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“SUPPRESSION, SURVEILLANCE, AND MASS DETENTION: XINJIANG'S HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1101-E1102 on July 27, 2018.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPRESSION, SURVEILLANCE, AND MASS DETENTION: XINJIANG'S HUMAN RIGHTS
CRISIS
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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 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.
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