[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 27, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H2293-H2300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY ACT OF 2020

  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 3744) to condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic 
Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary 
detention, torture, and harassment of these communities inside and 
outside China.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                S. 3744

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

       (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Uyghur 
     Human Rights Policy Act of 2020''.
       (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act 
     is as follows:
       Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
       Sec. 2. Statement of purpose.
       Sec. 3. Findings.
       Sec. 4. Sense of Congress.
       Sec. 5. Updating statement of United States policy toward 
           the People's Republic of China.
       Sec. 6. Imposition of sanctions.
       Sec. 7. Report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uyghur 
           Autonomous Region.
       Sec. 8. Report on protecting citizens and residents of the 
           United States from intimidation and coercion.
       Sec. 9. Report on security and economic implications of 
           repression in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the 
           Government of the People's Republic of China.
       Sec. 10. Classified report.

     SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this Act is to direct United States 
     resources to address human rights violations and abuses, 
     including gross violations of human rights, by the Government 
     of the People's Republic of China through the mass 
     surveillance and internment of over 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic 
     Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups 
     in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

     SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Government of the People's Republic of China has a 
     long history of repressing Turkic Muslims and other Muslim 
     minority groups, particularly Uyghurs, in Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region. In recent decades, central and regional 
     Chinese government policies have systematically discriminated 
     against these minority groups by denying them a range of 
     civil and political rights, including the freedom of 
     expression, religion, and movement, and the right to a fair 
     trial.
       (2) In May 2014, the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China launched its latest ``Strike Hard Against Violent 
     Extremism'' campaign, using wide-scale, internationally-
     linked threats of terrorism as a pretext to justify pervasive 
     restrictions on and serious human rights violations of 
     members of ethnic minority communities in Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region. The August 2016 appointment of former 
     Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo to be 
     Party Secretary of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 
     accelerated the crackdown across the region. Scholars, human 
     rights organizations, journalists, and think tanks have 
     provided ample evidence substantiating the establishment by 
     the Government of the People's Republic of China of 
     internment camps. Since 2014, the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China has detained more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, 
     ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 
     groups in these camps. The total ethnic minority population 
     of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was approximately 
     13,000,000 at the time of the last census conducted by the 
     People's Republic of China in 2010.
       (3) The Government of the People's Republic of China's 
     actions against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members 
     of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 
     Region violate international human rights laws and norms, 
     including--
       (A) the International Convention on the Elimination of All 
     Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which the People's 
     Republic of China has acceded;
       (B) the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman 
     or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the People's 
     Republic of China has signed and ratified;
       (C) the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
     Rights, which the People's Republic of China has signed; and
       (D) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
       (4) Senior Chinese Communist Party officials, including 
     current Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Secretary 
     Chen Quanguo, who executes Chinese government policy in the 
     region, and former Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Deputy 
     Party Secretary Zhu Hailun, who crafted many of the policies 
     implemented in the region, bear direct responsibility for 
     gross human rights violations committed against Uyghurs, 
     ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 
     groups. These abuses include the arbitrary detention of more 
     than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members 
     of other Muslim minority groups, separation of working age 
     adults from children and the elderly, and the integration of 
     forced labor into supply chains.
       (5) Those detained in internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region have described forced political 
     indoctrination, torture, beatings, food deprivation, and 
     denial of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms. These 
     victims have confirmed that they were told by guards that the 
     only way to secure their release was to demonstrate 
     sufficient political loyalty. Poor conditions and lack of 
     medical treatment at such facilities appear to have 
     contributed to the deaths of some detainees, including the 
     elderly and infirm.
       (6) Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs who have obtained permanent 
     residence or citizenship in other countries report being 
     subjected to threats and harassment from Chinese officials. 
     At least 5 journalists for Radio Free Asia's Uyghur service 
     have publicly detailed abuses their family members in 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have endured in response to 
     their work exposing the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China's abusive policies.
       (7) In September 2018, United Nations High Commissioner for 
     Human Rights Michelle Bachelet noted in her first speech as 
     High Commissioner the ``deeply disturbing allegations of 
     large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim 
     communities, in so-called reeducation camps across 
     Xinjiang''.
       (8) In 2019, the Congressional-Executive Commission on 
     China concluded that, based on available evidence, the 
     establishment and actions committed in the internment camps 
     in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region may constitute ``crimes 
     against humanity''.
       (9) On December 31, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed 
     into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (Public 
     Law 115-409), which--
       (A) condemns the People's Republic of China's ``forced 
     disappearances, extralegal detentions, invasive and 
     omnipresent surveillance, and lack of due process in judicial 
     proceedings'';
       (B) authorizes funding to promote democracy, human rights, 
     and the rule of law in the People's Republic of China; and
       (C) supports sanctions designations against any entity or 
     individual that--
       (i) violates human rights or religious freedoms; or
       (ii) engages in censorship activities.

     SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the President should--
       (A) condemn abuses against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, 
     members of other Muslim minority groups, and other persons by 
     authorities of the People's Republic of China; and
       (B) call on such authorities to immediately--
       (i) close the internment camps;
       (ii) lift all restrictions on, and ensure respect for, 
     human rights; and
       (iii) allow people inside the People's Republic of China to 
     reestablish contact with their loved ones, friends, and 
     associates outside the People's Republic of China;
       (2) the Secretary of State should consider strategically 
     employing sanctions and other tools under the International 
     Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.), 
     including measures resulting from the designation of the 
     People's Republic of China as a country of particular concern 
     for religious freedom under section 402(b)(1)(A)(ii) of such 
     Act (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(ii)), that directly address 
     particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
       (3) the Secretary of State should--
       (A) work with United States allies and partners and through 
     multilateral institutions to condemn the mass arbitrary 
     detention of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of 
     other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 
     Region; and
       (B) coordinate closely with the international community on 
     targeted sanctions and visa restrictions;
       (4) the journalists of the Uyghur language service of Radio 
     Free Asia should be commended for their reporting on the 
     human rights and political situation in Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region despite efforts by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China to silence or intimidate their 
     reporting through the detention of family members and 
     relatives in China;
       (5) the United States should expand the availability of and 
     capacity for Uyghur language programming on Radio Free Asia 
     in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
       (6) the Federal Bureau of Investigation and appropriate 
     United States law enforcement agencies should take steps to 
     hold accountable officials from the People's Republic of 
     China or individuals acting on their behalf who harass, 
     threaten, or intimidate persons within the United States; and
       (7) United States companies and individuals selling goods 
     or services or otherwise operating in Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region should take steps, including in any public 
     or financial filings, to ensure that--

[[Page H2294]]

       (A) their commercial activities are not contributing to 
     human rights violations in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 
     or elsewhere in China; and
       (B) their supply chains are not compromised by forced 
     labor.

     SEC. 5. UPDATING STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD THE 
                   PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

       Section 901(b) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, 
     Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (Public Law 101-246; 104 Stat. 84) 
     is amended--
       (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7), (8), and (9) as 
     paragraphs (8), (9), and (10), respectively; and
       (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following:
       ``(7) United States policy toward the People's Republic of 
     China should be explicitly linked to the situation in 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, specifically as to 
     whether--
       ``(A) the internment of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, 
     and members of other Muslim minority groups in internment 
     camps has ended;
       ``(B) all political prisoners are released;
       ``(C) the use of mass surveillance and predictive policing 
     to discriminate against and violate the human rights of 
     members of specific ethnic groups has ceased and is not 
     evident in other parts of China; and
       ``(D) the Government of the People's Republic of China has 
     ended particularly severe restrictions of religious and 
     cultural practice in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;''.

     SEC. 6. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.

       (a) Report Required.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than 
     annually thereafter, the President shall submit a report to 
     the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the 
     Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
     Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives, and the Committee on Financial Services of 
     the House of Representatives that identifies each foreign 
     person, including any official of the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China, that the President determines is 
     responsible for any of the following with respect to Uyghurs, 
     ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, members of other Muslim minority 
     groups, or other persons in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 
     Region:
       (A) Torture.
       (B) Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
       (C) Prolonged detention without charges and trial.
       (D) Causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction 
     and clandestine detention of those persons.
       (E) Other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or 
     the security of persons.
       (2) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be 
     submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
     annex.
       (b) Imposition of Sanctions.--The President shall impose 
     the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to 
     each foreign person identified in the report required under 
     subsection (a)(1).
       (c) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this 
     subsection are the following:
       (1) Asset blocking.--The President shall exercise all of 
     the powers granted to the President under the International 
     Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the 
     extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in 
     property and interests in property of a foreign person 
     identified in the report required under subsection (a)(1) if 
     such property and interests in property--
       (A) are in the United States;
       (B) come within the United States; or
       (C) come within the possession or control of a United 
     States person.
       (2) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--
       (A) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien described in 
     subsection (a)(1) is--
       (i) inadmissible to the United States;
       (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to 
     enter the United States; and
       (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into 
     the United States or to receive any other benefit under the 
     Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
       (B) Current visas revoked.--
       (i) In general.--An alien described in subsection (a)(1) is 
     subject to revocation of any visa or other entry 
     documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry 
     documentation is or was issued.
       (ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under clause (i) 
     shall--

       (I) take effect immediately; and
       (II) cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation 
     that is in the alien's possession.

       (3) Penalties.--The penalties provided for in subsections 
     (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency 
     Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a foreign 
     person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to 
     violate, or causes a violation of paragraph (1) to the same 
     extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an 
     unlawful act described in subsection (a) of such section 206.
       (d) Implementation.--The President may exercise all 
     authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 
     International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 
     and 1704) to carry out this section.
       (e) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of 
     sanctions under this section with respect to a person 
     identified in the report required under subsection (a)(1) if 
     the President determines and certifies to the Committee on 
     Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Banking, 
     Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on 
     Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the 
     Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
     Representatives that such a waiver is in the national 
     interest of the United States.
       (f) Exceptions.--
       (1) Exception for intelligence activities.--Sanctions under 
     this section shall not apply to any activity subject to the 
     reporting requirements under title V of the National Security 
     Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized 
     intelligence activities of the United States.
       (2) Exception to comply with international obligations and 
     for law enforcement activities.--Sanctions under subsection 
     (c)(2) shall not apply with respect to an alien if admitting 
     or paroling the alien into the United States is necessary--
       (A) to permit the United States to comply with the 
     Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, 
     signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 
     November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United 
     States, or other applicable international obligations; or
       (B) to carry out or assist law enforcement activity in the 
     United States.
       (3) Exception relating to importation of goods.--
       (A) In general.--The authorities and requirements to impose 
     sanctions authorized under this section shall not include the 
     authority or a requirement to impose sanctions on the 
     importation of goods.
       (B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term ``good'' 
     means any article, natural or manmade substance, material, 
     supply, or manufactured product, including inspection and 
     test equipment, and excluding technical data.
       (g) Termination of Sanctions.--The President may terminate 
     the application of sanctions under this section with respect 
     to a person if the President determines and reports to the 
     Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee 
     on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, 
     and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
     Representatives not later than 15 days before the termination 
     takes effect that--
       (1) information exists that the person did not engage in 
     the activity for which sanctions were imposed;
       (2) the person has been prosecuted appropriately for the 
     activity for which sanctions were imposed;
       (3) the person has credibly demonstrated a significant 
     change in behavior, has paid an appropriate consequence for 
     the activity for which sanctions were imposed, and has 
     credibly committed to not engage in an activity described in 
     subsection (a)(1) in the future; or
       (4) the termination of the sanctions is in the national 
     security interests of the United States.
       (h) Sunset.--This section, and any sanctions imposed under 
     this section, shall terminate on the date that is 5 years 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (i) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Admission; admitted; alien.--The terms ``admission'', 
     ``admitted'', and ``alien'' have the meanings given those 
     terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
     (8 U.S.C. 1101).
       (2) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means a 
     person that is not a United States person.
       (3) United states person.--The term ``United States 
     person'' means--
       (A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted 
     for permanent residence to the United States; or
       (B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States 
     or any jurisdiction within the United States, including a 
     foreign branch of such an entity.

     SEC. 7. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN XINJIANG UYGHUR 
                   AUTONOMOUS REGION.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
     consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal 
     departments and agencies and civil society organizations, 
     shall--
       (1) submit a report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang 
     Uyghur Autonomous Region to the Committee on Foreign 
     Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
     of the House of Representatives; and
       (2) make the report described in paragraph (1) available on 
     the website of the Department of State.
       (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required under 
     subsection (a) shall include--
       (1) an assessment of the number of individuals detained in 
     internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
       (2) a description of the conditions in such camps for 
     detainees, including, to the extent practicable, an 
     assessment of--
       (A) methods of torture;
       (B) efforts to force individuals to renounce their faith; 
     and
       (C) other serious human rights abuses;
       (3) to the extent practicable, an assessment of the number 
     of individuals in the region in forced labor camps;

[[Page H2295]]

       (4) a description of the methods used by People's Republic 
     of China authorities to ``reeducate'' detainees in internment 
     camps, including a list of government agencies of the 
     People's Republic of China in charge of such reeducation;
       (5) an assessment of the use and nature of forced labor in 
     and related to the detention of Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang 
     Uyghur Autonomous Region, including a description of foreign 
     companies and industries directly benefitting from such 
     labor;
       (6) an assessment of the level of access to Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region granted by the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China to foreign diplomats and consular agents, 
     independent journalists, and representatives of 
     nongovernmental organizations;
       (7) an assessment of the mass surveillance, predictive 
     policing, and other methods used by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China to violate the human rights of 
     persons in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
       (8) a description of the frequency with which foreign 
     governments are forcibly returning Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 
     Kyrgyz, and other refugees and asylum seekers to the People's 
     Republic of China;
       (9) a description, as appropriate, of United States 
     diplomatic efforts with allies and other nations--
       (A) to address the gross violations of human rights in 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
       (B) to protect asylum seekers from the region; and
       (10) the identification of the offices within the 
     Department of State that are responsible for leading and 
     coordinating the diplomatic efforts referred to in paragraph 
     (9).

     SEC. 8. REPORT ON PROTECTING CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS OF THE 
                   UNITED STATES FROM INTIMIDATION AND COERCION.

       Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, in consultation with the Secretary of State, 
     shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
     of the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, 
     the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, 
     the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
     Representatives, and the Permanent Select Committee on 
     Intelligence of the House of Representatives that outlines 
     all of the efforts to protect United States citizens and 
     residents, including ethnic Uyghurs and Chinese nationals 
     legally studying or working temporarily in the United States, 
     who have experienced harassment or intimidation within the 
     United States by officials or agents of the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China.

     SEC. 9. REPORT ON SECURITY AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF 
                   REPRESSION IN XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION 
                   BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF 
                   CHINA.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Director of National 
     Intelligence, in coordination with the Secretary of State, 
     shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
     of the Senate, the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
     Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives, and the Permanent Select Committee on 
     Intelligence of the House of Representatives on the matters 
     described in subsection (b).
       (b) Matters to Be Included.-- The report required under 
     subsection (a) shall include--
       (1) an assessment of the national and regional security 
     threats posed to the United States by the policies of the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China in Xinjiang 
     Uyghur Autonomous Region;
       (2) a description of--
       (A) the acquisition or development of technology by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China to facilitate 
     internment and mass surveillance in Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region, including technology related to predictive 
     policing and large-scale data collection and analysis; and
       (B) the threats that the acquisition, development, and use 
     of such technologies pose to the United States;
       (3) a list of Chinese companies that are involved in--
       (A) constructing or operating the internment camps in 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; or
       (B) providing or operating mass surveillance technology in 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; and
       (4) a description of the role of the Xinjiang Production 
     and Construction Corps in internment and forced labor in 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
       (c) Form of Report.--The report required under subsection 
     (a) shall be submitted in an unclassified form, but may 
     contain a classified annex.

     SEC. 10. CLASSIFIED REPORT.

       The Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with 
     such elements of the Intelligence Community as the Director 
     deems appropriate, shall submit a classified report to the 
     Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the 
     Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
     Representatives that assesses the ability of the United 
     States Government to collect and analyze intelligence 
     regarding--
       (1) the scope and scale of the detention and forced labor 
     of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other 
     Muslim minority groups in the People's Republic of China;
       (2) the gross violations of human rights perpetrated inside 
     the internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; 
     and
       (3) other policies of the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that 
     constitute gross violations of human rights.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Sherman) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include in the Record extraneous material on S. 3744.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I should advise the House that we are taking up this 
bill about 1\1/2\ hours earlier than expected, and I hope that our 
colleagues from the Foreign Affairs Committee have changed their 
schedule so that they can come to join us to speak on this bill.
  Let me point out that even in a pandemic, the American Congress 
focuses on human rights.
  Madam Speaker, let me start by thanking our colleagues from both 
sides of the aisle and both Chambers for their work on this 
legislation. I especially want to thank Senators Rubio and Menendez, 
and Representatives McGovern, Sherman, Smith, Suozzi, and others who 
have worked for well more than a year, well more than 2 years in most 
cases, to focus the world's attention on the deprivation of human 
rights in Xinjiang province and to work for an appropriate American 
response.
  The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act is the result of tireless work 
from so many individuals who focus on human rights. We have seen the 
reporting, the interviews, the pictures, the documentaries. The 
evidence is overwhelming: The Chinese Government has brutally detained 
and reeducated or sought to reeducate over 1 million Uyghurs and other 
ethnic minorities, chiefly Muslim minorities, in the northwest of 
China. It is horrific.
  The goal of this inhumane campaign is clear: to force these 
minorities to assimilate, to erase all evidence of their unique 
language, culture, history, and religion.
  Beijing has relied heavily on technology to carry out this abuse, 
transforming the Uyghur region of Xinjiang into a surveillance state. 
But even as the world has learned more and more about the extent of 
these atrocities, there has been nowhere near enough action.
  Beijing has leveraged its economic clout to silence criticism of its 
horrific human rights abuses. So many countries, particularly Muslim 
countries that always speak out when any group of Muslims is being 
denied their human rights, have been pressured into silence. Now, China 
wants the world to forget about the Uyghurs as we grapple with this 
global pandemic.
  We must push back. Today, we send a message loud and clear: We stand 
with the Uyghurs. We will fight for the oppressed. And we will not 
forget.
  By passing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act today, the United 
States takes a meaningful step toward holding the perpetrators 
accountable. This bill will impose sanctions on those individuals 
responsible for human rights violations in Xinjiang. It also calls on 
our government experts to issue reports that can improve our 
understanding of the situation on the ground.
  The persecution of the Uyghurs is one of the greatest human rights 
tragedies currently taking place. We must stand on the right side of 
history and respond decisively. This legislation is a critical step 
forward, and I am proud to support its passage. I hope all Members of 
this body will join me in that effort, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, the last several months have made it clear to the 
entire world that the Chinese Communist

[[Page H2296]]

Party, or the CCP, has little regard for human life. When faced with a 
decision, they have chosen and will continue to choose to preserve 
their own power over helping their own people.
  Rather than alert the world to the true dangers the coronavirus posed 
to the world, they instead lied and orchestrated the worst coverup in 
human history, exposing the Chinese people and the entire world to a 
virus that has killed over 350,000 people, including nearly 100,000 
innocent Americans. Another 5.5 million have been infected worldwide, 
and those numbers only continue to climb.
  This atrocity is far from the only example of the CCP prioritizing 
its power over human life and liberty. At this very moment, the CCP's 
rubber-stamp legislature is working to dismantle Hong Kong's freedoms. 
Under the guise of national security legislation, the CCP plans to 
expand its police state to Hong Kong and fundamentally change Hong 
Kongers' way of life, freedom, and autonomy.
  The CCP is showing the world that they are willing to tear up the 
international commitments they made to preserve freedom in Hong Kong.

  We can no longer stand idly by while the CCP consolidates its power 
at the expense of freedom around the world. The ultimate example of 
what the CCP is willing to do in the name of national security has been 
clear for some time, and that is the cultural genocide of the Uyghurs 
and other ethnic minority Muslim groups in western China.
  Over the last several years, these ethnic minorities have been 
rounded up and forced into concentration camps where they are 
brainwashed with state propaganda and forced to do grueling work as 
part of their ``reform.''
  They live under a complete Orwellian surveillance program, an 
apparatus tracking their every move. Some have been tortured and 
killed. Others have been disappeared from their families, never to be 
returned, with no explanation from the CCP.
  That is why I stand today in strong support of the Uyghur Human 
Rights Policy Act.
  The goal of the Chinese Government is to completely eradicate an 
entire culture simply because it doesn't fit within what the Chinese 
Communist Party deems ``Chinese.'' They want to remove the cultural, 
religious, and ethnic identity the Uyghurs have and indoctrinate them 
so that they love the Chinese Communist Party more than their family, 
their culture, or their religion. In total, 1 to 3 million Chinese 
citizens have been subjected to the state-sponsored cultural genocide.
  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called this the ``stain of the 
century,'' and he is absolutely right.
  That is why we can't sit idly by and allow this to continue. As I 
have said before, our silence will be complicit, and our inaction will 
be our appeasement. But today we are acting, Madam Speaker, as a beacon 
of hope and freedom to the rest of the world, and the United States has 
a responsibility to take action.
  Now is the time for all of us, Republican and Democrat, as Americans 
to stand together and show the CCP that their egregious human rights 
abuses will not go unchecked. We can do that by passing this bill today 
with strong bipartisan support to show the Chinese Communist Party and 
the entire world that their treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs is 
inexcusable and will not be allowed without serious consequences.
  This legislation requires the President to submit a report that 
identifies Chinese Communist Party officials who have carried out these 
heinous crimes. These officials may then be sanctioned for their 
complicity.
  This bill also requires a separate human rights report that 
highlights abuses specifically to Xinjiang, China.
  Madam Speaker, I am hopeful that this is just one of many bipartisan 
actions that we can take as we push back on the world's most oppressive 
dictatorship.
  We must acknowledge that the CCP is the greatest economic and 
national security threat of this generation. We must face this threat 
not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans.
  As the chairman of the recently announced China Task Force in the 
House, I look forward to working with my colleagues to plan decisive 
action to push back on the CCP. We cannot allow the CCP to remain 
unchallenged on the world stage.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), chair of the Rules Committee, chair of 
the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, co-chair of the Tom 
Lantos Human Rights Commission, and a man who is known for his 
dedication to human rights.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, today, I am proud the House and Senate 
have come together in a bipartisan way to pass S. 3744, the Uyghur 
Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.
  This is monumental legislation that provides the administration a 
clear direction for implementing U.S. policy and sends a clear message 
that the United States supports the human rights of Uyghurs and other 
ethnic minority groups in China.
  I thank Congressmen Chris Smith, Brad Sherman, and  Tom Suozzi, and 
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul for 
their leadership on this bill.
  We now believe that as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other ethnic 
minority groups have been arbitrarily detained in mass internment camps 
and subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination.
  In recent months, we have seen leaked internal Chinese Government 
documents that show the scope and implementation of the mass internment 
camp system, including: evidence that the camp system is organized at 
the direction of top Chinese Government officials, documentation that 
punishments can be based on the behavior of their relatives outside the 
camps, outlining the use of coercive force and punishment inflicted 
upon inmates in a manual, guidance for how Chinese officials should use 
surveillance to determine who to detain in the camps, and evidence of 
the assignment of mass internment camp detainees to forced labor.

                              {time}  1230

  There can be no doubt that the Chinese Government is trying to stamp 
out the Uyghur identity. The policies of the Chinese Government 
contravene the letter and the spirit of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and violate the government's obligations under the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has 
signed but not ratified, and the International Covenant on Economic, 
Social, and Cultural Rights ratified by China in 2001.
  It is important to always make clear that our criticism is focused on 
the Chinese Government. We respect the Chinese people, many of whom 
have suffered from and are victims of the authoritarian policies of the 
government.
  Last year, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which I 
chair, published a report making the case that the persecution of 
Uyghurs may fit the definition of crimes against humanity as defined in 
Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
  In March, the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at 
the Holocaust Memorial Museum also determined that there is a 
``reasonable basis to believe that the Government of China is 
committing crimes against humanity.''
  Passage of the legislation is an important first step, but there is 
much more that we need to do.
  First, the administration should impose Global Magnitsky Act 
sanctions on Chinese officials who are directing ongoing human rights 
abuses, including Chen Quanguo, the Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary.
  Second, the administration should further expand the Commerce 
Department's ``Entity List,'' which imposes restrictions on businesses 
and entities that provide technology, training, or equipment that has 
been used in mass detentions or surveillance.
  Third, I have introduced the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, H.R. 
6210, that would prohibit imports from Xinjiang to the United States 
unless companies can prove that their goods were not produced with 
forced labor.
  Too many U.S. and international companies are complicit in the 
exploitation of the forced labor of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities.
  I am proud to stand in solidarity with the Uyghur, Chinese, Tibetan,

[[Page H2297]]

and, indeed, all the people living under the rule of the Chinese 
Government in their struggle to live freely, practice their religious 
beliefs freely, and speak their own languages freely.
  I look forward to the passage of this legislation and continuing our 
bipartisan work together to support human rights in China.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the House sponsor of the Uyghur Human Rights 
Policy Act.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my good 
friend for his very strong remarks today and his leadership, Brad 
Sherman as well, and, of course,  Jim McGovern, as chairman, and I, as 
the ranking member of the China Commission, for the work that we have 
been doing to try to bring light to this terrible human rights tragedy, 
this genocide that is being committed against the Uyghur people.
  Madam Speaker, Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping's ongoing 
genocide against the approximately 10 million Uyghurs living in 
Xinjiang in northwestern China demands action.
  Today, more than a million Uyghurs are in concentration camps. 
Millions more are harassed, beaten, raped, and tortured.
  S. 3744, which is nearly identical to legislation H.R. 649 that I and 
my good friend Mr. Suozzi and 136 bipartisan cosponsors introduced 17 
months ago, requires the administration to categorize and report on the 
human rights abuses being committed by the Chinese Government and take 
specific steps to sanction China's officials for these abuses, 
including visa denial and asset blocking, the essence of the Magnitsky 
Act, which is the prohibition of all financial transactions by an 
abuser.
  Madam Speaker, at a 2018 congressional hearing, Mihrigul Tursun 
recounted her ordeal with torture, sexual abuse, and detention in one 
of Xi Jinping's concentration camps. She broke down weeping, telling us 
that she pleaded with God to end her life. Her Chinese jailers 
restrained her to a table, increased the electrical current coursing 
through her body, and mocked her belief in God.
  She was tortured simply because she was an ethnic Uyghur and a Muslim 
living in China.
  Madam Speaker, there are millions of stories like this waiting to be 
told about the crimes against humanity being committed by the Chinese 
Government against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic Muslims.
  There are many people--we all know them; I have had them at my 
hearings in the past--women and men who have had their entire families 
back in this region, Xinjiang, arrested and put into concentration 
camps and harassed in other ways.
  Chinese authorities initially denied the existence of the 
concentration camps and even tried to portray them as vocational 
training centers. What a euphemism. They employed lies, censorship, and 
economic coercion to stifle discussion of their crimes.
  Where have we heard that before? Look at what is going on with COVID-
19 and the deceit and the lies that have come from Xi Jinping himself.
  But documents obtained by The New York Times and the International 
Consortium of Investigative Journalists have, indeed, exposed the 
brutality behind Beijing's plans to radically and coercively transform 
the culture and religion of ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslims.
  The leaked documents showed detailed plans to intern between 1 and 3 
million Uyghurs into concentration camps, where they are subjected to 
severe human rights abuse and Orwellian indoctrination efforts for 
those whose thinking ``has been infected''--that is to say, they are 
Muslims. To Xi Jinping, that is something that needs to be obliterated.
  At the same time, Beijing instituted plans to erase the influence of 
Islam in western China, bulldozing mosques and shrines, severely 
throttling all religious practice, and forcing camp detainees to 
renounce their faith.
  The leaked documents also show that Xi Jinping, himself, the so-
called President--not elected by the people, of course--Xi Jinping, 
himself, directed the crackdown, saying that the Communist Party must 
put the ``organs of dictatorship'' to work and show ``absolutely no 
mercy'' in dealing with the Uyghurs and other Muslims.
  In one speech, President Xi said: ``The weapons of the people's 
democratic dictatorship must be wielded without any hesitation or 
wavering.''
  Continuing the quote, in February 2017, he told thousands of police 
officers and troops standing at attention in a vast square in Urumqi to 
prepare for a ``smashing, obliterating offensive,'' which is exactly 
what they have done.
  According to documents obtained again by The New York Times, 
Communist Party officials who were reluctant to carry out Xi Jinping's 
draconian and horrific policies were themselves investigated and 
expunged. ``Secret teams of investigators have traveled across the 
region identifying those who were not doing enough. In 2017, the party 
opened more than 12,000 investigations into party members in 
Xinjiang.''
  Madam Speaker, we cannot be silent.
  Xi Jinping is smashing and obliterating an entire people. He is 
presiding over a genocide.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi), a woman who has dedicated literally decades of 
her life to fighting for human rights, particularly in China, the 
distinguished Speaker of the House.
  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I 
thank him and Mr. McCaul, Mr. Engel, the chairman, ranking member, and 
senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee for bringing this 
important legislation to the floor. It is an honor to be here with all 
of them, and with Mr. Suozzi, who has been a champion for religious 
rights throughout the world.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Smith and I go back decades in our fight for human 
rights in China, whether it is in Tibet, whether it is in Beijing, 
whether it is in Hong Kong. The list goes on and on. I thank Mr. Smith 
for his ongoing leadership.
  Madam Speaker, I also thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. 
McGovern, the chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 
and chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Mr. Smith is the 
ranking member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and 
I thank Mr. Smith.
  Today in this House of Representatives, in a very strong, bipartisan 
way, we are sending a message to the persecuted that they are not 
forgotten. We are saying to the President of China: ``You may tell 
these people that they are forgotten, but they aren't.''
  On the floor of the House of Representatives, in bipartisan, 
bicameral legislation, we are here in support of the Uyghur Human 
Rights Policy Act, strong bipartisan legislation to address and defend 
the rights and dignity of the Uyghur people from China's oppression.
  Today, again, we are sending that message even as we are heartbroken 
as to what China's people are suffering in terms of COVID-19 and that 
crisis. We are sad about that.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Chris Smith, again, and Mr. Engel and Mr. 
McCaul. I thank Senator Rubio, also, for his leadership on this 
legislation. He has been a champion working with us on the China 
issues.
  Beijing's barbarous actions targeting the Uyghur people are an 
outrage to the collective conscience of the world. Across Xinjiang, a 
Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities 
face brutal oppression, as Mr. Smith was pointing out:
  A pervasive state of mass surveillance and predictive policing used 
to discriminate and violate the human rights of minorities;

  The mass incarceration of more than 1 million--and that is a small 
number, a very conservative, small number--innocent people, with 
beatings, solitary confinement, deprivation of food and medical 
treatment, and the number is probably much larger than that;
  Forced sterilizations and other forms of torture;
  Incidents of mass shootings, extrajudicial killings, and the 
intimidation and suppression of journalists courageously exposing the 
truth.
  Today, with this overwhelming bipartisan legislation, the United 
States Congress is taking a firm step to counter Beijing's horrific 
human rights abuses against the Uyghurs.

[[Page H2298]]

  In the House, when brought to the floor in December, this legislation 
passed on a nearly unanimous basis. In the Senate, it passed under 
unanimous consent, with more than 50 cosponsors from both sides of the 
aisle.
  This legislation helps uncover the truth, requiring reports by the 
Director of National Intelligence, State Department, and FBI about the 
depths of the crisis and about China's campaign against journalists 
exposing the facts.
  It creates accountability and ensures transparency of Chinese and 
foreign companies involved in the camps, and it engages the full 
firepower of American law and leadership, including by urging the 
application of targeted sanctions against those involved in the 
oppression of the Uyghur people.
  We must continue to raise a drumbeat and shine a light on the abuse 
perpetrated by Beijing against the Uyghurs whenever we can--from this 
House floor, to the State Department, to our multilateral institutions.
  Last Friday, as Speaker, I had the honor of appointing Nury Turkel, a 
human rights champion who was born in a camp in the Xinjiang region, to 
the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 
largely focused, with Ambassador Brownback's leadership, on freedom of 
religion in many countries. There, I am confident that he will continue 
to be a powerful voice for the Uyghur people and for the cause of 
justice around the world.
  In just over a week--just think of it--the global community will mark 
the solemn milestone of 31 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre, 
when students, workers, and citizens were gunned down as they 
peacefully defied an oppressive regime to demand their liberties and 
human rights.
  Sadly, today, Beijing's human rights abuses continue--blatantly 
continue--targeting so many, from the decades-long abuse faced by the 
Tibetan people--many of us have visited Tibet and seen firsthand what 
is happening there--to Hong Kong's fight for democracy and the rule of 
law, which has once again been targeted in recent days in a very 
shameful way, to the jailing of journalists, human rights lawyers, 
Christians, and democracy advocates throughout the mainland.

                              {time}  1245

  To honor all who have been persecuted, we must renew our commitment 
to speaking out against China's human rights abuses. If America does 
not speak out for human rights in China because of some commercial 
interest, then we lose all moral authority to speak out on human rights 
violations anyplace in the world. It is a challenge to our conscience. 
We must do the right thing, and that is what we are doing today.
  In honor of the millions fighting for their dignity, safety, and 
rights in China and around the world, I strongly urge a bipartisan vote 
for the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020.
  I again thank those responsible, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Engel, Mr. Sherman, 
Mr. Smith, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mr. Suozzi, 
who has been a champion, as I say, on religious freedom throughout the 
world.
  I want to close by commending Mr. McGovern, again, for being 
relentless and persistent in terms of shining a bright light on human 
rights violations throughout world and especially in China.
  Madam Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, so I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Suozzi), an advocate for human and religious rights.
  Mr. SUOZZI. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman, the ranking member, 
and Congressman Smith for their good work and partnership on this 
issue.
  I thank Chairman McGovern and Speaker Pelosi for their leadership on 
all issues of human rights.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Uyghur 
Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which holds the Chinese Communist 
Party accountable for the horrific treatment of Uyghur Muslim 
minorities, including forced labor camps in western China, over 1 
million Uyghurs in mass internment who are subjected to systemized 
brainwashing, Big Brother-like surveillance, and gross violations of 
their religious freedom.
  Since President Nixon went to China in 1971, most Americans have 
believed that with increased economic integration and exposure to our 
system of democracy and our way of life, that China would become more 
like us. Clearly, that has not happened.
  Not only does the Chinese Communist Party reject any real steps 
toward democracy, withhold information from the world community 
regarding the coronavirus, continue its unfair trade practices, and 
cheat by stealing our intellectual property, but it continually 
violates human rights, as we have seen, not only in Xinjiang with the 
Uyghurs, but also in Tibet with the Buddhists, and in Hong Kong with 
the students and the journalists.
  Representative Chris Smith and I originally introduced legislation 
regarding abuse of the Uyghurs in November of 2018 and, while it has 
taken too long, it is never too late to speak out for human rights and 
penalize China for its egregious violations.
  Madam Speaker, Uyghur families are prohibited from practicing their 
faith. They are often separated from their family members and 
prohibited from reading the Koran and making their daily prayers and, 
in some instances, they are forced to eat pork during Ramadan.
  The so-called ``re-education camps'' in China, where Uyghurs are 
forced to work in textile or manufacturing jobs in or near mass 
internment camps are not only repugnant to our values, but also taint 
global supply chains.
  The brutal, religious-based persecution of the Uyghurs in China is 
alarming but not new. China has continued to repress anyone who does 
not conform to their system, including Tibetans, Christians, and the 
people of Hong Kong.
  Just last week in Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party proposed 
national security legislation that would erode Hong Kong's autonomy and 
civil liberties. We must remain vigilant.
  This bill holds the Chinese Communist Party and Politburo members 
like Chen Quanguo accountable for their abuses.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this 
important, bipartisan legislation.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), an advocate for human rights.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California 
for his leadership. I thank Mr. Smith for his leadership as well, and 
the gentleman from Texas, my colleague, for his leadership; and 
listening to the Speaker for her continued years of leadership.
  The treatment of Uyghurs in China, which warranted the call for the 
Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, S. 3744, the treatment is of 
such volcanic, mammoth proportions that we cannot even describe it on 
this floor.
  We, in America, take our faith so seriously. We are gratified that 
whatever our faith is, and whatever the time that we have for our 
particular faith, whether we go to confession as Catholics or whether 
or not we take communion, as many faiths do, whether we honor Easter as 
a special moment for Christians of resurrection, whether or not we know 
the Passover and the specialness of that, or whether as Muslims we know 
Ramadan, we are clearly ones that understand how much faith is a part 
of our life.
  Can you imagine being in a country that brutalizes you because you 
practice your faith; keeps you from reading the very book that gives 
you faith and inspiration, the Koran, and then, doing the most 
dastardly act, which is to separate you from your families?
  Of course, many of us know, Ramadan just finished with Eid on 
Saturday. Americans who are Muslims had the opportunity to do and 
practice their faith and share it with their families without 
recrimination and violence.
  Just imagine a Uyghur in China, fearful of your life, and not having 
the ability to practice your faith; and as one of my colleagues said, 
the worst, forcing you to eat pork and continuing to subject you to 
penalties and punishment.

[[Page H2299]]

  So, I rise to support this legislation because we can do nothing less 
but to support the Human Rights Policy Act for the Uyghurs and bring 
them out of the terrible tragedy of oppression in China.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Just today, the Secretary of State announced, under the Hong Kong 
Human Rights and Democracy Act that we passed last November which 
requires an annual certification of Hong Kong's autonomy, he just 
announced that he cannot certify the autonomous nature of Hong Kong.
  This is a very significant day, Madam Speaker, because the Chinese 
Communist Party now has cracked down on the free and loving people of 
Hong Kong and their autonomous nature under one country, two systems, 
back when the U.K.-Sino pact was signed. The CCP, Chinese Communist 
Party, are in violation now of the Sino-U.K. pact.
  Madam Speaker, this bill, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 
is more proof that we can come together, as Republicans and Democrats, 
to address the generational threat by the Chinese Communist Party and 
champion American values.
  Whether it be the Muslim population of the Uyghurs, whether it be the 
Tibetan population who have been persecuted, and the Dalai Lama, who is 
in exile, to the Christians who are persecuted in China by the 
Communist Party, this bill will help hold the Chinese Communist Party 
accountable for their atrocities and will show the world, including the 
Uyghur Muslim American community, that the United States Congress will 
not tolerate these appalling human rights violations. We will always 
stand for human rights across the globe.
  And the one thing I respect about our committee, the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, is that we stand together when it comes to our foreign 
policy. As Chairman Engel often says, partisanship stops at the water's 
edge. And when it comes to human rights, we stand with our Founding 
Fathers and what they stood for in fighting oppression and tyranny and 
for democracy and freedom.
  That is why, today, we stand with the Uyghur Muslim population in 
China. And for all those listening in China and, particularly, to those 
members of the Chinese Communist Party who are probably watching this 
broadcast on C-SPAN, we are watching you today. We will not back down. 
We will talk about this until it stops, and it will stop, hopefully, in 
our lifetime. It won't stop this Congress, but it must stop.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, having no further speakers, I yield 
myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.
  The bill before us represents a number of different bills in the 
Senate and the House, all of which have been blended together. All of 
these bills contain important complementary measures to counter one of 
the most important human rights violations of the present day, 
detention of over 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang 
Province of China.
  In particular, as chair of the Asia, the Pacific, and 
Nonproliferation Subcommittee, back in February of last year, I joined 
with our ranking member, Ted Yoho, and Congressman Connolly and 
Congresswoman Wagner in introducing the Uighur Act. That legislation 
added to this bill the imposition of sanctions on individuals and 
entities found to have committed gross human rights abuses against 
Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 
groups and other persons in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.
  This bill, I should point out, is not one that just expresses the 
view of Congress; not one that just demands reports be issued by the 
State Department to refocus the world on what is going with the Uyghurs 
and others. This bill imposes sanctions on those responsible.
  The Chinese Communist Party has sought to erase the distinct Uyghur 
Muslim culture and religious traditions through mass detentions, re-
education, and a coordinated campaign called ``Strike Hard Against 
Violent Extremism'' launched in 2014. Thanks to leaked Chinese 
Communist Party documents, we now know the impetus of this campaign 
came from the highest levels of the party.
  In April of 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping ordered party 
officials to show ``absolutely no mercy'' in using the ``organs of 
dictatorship'' to suppress Muslim minorities. More than a million 
Uyghurs have been imprisoned. And they have been imprisoned because, in 
the words of the Chinese Communist Party, ``their thinking has been 
infected by unhealthy thoughts.''
  It appears, according to the Chinese Communist Party, a dedication to 
religion or to freedom and democracy is unhealthy and justifies 
incarceration.
  Along with the re-education camps, the Strike Hard campaign has also 
involved high-tech surveillance and monitoring of the Uyghurs, 
monitoring and suppressing Muslim religious practice, including funeral 
practices, and suppression of the Uyghur language.
  And the party has acted beyond the borders of China, intimidating 
Chinese Muslim minorities who are living abroad, preventing them, 
including some who are permanent residents of the United States, from 
leaving the Xinjiang region.

  The legislation before us is an important start, but it is just a 
start in our efforts to counter Chinese repression of its Muslim 
minorities.
  I think I have already highlighted the sanctions in this bill. In 
particular, the bill requires the President to block assets of and deny 
and revoke visas with respect to any foreign person, including a 
Chinese Government official, who are determined to be responsible for 
the suppression and inhumane treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim 
minorities in Xinjiang Province.
  So I want to thank Chairman Engel of the Foreign Affairs Committee, 
who has put together the most bipartisan committee in either House of 
Congress; Ranking Member McCaul, who has been an important part of 
that; Speaker Pelosi, who spoke to us earlier; our colleagues Chris 
Smith and  Tom Suozzi, who have spoken to us earlier as well; Senators 
Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez; my colleague in running the Asia, the 
Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, Ted Yoho; as well as Gerry 
Connolly, Ann Wagner, and everyone else who has been involved in the 
legislation.
  I hope that we will see Muslim countries particularly in the world--
but all countries--be willing to stand up to Beijing and speak out 
against this human rights travesty.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 3744. the Uyghur 
Human Rights Policy Act of 2020. I was proud to join Congressman Chris 
Smith to introduce an earlier version of this important legislation at 
the beginning of last year and I'm glad to that we are finally able to 
get this legislation across the finish line today.
  As a senior Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and a 
committed defender of human rights, I have watched over the years as 
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) routinely mistreats its people. The 
list of abuses is too long to recount here but it spans every sector of 
human life from religious freedom, to due process protections, to press 
freedom and freedom of assembly, to China's notorious population 
policies. Pretty much every freedom in our Bill of Rights is lacking in 
China.
  Religious freedom, specifically, is a longstanding issue. The CCP 
seems to think that religion is a fundamental enemy. Not only are 
Christians hounded and mistreated, but Falun Gong practitioners are 
brutally persecuted, with many having their organs harvested 
involuntarily.
  That brings us to the situation in Xinjiang and the Orwellian 
nightmare faced by Uyghur Muslims there today. As the problem has 
gotten worse and more facts have come out, the situation has become 
clear. China imprisons somewhere between one and three million Uyghurs 
in concentration camps where they undergo indoctrination and forced 
labor. Many are tortured. For Uyghurs outside the camps, the CCP also 
makes life difficult, subjecting them to intense surveillance and 
policing. Notably, Uyghurs both in and outside the camps are made to 
eat foods forbidden to Muslims and forced to abandon other practices of 
their faith. The Party even pursues Uyghurs in other countries by 
attempting to control their behavior through threats against family 
members still in China and by pressuring other countries to send them 
back to China.

[[Page H2300]]

  No one deserves to live with this kind of persecution which is why 
this malicious treatment of the Uyghurs by the CCP must brought to an 
end. We all wish to see the day when China behaves like, and can be 
treated as, a normal country. Until that time, we delude ourselves if 
we treat it like one. That is why we must enact the Uyghur Human Rights 
Policy Act today.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 3744.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution 
965, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question 
are postponed.

                          ____________________