U.S. international religious
    freedom policy that contained a chapter on China.\1\ Re-reading that
    chapter confirmed for me that not much has changed in the pattern
    adopted by the Chinese to control religion. If you were to graph
    China's religion policies since the 1970s, you would see ups and downs
    as new Chinese leaders adjusted policies to achieve the prime objective
    of control.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
         \1\ Farr, ``World of Faith and Freedom,'' pp 273-307.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Not all Chinese policy, it is true, involves overt repression of
    all religions. Since the Cultural Revolution China's leaders have
    periodically supported religious groups perceived to be capable of
    consolidating Beijing's power. Former Chinese leaders Jiang Zemin and
    Hu Jintao, for example, praised Chinese (non-Tibetan) Buddhism,
    Confucianism, and Daoism as ``traditional cultures'' of China. Xi
    Jinping has exhorted adherents of those religions to help reverse
    China's moral decline.
        Clearly those three groups pose a lesser threat to Communist rule
    than do the Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Christians. For the
    moment at least, it is the latter three religious communities that are
    the objects of continuing repression, especially the Uighurs. The
    Muslims of Xinjiang province are being subjected to a massive anti-
    Uighur and anti-Muslim campaign that is staggering in its sweep and
    totalitarian sophistication, in effect a 21st century version of the
    Cultural Revolution. Its goal is to destroy a minority religion
    associated with a particular ethnic group. But this time the policy is
    not being carried out by the open savagery of Red Guards. Rather, the
    agent is Stalinist-era informers, periodic crackdowns to warn the
    population, and ``re-education'' of Muslims to change their beliefs. In
    recent years hundreds of ``re-education'' camps have been established,
    run by Chinese officials trained in ``transformation'' of inmates from
    adherents of Islam to devotees of Chinese communism. Hundreds of
    thousands of Uighur Muslims are incarcerated in these camps.
        The lesson of China's anti-Uighur campaign is this: when it
    discerns a threat to the absolute control of its citizens, as it does
    with Uighur or Tibetan separatism, Beijing remains capable of the kind
    of systematic brutal repression of religious and ethnic minorities
    exhibited by the 20th century totalitarians, repression that today is
    routine practice across China's eastern border in North Korea. We
    should not deceive ourselves about Beijing's capacity for reverting to
    Mao's policies on religion, nor the negative impact it would have on
    long-term American interests.
        At present, however, Xi's Uighur policy is merely the most visible
    and inhumane aspect of his implementation of China's long-term strategy
    of manipulating and controlling religion. There are many elements of
    that strategy, but let me note three. First, Xi is tightening central
    government control over the national bureaucracy responsible for
    managing religion. Second, he is returning to and re-emphasizing a
    traditional Communist theme: prevent Chinese youth from being exposed
    to religion in ways that Beijing cannot monitor. Third, he is refining
    oppressive policies designed to control the other religions perceived
    as a threat, namely the Tibetan Buddhists, Protestants, and Catholics.
        Making SARA More Accountable to the Politburo. The bureaucracy that
    has carried out China's religion policy since the 1950s is the State
    Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), and its predecessor, the
    Religious Affairs Bureau. This huge state agency, staffed in the early
    years by former members of the Red Army, has long been charged with
    controlling religion at the local and provincial level. National SARA
    officials are also given the responsibility of meeting with foreign
    officials. I met with former SARA director Ye Xiaowen in China and was
    present during some of his trips to the United States, where his job
    was to reassure Americans that religious freedom was protected in
    China.
        President Xi Jinping has decided to bring SARA nearer the Politburo
    by incorporating it into the United Front Work Department, a Communist
    bureaucracy historically charged with controlling China's ethnic
    minorities. This move is more than an adjustment of the wiring diagram.
    It is part of an overall tightening of government authority over civil
    society, especially its growing religious elements. In its latest
    Report on International Religious Freedom (for 2017), the State
    Department estimates that there are between 70 and 90 million
    Christians in China, about 12 million of them Catholics. The growth of
    Chinese Christianity, especially through conversion to Protestant
    denominations, is of great concern to the Communist government. Purdue
    sociologist and China expert Fenggang Yang predicts that within a
    generation China will have the largest Christian population in the
    world. Other religions are growing as well. Moving SARA closer to the
    Politburo ensures increased monitoring and control over the perceived
    threat posed by religion's growth in China.
        Fear of Religious Education. Like other elements of Xi's
    intensified policy, religious education has long been under the
    microscope of the Chinese bureaucracy. One of SARA's responsibilities
    has been to minimize the risk that religious education might lead to
    resistance among China's religious citizens. U.S. religious freedom
    diplomacy has made some attempt to address the resulting violations of
    parental rights. In 2002, Ambassador at Large for International
    Religious Freedom John Hanford reported to Congress an assurance by
    SARA Director Ye Xiaowen that parents were in fact free to teach
    religion to their children. There was a half-truth in Ye's assurance:
    parents could teach their children surreptitiously, but the
    consequences of being caught conveying, for example, core Catholic
    doctrine on issues such as religious freedom for all, the equal dignity
    of all persons created in the image and likeness of God, or the evil of
    abortion, were severe.
        The threat posed by such teachings is one reason for Xi's crackdown
    on religious education in China, in particular his policy of the
    ``Sinicization'' of religious education. Under this policy, no child
    under 18 may attend religious services, or any kind of religious event.
    No one under 18 may receive religious education of any kind from
    anyone. Further, each Chinese religious community is responsible for
    ensuring its teachings--to the young and to everyone else--are
    compatible with ``the socialist society,'' and are supportive of the
    leadership of the Communist party.
        For Chinese Catholics, the body charged with carrying out such
    policies is the government-controlled ``Catholic Patriotic
    Association.'' Following Xi's instructions, it has drafted a detailed
    implementation document, which contains the following passage: ``The
    [Catholic] Church will regard promotion and education on core values of
    socialism as a basic requirement for adhering to the Sinicization of
    Catholicism. It will guide clerics and Catholics to foster and maintain
    correct views on history and the nation and strengthen community
    awareness.''
        Of course, the ``core values of socialism'' as practiced in China
    are exceedingly difficult to square with the core values of
    Catholicism. The Jesuit magazine America has noted correctly that Xi's
    religious education policy ``strikes at the very heart and future of
    the Catholic and other Christian churches, as well as that of other
    religions. It is an issue of utmost concern for Catholics in China who
    see it as an attempt by the Communist authorities to prevent young
    people from being educated or growing up in the faith.'' \2\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
         \2\ Gerard O'Connell, ``Pope Francis to Chinese Catholics: the
    Church is Praying for You in the Midst of Difficulties,'' America
    Magazine, May 23, 2018; accessed at https://www.america
    magazine.org/faith/2018/05/23/pope-francis-chinese-catholics-church-
    praying-you-midst-difficulties
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Precisely so. It is worth asking how the Vatican's diplomatic
    rapprochement with the Chinese government will avoid making this
    problem worse, in part by appearing to abandon those Chinese Catholics,
    including bishops and priests, who bravely speak out against religious
    persecution and on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity.
                        systematic government oppression
        Finally, let me catalogue briefly some of the outrages that have
    afflicted religious groups other than the Uighur Muslims as part of
    Xi's policy. We are seeing increased destruction of houses of worship,
    including the bulldozing of churches, mosques, and Tibetan Buddhist
    schools and temples. Chinese officials are increasing their monitoring
    of the internet, including, and especially, religious content. We are
    seeing close monitoring and control of contributions to religious
    groups, the outlawing of proselytism, and the unjust imprisonment of
    priests, pastors, monks, nuns, and lay religious people.
        None of this is new, but it is now occurring as part of a broad and
    carefully planned national strategy with many moving parts. It is
    dangerous for the religious minorities of China, and dangerous for
    American interests.
                   vatican diplomacy and chinese catholicism
        Against this stark background, let's turn to an assessment of the
    Provisional Agreement between the Vatican and China. The Vatican's
    stated goals are to unify Catholics in China by regularizing the
    appointment of bishops and ensuring their acceptance by the Holy
    Father. Allied objectives are to induce the Chinese government to stop
    persecuting Catholics, and--perhaps--to increase the number of converts
    to Catholicism.
        These are worthy goals, but it is difficult to see how the
    agreement will achieve them. After its failed attempt to destroy all
    religion in China during the Cultural Revolution, China's Communist
    government has spent decades attempting to manipulate and control the
    Catholic Church. Beijing created the treacherous divide between an
    official ``Catholic Patriotic Association'' controlled by the
    government, and an ``underground'' Church, that is, those bishops,
    priests, religious and lay Catholics who remain loyal to the Catholic
    Magisterium, the Holy Father, and fundamental Catholic teachings on
    human dignity and human rights. For decades the Chinese government has
    persecuted those Catholics who refuse to accept Communist control of
    their religion.
        Unfortunately, although the agreement is only two months old, there
    are already signs that its provisions will exacerbate this divide
    rather than heal it. Indeed, there are ample reasons to fear that,
    notwithstanding the good intentions of the Vatican, the deal they have
    brokered could make things much worse for the Church in China.
        The text of the agreement has not been made public, but its
    contours are generally known. Chinese Catholic bishops will now be
    chosen in a process that begins with local Communist-controlled
    Catholic Patriotic Associations. When a vacancy occurs in a bishopric,
    CPAs will present the names of candidates to fill the position.
    Diocesan priests and lay Catholics will then vote on the candidates for
    bishop. The winner's name will be sent to the government-controlled
    Council of Bishops, who will then provide it to the Vatican. There the
    nominee could either be accepted or rejected by the Pope.
        The Vatican apparently hopes that the Pope's veto power will ensure
    the orthodoxy of new bishops, facilitate reconciliation among China's
    divided Catholics, and make the Church more attractive to converts.
        It is certainly true that all Catholics need bishops, and that
    disagreements and confusion over who is and who is not a licit bishop
    are very harmful to the faithful and to the Church. But it is also true
    that the two-millennia-old doctrines of Petrine supremacy and apostolic
    succession nest the authority for consecrating bishops in one man, the
    successor of Peter--the Pope.
        The Vatican has in the past made practical concessions on the
    process by which bishops are approved by the Pope, in order to
    safeguard the existence of the Church. But this concession to a
    Communist government that by its nature seeks to control and, where
    possible, make fundamental alterations in Catholic doctrine, seems
    untimely and dangerous.
        One contemporary comparison is instructive. If the reports about
    how new Chinese Catholic bishops are to be chosen are correct, the
    process resembles the way parliamentary candidates are approved in
    theocratic Iran. There, no one can run for parliament unless he has
    been vetted by a panel of theologians for fidelity to the regime and
    the Supreme Leader.
        By the same token, it seems highly unlikely that a Chinese-
    controlled Council of Bishops will forward to the Vatican the name of a
    bishop candidate who is faithful to the fundamental teachings of the
    Catholic Church. A man chosen in this process will doubtless not carry
    out one of the primary duties of a bishop--to be to his flock and to
    society at large a witness to the truths proclaimed by the Church
    concerning, for example, the sanctity of life, universal human dignity,
    and religious freedom. It seems far more likely that the names of
    candidates sent to Rome will be chosen at a minimum for their
    acquiescence to the Communist regime, if not for their fidelity to the
    regime's anti-Catholic purposes. Of course the Pope can veto such
    candidates ad infinitum, but the absence of a bishop does not harm the
    Chinese government. It hurts only the Catholics in China who need a
    faithful shepherd.
        The insidious effects of this Esau's bargain may already have shown
    themselves. Two ``official'' Chinese bishops attended the recent Synod
    on Youth in Rome, apparently at the invitation of Pope Francis. But
    these bishops were, and are, Communist apparatchiks. They both are
    leaders of the aforementioned Council of Bishops controlled by the
    government. Unaccountably, the two left before the Synod was over.
    Whatever the cause of their abrupt departure, it was not the act of
    bishops faithful to the Holy Father or the Catholic Church.
        Nor has the persecution of Chinese Catholics decreased. If
    anything, it has intensified since the signing of the agreement. Within
    a month of its signing, two Marian shrines had been destroyed by
    Communist officials in China. It is difficult to overstate the
    importance of these shrines to the Catholic faithful, and to their love
    of the Church. A government would destroy such structures only to
    threaten and oppress China's Catholics, to damage their faith and the
    Church itself. This, of course, is what Communist governments,
    including the Chinese government, do.
        To summarize: The procedure for choosing new Catholic bishops
    established by the Provisional Agreement does not seem likely to yield
    bishops that are faithful Catholics, or to unify China's 12 million
    Catholics, most of whom yearn for faithful shepherds, not
    functionaries. Persecution of Catholics is increasing, as it is for
    other religious minorities in China. Although persecution has sometimes
    led to more converts, that is neither the logic nor the intent of the
    agreement. Rather, the hope seems to be that a more unified, accepted,
    orthodox Catholic Church will be more attractive to converts. Again, it
    is difficult to see how the agreement might lead to such an outcome.
        In the face of such pathologies, what explains the Vatican's
    decision to negotiate and sign this deal? Allowing, again, for the hope
    that things will change--and I pray that they will--I would suggest
    that history provides a possible explanation. It could be that the
    Provisional Agreement reflects a return to the Vatican's failed Cold
    War ``realpolitik'' diplomacy of the 1960s, before it was changed by
    Pope John Paul II. That diplomacy failed from a want of realism about
    the evil of Communism, and deeply wounded the Church in parts of
    Eastern Europe. The lesson was then, and perhaps should be now, that
    the Vatican should not see itself as a power player on the world stage
    capable of changing the behavior of Communist governments by dint of
    its political diplomacy. We should recall that Vatican diplomacy was
    instrumental in facilitating America's 2015 restoration of diplomatic
    relations with the Communist regime in Cuba. Can anyone argue that the
    results have been good for the Church, or for religious freedom, in
    Cuba?
        On the other hand, the Vatican is arguably the only moral authority
    in the world constituted precisely to counter the root causes of
    totalitarian evil, just as Pope John Paul II did in the 1980s in
    collaboration with President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret
    Thatcher. In my view, the Holy See's role should be now, as it was
    then, to press for human rights and, especially, for religious freedom
    for all religious communities, in China and elsewhere.
        Given the current vile assaults on the Uighur Muslims and Tibetan
    Buddhists, the Vatican should be standing with them by drawing the
    world's attention to what the Chinese government is doing in Xinjiang
    Province and in Tibet. As for China's Catholics, the Vatican should
    demand nothing less than libertas ecclesiae, the freedom of the Church
    to witness to its adherents, to the public, and to the regime, its
    teachings on human dignity and the common good (as those teachings are
    powerfully expressed in the Catholic document Dignitatis Humanae).
        I sincerely hope that I am wrong about the Sino-Vatican Provisional
    Agreement. I hope there are parts of the agreement that will alleviate
    these concerns and others that have been expressed by faithful
    Catholics, in and out of China. But I do not believe the Agreement as I
    have described it will help the Roman Catholic Church, China's Catholic
    minority, or the cause of religious freedom in China. The Chinese know
    what they are doing. The Vatican's charism in China, on the other hand,
    is not diplomacy, but witness to the truth about God and man.
        Thank you for inviting me to address this important topic.
                                     ______

                     Prepared Statement of Hon. Marco Rubio

        Good afternoon.
        This is a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on
    China. The title of this hearing is ``The Communist Party's Crackdown
    on Religion in China.'' We will have one panel testifying today
    featuring:
        Mihrigul Tursun, a Uyghur Muslim who was interned in and survived a
    Chinese ``political reeducation'' camp; translating for Ms. Tursun is
    Ms. Zubayra Shamseden. She is the Chinese Outreach Coordinator at the
    Uyghur Human Rights Project.
        We will also hear from Tom Farr, President of the Religious Freedom
    Institute; and Samantha Hoffman, a Visiting Academic Fellow at the
    Mercator Institute for China Studies and Non-Resident Fellow at the
    Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
        Thank you all for being here.
        The Chinese Government has long imposed harsh policies against
    unregistered Christian churches, Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists,
    Falun Gong practitioners and other religious adherents. The Commission
    maintains a Political Prisoner Database. Since the database's creation
    it has featured some 6,275 cases involving individuals detained because
    of their religion. Currently there are more than 750 active cases, and
    countless others whose names we may never know. The Commission
    consistently advocates for Members of Congress and the Administration
    to raise individual prisoner cases--and the Database is an invaluable
    tool in such efforts.
        Religious freedom in China is a vast topic and we will only begin
    to scratch the surface today. Consider the following:
        Uyghur Muslims are rounded up and interned in ``political
    reeducation'' camps. Tibetan monks and nuns are forced to undergo
    political re-education sessions. Falun Gong practitioners are
    reportedly sent to ``Legal Education Centers'' for indoctrination.
    Churches are shuttered, crosses removed, and Christian believers
    harassed and imprisoned.
        These are daily realities in Xi Jinping's China, leading many
    observers to describe the current wave of repression as the most severe
    since the Cultural Revolution. Even as the government has carried out
    an extensive campaign to ensure ideological loyalty to the Chinese
    Communist Party, impacting various sectors of society--not least of
    which are religious communities--it has also targeted those who
    represent and advocate for them.
        The ``709 crackdown'' saw scores of rights lawyers and advocates
    detained, arrested and tortured. Forced to ingest unknown medications
    and confess to crimes they did not commit, these brave men and women
    have been the tip of the spear in representing China's repressed and
    persecuted Christians, Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and Falun Gong
    practitioners.
        Of the rights lawyers who have courageously defended the rights of
    their fellow citizens in Chinese courts, several continue to serve
    sentences, including Wang Quanzhang, Jiang Tianyong, and Gao Zhisheng.
    Those who have independently documented the truth of Chinese citizens
    persecuted for their beliefs became targets of persecution themselves.
    One fearless example is citizen journalist and human rights defender
    Huang Qi. We are extremely concerned that he is in danger of making the
    ultimate sacrifice for telling these stories because his government is
    currently deliberately denying him access to medical treatment while he
    is in prison.
        However, set against this grim backdrop something remarkable has
    happened. The number of religious adherents in China has grown. This
    shows the utter failure of the government's policies in this regard.
        Today's hearing provides an opportunity to better understand the
    scale and scope of the current crackdown, to identify cross-cutting
    trends across different religions, to examine the elevated role of the
    United Front Work Department and what this means for China's faithful,
    and to put forward policy recommendations to address this crisis.
        The Commission has been particularly seized this year with the
    ongoing crackdown in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region targeting
    Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslim groups. Our Annual Report,
    released in October, described these grave abuses at length--abuses
    which I believe constitute crimes against humanity.
        During a July hearing on Xinjiang we heard sobering testimony from
    Ms. Gulchehra Hoja, a Radio Free Asia Uyghur Service journalist and
    American citizen, who had been personally impacted by the crackdown.
    Dozens of her own family members have been detained or disappeared. As
    sobering as her story is, she is not alone. Not only have her fellow
    Uyghur Service journalists been similarly impacted, countless other
    Americans have as well. It seems that every week the Commission which
    we chair is contacted by Uyghurs living in the United States desperate
    for news about a loved one who has vanished into the growing labyrinth
    of camps.
        Today we are honored to have with us Ms. Tursun. Her story is
    harrowing, and we are truly grateful for her courage in coming forward.
        Also grabbing headlines in recent months is the growing repression
    facing Christians in China. Beijing authorities recently banned Zion
    Church, one of the largest unofficial Protestant churches in the city,
    which typically drew up to 1,600 worshipers on any given Sunday. Robbed
    of their worship space, members of Zion Church have reportedly taken to
    quietly meeting in parks and homes.
        In September, reports emerged of authorities burning Bibles, and
    compelling Christians to sign papers renouncing their faith. Meanwhile
    the Holy See and the Chinese Government reached an agreement this fall,
    the precise details of which have not been made public. Media outlets
    reported that Beijing would recognize the Pope as the head of the
    Catholic Church in China; the Vatican would recognize seven
    excommunicated Chinese bishops appointed by PRC authorities; and
    Chinese authorities would appoint future bishops, while the Pope would
    have veto power over their nomination.
        There is a growing concern that the agreement may put in greater
    peril those Catholic believers who maintain as part of their faith that
    they cannot worship under clergy that have been selected by the Chinese
    Government. There is also alarm that any deal betrays the memory of
    Catholics who refused to renounce papal supremacy and were persecuted
    for it, while demoralizing those who still stand faithful.
        As the hearing title denotes, the Communist Party is at the center
    of this crackdown. The Party Central Committee issued a massive
    restructuring plan for Party and government agencies to be completed by
    the end of 2018. The United Front Work Department--which Xi Jinping,
    like Mao before him, calls the ``magic weapon'' of the Communist Party,
    was further empowered in the reorganization. This year its role in
    overseeing religious affairs was expanded, underscoring the Party's
    enduring fear that the growth of religious belief is a threat to its
    grip on power.
        As the Party conducts United Front work to ensure that outside
    groups are in line with its agenda, the evidence is also clear that
    Chinese officials are only too willing to expand their repression
    overseas and to intimidate and harass Americans and legal permanent
    residents of the United States, including those in the Uyghur
    community.
        Ms. Tursun's story reminds us that China's suppression of religious
    faith and religious communities is real. It is evil, and it is too
    horrendous to ignore. In the 21st century, we simply cannot accept the
    mass internment of individuals based on their religious faith or
    cultural identity; nor can we accept the stamping out of all
    ``unofficial'' religious communities in China that maintain as a matter
    of faith that they do not want to be beholden to the leadership of the
    Chinese Government.
        Without objection, we'll keep the hearing record open for 48 hours
    to submit additional relevant materials.
        Please join me in welcoming our witnesses. We will begin with Ms.
    Tursun. And I would stress at the outset, that the personal safety of
    Ms. Tursun and her family is paramount. It will be taken very seriously
    by the United States Government if she or members of her family
    experience any sort of retaliation from the Chinese Government because
    she has spoken out about her experience.
        Before we adjourn, I'd like to thank Congressman Smith for his
    partnership on the Commission and in the cause of human rights in
    China. This is the final CECC hearing for this Congress. As such, it
    marks the end of our formal collaboration as chair and cochair.
    Throughout the course of the last 4 years I have greatly valued his
    passion and commitment to these vital issues--something which is
    desperately needed today. Through hearings, legislation, advocacy, and
    meticulous research and reporting, the Commission has given voice to a
    cause which is ultimately about human dignity. Bipartisanship is part
    of the DNA of this Commission and I am confident that this work will
    continue in the next Congress; but as we mark the end of this chapter,
    I thank you.
        The record will remain open for 48 hours. The hearing is adjourned.

                                     ______

                  Prepared Statement of Hon. Christopher Smith

        The current assault on religion in China is the most comprehensive
    attempt to manipulate and control religious communities since the
    Cultural Revolution. What is happening under Xi Jinping's leadership is
    a systematic effort to transform the very nature of certain religious
    communities.
        Regulations on religious affairs issued in February tightened
    existing restrictions, and new draft regulations will clamp down on
    religious expression online. Churches, mosques, and temples have been
    demolished, crosses destroyed, children under the age of 18 are
    prohibited from attending services, and the Communist Party is now
    commissioning new religious texts that remove content unwanted by the
    atheistic Communist Party.
        Xi Jinping talks about realizing the ``China Dream''--but when
    Bibles are burned, when a simple prayer over a meal in public is an
    illegal religious gathering, and when over a million Uyghur and Kazakh
    Muslims are interned in ``re-education camps'' and forced to renounce
    their faith--that dream is a nightmare.
        Xi Jinping's war on religion is also a distinct challenge to U.S.
    religious freedom diplomacy and to international standards on the
    freedom of religion.
        There is a dire need to shine a light on the stunning and
    outrageous detention of nearly a million Uyghurs and other Muslim
    ethnic minorities. The Senator and I have tried to be a voice for those
    repressed. Ms. Tursun's powerful testimony today reminds us that we
    cannot be silent when the Chinese Government is constructing a high-
    tech police state in Xinjiang Province whose goal is the forced
    assimilation of an entire ethnic minority population and the
    ``sinicization'' of their religious beliefs and practices.
        I commend the Administration--Secretary Pompeo and Vice President
    Pence--for speaking out forcefully. I would urge the Administration to
    support the bipartisan Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act that Senator
    Rubio and I introduced and to sanction Chinese officials and businesses
    complicit in likely ``crimes against humanity.''
        In the past year, pressure has mounted on independent Protestant
    and Catholic churches. Clergy are in prison, churches closed, and the
    human rights lawyers who defend religious believers have been jailed,
    disappeared, or tortured into silence. Gao Zhisheng, Jiang Tianyong and
    so many others have been disappeared, detained, and tortured for
    standing up against persecution.
        For anyone who wants to be inspired, I would recommend reading the
    open letter signed by over 500 Protestant leaders. In the midst of an
    intense campaign of repression, they have said that ``For the sake of
    the Gospel, we are willing to suffer all external losses brought about
    by unfair law enforcement. Out of a love for our fellow citizens, we
    are willing to give up all of our earthly rights--for the sake of the
    Gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses--even the loss of our
    freedom and our lives.''
        Now this is the type of courageous conviction that requires not
    only our admiration but our action.
        Let me turn now to the issue of Catholicism in China where a deal
    has been struck that will reportedly give the Pope veto power over
    Chinese Government-approved candidates for bishop. Vatican Secretary of
    State Cardinal Pietro Parolin admits ``it is not a good deal'' but
    believes it was important to unify the ``underground'' Catholic Church
    and the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association. Cardinal
    Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, has questioned whether
    Vatican officials making these decisions ``know what true suffering
    is.''
        The reports are that this deal is provisional and full details are
    secret. The devil will be in the details--including the fate of
    underground churches, the 30 underground bishops appointed previously
    over Beijing's objection, and Vatican relations with Taiwan. But with
    all the efforts under way to forcibly sinicize religion, it certainly
    seems an odd time to strike a deal with Xi Jinping's China.
        I hope and pray this agreement will bring true religious freedom
    for Catholics in China--who have suffered so much to maintain their
    faith--but the wisdom of making this deal, at this time, is certainly
    in doubt. Since the agreement was reached, underground priests are
    detained, pilgrimage sites closed, crosses toppled from churches, and
    United Front Works Department officials, in October, convened a ``re-
    education'' session for priests.
        The President and Xi Jinping will meet in Argentina this week,
    seeking ways to defuse U.S.-China tensions. I think it should be
    conveyed to Xi Jinping that his war on religion is a counterproductive
    strategy--taking a hammer and sickle to the cross or jailing a million
    Uyghur Muslims will only ensure that a tougher China policy will have
    widespread, bipartisan and even global support.
        I want to commend the Senator from Florida for his leadership as
    CECC chair this term. We have had a very productive and effective
    partnership and I enjoyed our four years together as cochairs. I
    believe the profile of the CECC has been raised significantly as a
    voice for the repressed and as a generator of new ideas, particularly
    as the U.S. is reconsidering its strategic posture for dealing with
    China.
        We have raised alarms about threats posed to Uyghur Muslims, to
    human rights lawyers and religious communities, and to Hong Kong's
    autonomy. We have also effectively raised the issue of the Chinese
    Government's coercive political influence operations globally. I have
    enjoyed our partnership and look forward to working with Senator Rubio
    in Congress's next term.
        Lastly, I want to commend the work of Paul Protic, my appointee to
    the CECC since 2011, who has worked as staff director. Paul was the
    campaign manager for my first reelection campaign in 1982, so we go
    back many years. Paul is a veteran of many legislative battles in
    Congress and was a particularly effective advocate as we fought to
    ensure that Chen Guangcheng and his family could come to the U.S. With
    the House majority returning to the Democratic Party next year, Paul
    will be leaving the CECC. He has been a patient and effective leader
    and I want to warmly thank him for his service.

                           Submissions for the Record

                                   __________

     Representative Cases From the CECC's Prisoner Database, Submitted by
                                 Senator Rubio
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

       Letter regarding Statement by Concerned Scholars on China's Mass
          Detention of Turkic Minorities, Submitted by Sean R. Roberts

                                                          November 20, 2018
    The Honorable Marco Rubio, Chair
    The Honorable Christopher Smith, Cochair
    Congressional-Executive Commission on China
    243 Ford House Office Building
    Washington, DC 20515

    Re: November 28 hearing on ``The Communist Party's Crackdown on
    Religion in China''

    Dear Senator Rubio and Representative Smith:

        In connection with your November 28 hearing on ``The Communist
    Party's Crackdown on Religion in China,'' I would like to submit for
    the Congressional Record a Statement prepared by concerned scholars on
    the crisis facing Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the Xinjiang
    Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. This statement was drafted
    collectively by a group of scholars with long track records of working
    with Uyghurs and/or on this region. This group of scholars neither
    represents any specific organization nor the institutions where they
    are employed. Rather, they are acting together as concerned scholars
    out of a collective desire to raise awareness of the seriousness of the
    mass human rights abuses presently taking place in northwest China and
    to call on the international community to take action against these
    abuses.
        This statement has been signed by a total of 496 scholars from 36
    countries around the world as of 2:30 pm on November 30, 2018. While
    most of these scholars were not involved in drafting the statement, by
    signing it, they are affirming their agreement with its description of
    the situation in the XUAR today and its calls for international action
    to address that situation. It is our intention to keep the statement
    publicly available on the internet at www.concernedscholars.home.blog
    until the mass internment camps in the XUAR are closed and all those
    imprisoned are released.
        The text of the statement is attached to this letter for the
    Commission's reference.

                          Sincerely yours,
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                          Director, International Development Studies
                          Elliott School of International Affairs
                          The George Washington University

                                     ______

      Statement by Concerned Scholars on China's Mass Detention of Turkic
                                   Minorities

                                                          November 26, 2018

        As concerned scholars who study China, the Xinjiang Uyghur
    Autonomous Region (XUAR), Central Asia, and other related regions of
    the world, we issue this statement to highlight our concerns and to
    call the international community to action in relation to the mass
    human rights abuses and deliberate attacks on indigenous cultures
    presently taking place in China's XUAR. The signatories to this
    statement are united in viewing the present situation in this region of
    China as one of significant international concern. This situation must
    be addressed to prevent setting negative future precedents regarding
    the acceptability of any state's complete repression of a segment of
    its population, especially on the basis of ethnicity or religion.
                                   background
        The Chinese state is engaged in the mass detention of Uyghurs,
    Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslim minorities in their homelands in the
    Central Asian borderlands of Northwest China. Researchers estimate that
    around one million people have been detained without trial. In the
    camps, these detainees, most of whom are Uyghur, are subjected to
    deeply invasive forms of surveillance and psychological stress as they
    are forced to abandon their native language, religious beliefs and
    cultural practices. Outside of the camps, more than 10 million Turkic
    Muslim minorities in the region are subjected to a dense network of
    surveillance systems, checkpoints, and interpersonal monitoring which
    severely limit all forms of personal freedom.

    What is happening in the camps?

        Until October 2018 the Chinese authorities officially denied the
    existence of the camps. They have since declared that the camps are
    ``vocational training'' schools which Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other
    Muslim minorities attend voluntarily. In programing featured on state
    television on October 16, Uyghur detainees were shown learning Chinese,
    receiving training in industrial production, and discussing their
    regret concerning past religious and ethno-national beliefs while
    proclaiming a new-found love for the Chinese political system. Yet in
    many of the shots at the camp, it is clear that the detainees are being
    monitored by numerous cameras.
        Reports from eyewitnesses have noted malnourishment and severe
    psychological distress among the detainees, and some report detainees
    being forcibly given psychiatric drugs. In some cases, shoelaces and
    belts are confiscated, due to the prevalence of self-harm and suicide.
    Those who do not fully participate in political reeducation are often
    subjected to beatings, solitary confinement, and forms of religious and
    psychological violation. There have been numerous reports of deaths in
    the centers, particularly among the elderly and infirm, but also of
    younger people who were in good health when they were taken. While
    there are frequent reports of more people entering the camps, there are
    very few reports of those being released.

    Why is this happening now?

        China's present signature foreign policy initiative is the ``Belt
    and Road Initiative'' (BRI) that seeks to connect the PRC economically
    to the rest of the Eurasian continent through large infrastructure
    projects that will stimulate international trade. The western and
    south-western components of the BRI require the XUAR to serve as a
    transportation and commercial hub to trade routes and pipelines that
    will join China with Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and the
    entirety of Europe. As a result, the XUAR has become a very important
    strategic region for China, and the state views its indigenous
    populations as an obstacle to developing its vision for this future
    critical center of international commercial networks.

    What are the implications of the mass detention system in the XUAR for
    the rest of China?

        China's approach in the XUAR is consistent with the CCP's broader
    implementation of the concept of ``social management'' as a means of
    preserving its hold on power. For the Party, the goal of ``social
    management'' and the ``social credit'' system is to ensure that the
    population internalizes the Communist Party's ideology and supports the
    Party's hold on power. In the XUAR, this requires that key markers of
    Turkic Muslim identity such as religious observance and language be
    forcibly ``cured'' or ``eradicated'' through mass incarceration and
    ``re-education.'' There are concerns that such extreme measures could
    be replicated to address other segments of the Chinese population who
    are perceived as threatening the Party's monolithic vision of the PRC.

    What are the implications for the rest of the world?

        China has defended its mass incarceration of Turkic Muslims on the
    basis of counter-terrorism. However, it is also apparent that China is
    both seeking to embed its Xinjiang-focused policies in counter-
    terrorism cooperation with international partners and to export the
    methods and technologies that have underpinned its ``surveillance
    state'' in Xinjiang. If what is happening today in the XUAR is not
    addressed by the international community, there is a likelihood that we
    could see its replication in other authoritarian states who have used
    the label of ``terrorist'' to describe those who peacefully resist
    state hegemony.
                               policy suggestions
        There is now significant discussion among US and European leaders
    regarding economic sanctions directed at key Chinese leaders and
    security companies. There is also discussion of new forms of assistance
    to Uyghur and Kazakh asylum seekers outside of China and the
    establishment of a Congressional Act in the US that would earmark
    resources to protect the human rights of Uyghurs inside China. The
    signatories support these initiatives and call for the following
    additional measures to be taken by the international community:

        (1) We call on states and institutions to issue formal statements
    demanding that Xi Jinping and Chen Quanguo immediately abolish the
    ``transformation through education'' detention system and release all
    Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other detainees.

        (2) We call on states and institutions to demand and impose
    economic sanctions on Chinese authorities and technology companies in-
    and outside of China, which are benefiting from this process. Such
    sanctions should go beyond lower-level officials and target Chen
    Quanguo, under whose leadership in the region this system of mass
    incarceration has been instituted. Likewise, they should include high-
    profile technology companies, whose concessions to the Chinese
    government on internet surveillance have implicated them in the
    repression presently taking place in the XUAR.

        (3) We call on states and institutions to introduce legislation
    joining Germany and Sweden in granting expedited asylum to Uyghurs,
    Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslim minorities from China and a blanket
    refusal to deport Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims to China.

        (4) We call on Beijing to cease its extra-territorial campaign of
    harassment against members of the Uyghur diaspora community around the
    globe and urge relevant states and institutions where those communities
    reside to make the protection of Uyghurs a matter of priority in their
    diplomatic relations with Beijing.

        (5) We call on the thirteen UN member states that expressed grave
    concern about the existence of this system of mass incarceration at the
    recent UN Universal Periodic Review of China's human rights record to
    spearhead a movement for UN action aimed at investigating this mass
    internment system and closing the camps. Additionally, we call on those
    states that have yet remained silent on this issue, including Muslim-
    majority states and those in Central Asia whose own citizens or
    citizens' relatives have been interned, to join in this action.

        (6) We call upon countries presently engaged in negotiations
    regarding projects that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative,
    particularly those that are linking to the XUAR as a hub for trade and
    commerce, to make their involvement in these projects contingent on the
    closing of the mass internment camps and the ceasing of other means of
    mass repression to which the Turkic minorities in this region are
    currently subjected.

        (7) We call upon academic institutions around the world with formal
    partnerships with state-run Chinese academic institutions to express
    their concern about the present situation in the XUAR with their
    colleagues and to consider suspending their partnerships until the
    camps have been closed and all detainees are released.

        [This document has been signed by 690 scholars from 42 countries as
    of May 1, 2019.]
                              Witness Biographies

      Mihrigul Tursun, survivor of Chinese ``political reeducation'' camp

        Mihrigul Tursun is a 29-year-old Uyghur woman from China's Xinjiang
    Uyghur Autonomous Region who gave birth to healthy triplets in Egypt
    while her husband was working there in 2015. Soon after her children
    were born, she returned to China seeking help from her parents to raise
    them but was detained by authorities upon her return and the triplets
    were taken from her. Authorities detained her in a prison for two
    months, and then released her because her children were suffering from
    a severe illness that required surgery. But one of her sons died under
    mysterious circumstances while being cared for in a local hospital. In
    the years following her son's death, authorities detained her two
    additional times, including in a ``political reeducation'' camp, and
    subjected her to torture, beatings, and interrogation in detention.

           Dr. Thomas F. Farr, President, Religious Freedom Institute

        Dr. Thomas Farr is President of the Religious Freedom Institute, a
    non-profit that works to advance religious freedom globally. A leading
    authority on international religious freedom, Dr. Farr served for 28
    years in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Foreign Service. In 1999 he became
    the first director of the State Department's Office of International
    Religious Freedom (IRF). He later directed the Witherspoon Institute's
    IRF Task Force, was a member of the Chicago World Affairs Council's
    Task Force on Religion and Foreign Policy, taught at the National
    Defense University, and served on the Secretary of State's IRF working
    group. From 2008-2018, Dr. Farr was Associate Professor of the Practice
    of Religion and World Affairs at Georgetown University. He also
    directed Georgetown's Religious Freedom Project. A Ph.D. in History
    from the University of North Carolina, Farr is senior fellow at Baylor
    University's Institute for Studies of Religion, and a consultant to the
    U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference. His major works include ``World of
    Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty Is Vital to
    American National Security'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) and U.S.
    Foreign Policy and International Religious Freedom: Recommendations for
    the Trump Administration and the U.S. Congress, with Dennis Hoover
    (Religious Freedom Institute, 2017).

     Dr. Samantha Hoffman, Visiting Academic Fellow, Mercator Institute for

        China Studies and Non-Resident Fellow, Australian Strategic Policy

                 Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre

        Dr. Samantha Hoffman is a Visiting Academic Fellow at the Mercator
    Institute for China Studies, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the
    Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy
    Centre. Her work explores the domestic and global implications of the
    Chinese Communist Party's ``autonomic'' approach to state security and
    social management. Her research offers new ways of thinking about how
    to understand and respond to China's pursuit of artificial intelligence
    and big data-enabled capabilities to augment political and social
    control. She holds a Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations from
    the University of Nottingham (2017), an M.Sc. in Modern Chinese Studies
    from the University of Oxford (2011), a B.A. in International Affairs
    from Florida State University (2010), and a B.A. in Chinese Language
    and Culture from Florida State University (2010).

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