[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 127 (Friday, July 27, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1101-E1102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SUPPRESSION, SURVEILLANCE, AND MASS DETENTION: XINJIANG'S HUMAN RIGHTS 
                                 CRISIS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 27, 2018

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we held a hearing at 
the Congressional-Executive Commission on China on the human rights 
crisis in the Xinjiang province of China, which I co-chair. I commend 
Senator Rubio for holding this hearing, as there is a dire need to 
shine a light on the stunning and outrageous detention of nearly one 
million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
  What is clear from news reports is that Uyghurs are being detained in 
``reeducation centers'' throughout Xinjiang. Those interned are being 
asked to renounce Islam, inform on their families for ``extremism,'' 
and parrot their love for Xi Jinping and the Communist Party.
  Whole families disappear, children are detained, students studying 
abroad and soccer players are detained because of their ``foreign'' 
contacts. There are reports of suicides and deaths and mistreatment in 
these detention centers.
  Human rights champion Rebiya Kadeer's whole family--sons, daughters 
in law, grandchildren have disappeared. The disappearance of the 
families of other Uyghurs has also happened--like Radio Free Asia's 
heroic journalists.
  It is mind-boggling. The Chinese government is constructing a high-
tech police state in Xinjiang. The goal is to forcibly assimilate and 
``transform'' entire ethnic minority populations.
  All this is being done in the name of counter-terrorism and counter-
extremism. But China's repression may just create the extremism that 
they fear.
  Over the past year, the world has started to see too many comparisons 
between the Nazis and the current Chinese government.
  For example, Liu Xiaobo was the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to 
die in state custody since Carl Von Ossietzky died in Nazi custody.
  Now nearly one million are detained in what should be called 
concentration camps--the largest jailing of an ethnic and religious 
minority maybe since the Holocaust, certainly since the apartheid days 
in South Africa.
  ``Reeducation'' is certainly not a new tactic in China. Tibetans, 
Falun Gong and other dissidents have experienced ``reeducation through 
labor''--but the size and scale of what is happening to the Uyghurs is 
audaciously repressive, even by China's low standards.
  Where is the outrage? Where is the anger? I commend the State 
Department and Secretary Pompeo for their public statements. But why 
has the Organization of Islamic Cooperation been silent? What has 
Turkey and other Turkic nations been doing to address this issue?
  Every business, non-governmental organization, academic, and 
government that interacts with the Chinese government and Communist 
Party risks its integrity by remaining silent.
  There should be a concerted effort to convince the International 
Olympic Committee to consider whether the Olympic goal can be 
accomplished in 2022 if China maintains an apartheid-like police state 
that targets Muslim minorities.
  How can any law firm or lobby shop shill for the government of China 
while Uyghurs are so brutally and forcefully assimilated? Or when

[[Page E1102]]

Tibetans, Christians, human rights lawyers, and Falun Gong are 
systematically repressed?
  I heard Frank Wolf say recently that in the 1980s, no firm would have 
dared to work for the Soviet Union--but now China's cash is too 
tempting to turn down even for some of my former House colleagues.
  Shame. Shame. It is really a shame.
  I wonder if the Congress can limit U.S. government contracts by the 
exact amount lobby firms receive from China, Russia, or some other 
authoritarian government?
  That would make for some interesting business choices. Either make no 
profit from your dealings with China or choose to represent an 
increasingly repressive and authoritarian Chinese government.
  No one should profit from representing authoritarian countries, 
particularly when they constantly seek to undermine U.S. values and 
interests.
  Chinese officials should also not profit from their complicity in 
torture and arbitrary detentions. This is the exact reason the Congress 
passed the Global Magnitsky Act.
  The Senator and I have urged the State Department to consider levying 
Magnitsky sanctions on officials in Xinjiang. We will continue to do 
so.
  We urge anyone with specific and credible information about Chinese 
government officials complicit in human rights abuses in Xinjiang to 
send that information to us. We will make sure it gets to the State 
Department.
  I also think the sanctions available in the International Religious 
Freedom Act of 1998 should be considered, particularly broad economic 
sanctions targeting industries in Xinjiang that benefit China's 
political leaders or State-Owned Entities.
  China has been designated as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' 
since 1999. That designation carries with it the possibility of 
economic sanctions. This lever should be used now because, in my 
opinion, what is happening in Xinjiang is currently the world's worst 
religious freedom situation.
  Targeted and tough economic sanctions are the only way to convince 
China's leaders that they have a clear interest in ending repression of 
China's Muslim minorities.
  There is also an important role for the UN here. I am glad that 
Ambassador Currie is here with us today. What is happening in Xinjiang 
are clear violations of international treaties in many respects.
  According to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of 
the Crime of Genocide, crimes of genocide are not confined to mass 
killing of an ethnic group; they also include ``Causing serious bodily 
or mental harm to members of the group'' and ``Deliberately inflicting 
on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical 
destruction in whole or in part.''
  Personal accounts from Xinjiang's re-education camps seem consistent 
with these definitions. We should not be ignoring the early warning 
signs. Actions need to be taken to prevent crimes against humanity.
  I realize that China's veto on the UN Security Council will create 
obstacles to any UN investigation, but we should be making them use 
that veto, request a briefing at the Security Council, and bring 
together the OIC and other Muslim majority countries to raise the issue 
within the UN system.
  At a time when the Chinese government is seeking to gain allies 
through its Belt and Road initiative, it would seem the last thing they 
want is an international debate about their treatment of ethnic and 
religious minorities.
  Finally, I want to commend the exemplary work of Radio Free Asia's 
Uyghur Service reporters. Despite threats to their families they have 
kept working and have provided us with an extraordinary record of 
events. Your courage and professionalism are admirable. Thank you.
  Again, I commend Senator Rubio for holding this important hearing to 
shine a light on an outrageous and horrible situation.
  We all need to believe in the power of light and sunshine because 
evil flourishes in the dark.

                          ____________________