[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 112 (Thursday, June 29, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E937-E938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




GAGGING THE LAWYERS: CHINA'S CRACKDOWN ON HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS AND ITS 
                 IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 29, 2017

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I made the following 
remarks at the hearing held by the Congressional-Executive Commission 
on China which I co-chair with Senator Marco Rubio regarding China's 
crackdown on human rights lawyers:
   Chinese officials repeatedly tell me I should focus more on the 
positive aspects of China and not dwell so much on the negative.
   That is an extremely difficult task when you read the horrifying and 
sadistic accounts of torture and enforced disappearances experienced by 
lawyers and rights advocates.
   It is hard to be positive when you contemplate Liu Xiaobo's cancer 
diagnosis and the fact that China effectively silenced its most 
brilliant democracy advocate.
   The empty chair at Oslo speaks volumes about the Communist Party's 
abiding fear that freedom will upend the power of the privileged few 
when they should be seeing liberty as a path to greater peace and 
prosperity.
   At a hearing last month in the Subcommittee on Global Human Rights 
in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I heard testimony from the 
wives of five detained or disappeared human rights lawyers. These 
courageous women have become effective advocates from their husbands 
and for all those detained in the ``709'' crackdown.
   They described in horrifying detail the physical, mental, and 
psychological torture experienced by their husbands, including marathon 
interrogation sessions, sleep deprivation, beatings, crippling leg 
torture, and prolonged submersion in water.
   Many of their husbands also were forced to take alarming quantities 
of drugs including tranquilizers, barbiturates, antipsychotic drugs, 
and other unknown substances daily.
   What they described was shocking, offensive, immoral, and inhumane. 
It is also possible that Chinese officials believe the international 
community will not hold them accountable.
   After the hearing, I wrote to the heads of the American Medical 
Association, the American Psychological Association, the World Health 
Organization, as well as to Secretary of State Tillerson and Ambassador 
Nikki Haley.
   I have asked for condemnation of the practice of torture and medical 
experimentation on

[[Page E938]]

prisoners of conscience. I have also asked for investigations so that 
serious questions will be asked of the Chinese government.
   Finally, I have asked for accountability. I have urged Secretary 
Tillerson to start investigations under the Global Magnitsky Act, a 
bill that I lead on the House side last year, so that any Chinese 
government officials complicit in torture should never be allowed to 
benefit from entry to the U.S. or access to our financial system.
   The issues of torture and ``residential surveillance in a designated 
location''--effectively enforced disappearances--will be priorities of 
mine and of this Commission moving forward. I believe these are issues 
where diverse and multi-level coalitions can be built to raise issues 
with the Chinese government.
   I would also like to do more to prioritize the protection of human 
rights lawyers and their families.
   At the hearing last month I heard the phrase ``The War on Law'' used 
to describe the systematic effort to eviscerate the network of human 
rights lawyers.
   That phrase struck me because, though the number of human rights 
lawyers in China is small, what they stand for was nothing less than 
the rule of law for everyone--particularly those persecuted or 
aggrieved by the Communist Party.
   They stand for the right of everyone in China--religious believers, 
ethnic minority, petitioners, labor activists, or victim of corruption 
or a barbaric population control policies--to have a fair hearing, due 
process, and a justice that is not politicized.
   The Communist Party sees this as a dangerous idea. It means that 
they should be accountable to the people--to hundreds of millions of 
people in fact seeking redress for persecution and Party corruption.
   Xi Jinping is feted in Davos for his commitments to openness and the 
rule of law, but it is rule of law for the few and privileged and rule 
by law for the rest.
   The failure to implement the rule of law, to favor a type of 
lawlessness in the pursuit of keeping the Communist Party in power, has 
serious and lasting implications for U.S.-China relations.
   We must recognize, after the failure of two and a half decades of 
the engagement policies, that China's domestic repression drives its 
external aggression, its mercantilist trade policies, and its 
unimaginable decisions to keep propping up a murderous North Korean 
regime.
   I know the Chinese government wants me to focus on positive things. 
I think one positive development here is that the spouses (and 
families) of rights advocates and lawyers have given Beijing a rightly 
deserved headache. They have refused to be silent about their spouse's 
detentions or disappearances and have used the Internet and media to 
get out their message.
   This trend is something new, something different, something we need 
to honor because they are under great pressure to be silent--through 
intimidation, harassment, and detention.
   I want to say to our witness Chongyu (CHONG-YOU) that we appreciate 
your testimony here today and the fact that you are speaking out on 
behalf of your father. We want you to know that this Commission is an 
advocate for you, your family, and your father.
   If you or your family face reprisals because of your testimony here 
today, the Congress will take it as a personal affront to the work of 
this body.
   I know your petition has gathered 94,000 signatures, please make 
sure that my name is 94,001.
   The one thing that gives me hope is that the people of China long 
for liberty, justice and opportunity.
   The need for principled and consistent American leadership is more 
important than ever, as China's growing economic power, and persistent 
diplomatic efforts, have succeeded in dampening global criticism of its 
escalating repression and failures to adhere to universal standards.
   The U.S. must be a beacon of liberty and a champion of individual 
rights and freedoms. The U.S. must also continue to be a voice for 
those silenced, jailed, or repressed in China.
  We cannot . . . will not . . . forget those in China bravely seeking 
liberty and justice and the unalienable rights we all share. Like 
China's human rights lawyers--and like Liu Xiaobo--those who bravely 
seek peaceful change in China.
  It is their stand for liberty, human rights, and the rule of law that 
remain the best hope for a peaceful and prosperous future for the U.S. 
and China.

                          ____________________