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“UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY ACT OF 2019” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H9201-H9208 on Dec. 3, 2019.
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:
UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY ACT OF 2019
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(S. 178) 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, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 178
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response Act of 2019'' or the
``UIGHUR Act of 2019''.
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 People's Republic of China's mass surveillance and internment of over 1,000,000 Uighurs and other predominantly Turkic Muslim ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
SEC. 3. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
SEC. 4. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Government of the People's Republic of China has a long history of repressing Turkic Muslims, particularly Uighurs, in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
(2) In May 2014, Chinese authorities launched their latest
``Strike Hard against Violent Extremism'' campaign, using wide-scale, internationally-linked threats of terrorism as a pretext to justify pervasive restrictions on and human rights violations of members of the ethnic minority communities of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The August 2016 transfer of former Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo to become the Xinjiang Party Secretary prompted an acceleration in the crackdown across the region. Scholars, human rights organizations, journalists, and think tanks have provided ample evidence substantiating the establishment by Chinese authorities of ``reeducation'' camps. Since 2014, Chinese authorities have detained no less than 800,000 Uighurs, ethnic Kazahks, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic minorities in these camps.
(3) Those detained in such facilities have described forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and food deprivation, as well as denial of religious, cultural, and linguistic freedoms, and confirmed that they were told by guards that the only way to secure 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.
(4) Uighurs and ethnic Kazakhs, who have now obtained permanent residence or citizenship in other countries, attest to receiving threats and harassment from Chinese officials. At least five journalists for Radio Free Asia's Uighur service have publicly detailed abuses their family members in Xinjiang have endured in response to their work exposing abusive policies across the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
(5) In September 2018, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele 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 re-education camps across Xinjiang''.
(6) The Government of the People's Republic of China's actions against Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, whose population was approximately 13 million at the time of the last Chinese census in 2010, are in contravention of international human rights laws, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, both of which China has signed and ratified, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed.
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the President should condemn abuses against Turkic Muslims by Chinese authorities and call on such authorities immediately--
(A) to close the ``reeducation'' camps;
(B) to lift all restrictions on and ensure respect for human rights; and
(C) to allow those inside China to reestablish contact with their loved ones, friends, and associates outside China;
(2) the Secretary of State should--
(A) fully implement the provisions of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 114-281); and
(B) 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 required by reason of 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 that directly address particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
(3) the Secretary of State should work with United States allies and partners as well as through multilateral institutions to condemn the mass arbitrary detention of Uighurs in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and coordinate closely with the international community on targeted sanctions and visa restrictions; and
(4) the journalists of the Uighur language service of Radio Free Asia should be commended for their reporting on the human rights and political situation in the Xinjiang Uighur 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, and the United States should expand the availability of and capacity for Uighur language programming on Radio Free Asia in the region.
SEC. 6. 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 with the situation in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, specifically as to whether--
``(A) the mass internment of ethnic Uighur and other Turkic Muslims in `political education' camps has ended;
``(B) all political prisoners in the region are released;
``(C) the use of high-tech mass surveillance and predictive policing to discriminate against and violate the human rights of members of specific ethnic groups is evident in other parts of China; and
``(D) the Government of the People's Republic of China has ended efforts aimed at cultural assimilation and particularly severe restrictions of religious practice in the region;''.
SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF SANCTIONS UNDER GLOBAL MAGNITSKY HUMAN
RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT WITH RESPECT TO
CERTAIN SENIOR OFFICIALS OF THE PEOPLE'S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of senior officials of the Government of the People's Republic of China who the President determines are responsible for or who have knowingly engaged in serious human rights abuses against Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and elsewhere in China. Such list shall include the following:
(1) Senior Chinese officials, such as Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, who are directly responsible for the ongoing repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
(2) Senior Chinese officials responsible for mass incarceration, political indoctrination, or reeducation efforts targeting Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.
(b) Form.--The list required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.
(c) Sanctions Imposed.--On the date on which the President submits to the appropriate congressional committees the list described in subsection (a), and as appropriate thereafter, the President shall impose the sanctions described in section 1263(b) of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) with respect to any foreign person that the President has identified on the list.
(d) Exception for United Nations Headquarters Agreement; Enforcement.--Subsections (e) and (f) of section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act apply with respect to the imposition of sanctions under this section to the same extent as such subsections apply with respect to the imposition of sanctions under such section 1263.
(e) Waiver for National Interests.--The President may waive the imposition of sanctions under subsection (c) if the President--
(1) determines that such a waiver is in the national interests of the United States; and
(2) submits to the appropriate congressional committees notice of, and a justification for, the waiver.
(f) Regulatory Authority.--The President shall issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are necessary to carry out this section.
(g) Exception Relating to Importation of Goods.--
(1) In general.--The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions authorized under this Act shall not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.
(2) Good defined.--In this subsection, the term ``good'' means any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.
SEC. 8. REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN CHINA'S XINJIANG
UIGHUR 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 submit to the appropriate congressional committees and make available on the website of the Department of State a report on human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
(b) Matters to Be Included.--The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) An assessment of the number of individuals detained in political ``reeducation camps'' in the region and conditions in the camps for detainees, including an assessment, to the extent practicable, of whether detainees endure torture, efforts at forced renunciation of their faith, or other mistreatment.
(2) An assessment of, to the extent practicable, the number of individuals in the region in highly-controlled forced labor camps.
(3) A description of the methods used by People's Republic of China authorities to ``reeducate'' Uighur detainees, including an identification of the Chinese agencies in charge of such reeducation.
(4) An assessment of the use and nature of forced labor in and related to the detention of Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and a description of foreign companies and industries benefitting from such labor in the region.
(5) An assessment of the level of access to the region Chinese authorities grant to foreign diplomats and consular agents, independent journalists, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations.
(6) An assessment of the repressive surveillance, detection, and control methods used by Chinese authorities in the region.
(7) A description, as appropriate, of diplomatic efforts by United States allies and other nations to address the gross violations of universally recognized human rights in the region and to protect asylum seekers from the region.
SEC. 9. RESTRICTIONS ON EXPORT, REEXPORT, AND IN-COUNTRY
TRANSFERS OF CERTAIN ITEMS THAT PROVIDE A
CRITICAL CAPABILITY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO SUPPRESS
INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY, FREEDOM, AND OTHER BASIC
HUMAN RIGHTS.
(a) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to protect the basic human rights of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the People's Republic of China.
(b) List of Covered Items.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and as appropriate thereafter, the President--
(A) shall identify those items that provide a critical capability to the Government of the People's Republic of China, or any person acting on behalf of such Government, to suppress individual privacy, freedom of movement, and other basic human rights, specifically through--
(i) surveillance, interception, and restriction of communications;
(ii) monitoring of individual location or movement or restricting individual movement;
(iii) monitoring or restricting access to and use of the internet;
(iv) monitoring or restricting use of social media;
(v) identification of individuals through facial recognition, voice recognition, or biometric indicators;
(vi) detention of individuals who are exercising basic human rights; and
(vii) forced labor in manufacturing; and
(B) shall, pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.), include items identified pursuant to subparagraph (A) on the Commerce Control List in a category separate from other items, as appropriate, on the Commerce Control List.
(2) Support and cooperation.--Upon request, the head of a Federal agency shall provide full support and cooperation to the President in carrying out this subsection.
(3) Consultation.--In carrying out this subsection, the President shall consult with the relevant technical advisory committees of the Department of Commerce to ensure that the composition of items identified under paragraph (1)(A) and included on the Commerce Control List under paragraph (1)(B) does not unnecessarily restrict commerce between the United States and the People's Republic of China, consistent with the purposes of this section.
(c) Special License or Other Authorization.--
(1) In general.--Beginning not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall, pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.), require a license or other authorization for the export, reexport, or in-country transfer to or within the People's Republic of China of an item identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A) and included on the Commerce Control List pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(B).
(2) Presumption of denial.--An application for a license or other authorization described in paragraph (1) shall be subject to a presumption of denial.
(3) Public notice and comment.--The President shall provide for notice and public comment with respect actions necessary to carry out this subsection.
(d) International Coordination and Multilateral Controls.--It shall be the policy of the United States to seek to harmonize United States export control regulations with international export control regimes with respect to the items identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A), including through the Wassenaar Arrangement and other bilateral and multilateral mechanisms involving countries that export such items.
(e) Termination of Suspension of Certain Other Programs and Activities.--Section 902(b)(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (Public Law 101-246; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note) is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting
``and China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region'' after
``Tibet'';
(2) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(3) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``or'' after the semicolon and inserting ``and''; and
(4) by adding the following new subparagraph:
``(F) the ending of the mass internment of ethnic Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, including the intrusive system of high-tech surveillance and policing in the region; or''.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Commerce control list.--The term ``Commerce Control List'' means the list set forth in Supplement No. 1 to part 774 of the Export Administration Regulations under subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) Export, in-country transfer, item, and reexport.--The terms ``export'', ``in-country transfer'', ``item'', and
``reexport'' have the meanings given such terms in section 1742 of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Sires) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Sires).
General Leave
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 178.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Sires)?
There was no objection.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership and thank he and Mr. Smith, two gentlemen from New Jersey, for being champions for human rights.
I also thank Mr. McCaul and Mr. Eliot Engel, the ranking member and the chair of the committee.
And I thank Mr. Malinowski for being a champion for human rights even before he came to Congress.
My colleagues, next week marks 71 years since the nations of the world gathered in Paris to enshrine our global commitment to human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The opening words of that declaration read: ``Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.
``Whereas, disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.''
Today, the human dignity and human rights of the Uighur community are under threat from Beijing's barbarous actions, which are an outrage to the collective conscience of the world.
Across the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the Uighur people and other Muslim minorities face brutal repression: a pervasive state of mass surveillance, including the arbitrary and nonconsensual collection of children's DNA; the mass incarceration of 1 to 3 million innocent people with beatings, solitary confinement, deprivation of food and medical treatment, forced sterilizations, and other forms of torture; incidents of mass shootings and extrajudicial killings; and the intimidation and suppression of journalists courageously exposing the truth.
Mihrigul Tursun, a former detainee, testified she faced treatment so brutal that ``I thought I would rather die than go through this torture and begged them to kill me.''
Another former detainee, Tursunay Ziyawudun, testified, ``We were all helpless and unable to defend ourselves. We all went through all kinds of mistreatment. The screaming, pleading, crying is still in my head.''
Today, with this bicameral and overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation, the United States Congress is taking a critical step to counter Beijing's horrific human rights abuses against Uighurs.
I thank Chairman Engel, Representative Brad Sherman, Representative Suozzi, and Chairman McGovern for their leadership on this important legislation.
We are sending a message to Beijing: America is watching, and we will not stay silent.
This legislation helps uncover the truth, requiring reports by the DNI, Director of National Intelligence; the State Department; and the FBI about the depths of the crisis and about China's campaign against journalists exposing the facts.
It creates accountability, ensuring 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 Global Magnitsky and other related sanctions and the full implementation of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, named for our distinguished former colleague and human rights champion, Congressman Frank Wolf.
Sadly, Beijing's human rights abuses extend beyond the Uighurs, from the decades-long abuse faced by the Tibetan people; to Hong Kong's fight for democracy and rule of law; and to the jailing of journalists, human rights lawyers, Christians, and democracy advocates on the mainland.
In the Congress, Democrats and Republicans stand united with all people fighting for human rights in the face of China's abuses. Last month, we were proud to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which has now become law, and we are grateful that the President has signed that legislation.
If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial issues, we lose all moral authority to speak out for human rights anyplace in the world.
In honor of the millions fighting for their dignity, safety, and rights in China and around the world, I urge a strong bipartisan vote for the Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response Act.
I thank Mr. Smith, Mr. Sires, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Suozzi, Chairman Eliot Engel, and Mr. McCaul for their leadership. And I acknowledge the leadership of Senator Rubio in the United States Senate on this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank the Speaker for her very eloquent remarks and for her tenacity in promoting human rights and respect for the rule of law in all of China, including and especially with today's focus on Xinjiang, where, unfortunately, Xi Jinping is conducting massive, massive crimes against humanity against the Muslim Uighurs. So I thank her for that leadership.
I thank Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, Brad Sherman, and Ranking Member Ted Yoho for their deep and abiding commitment to the suffering people of Xinjiang as well.
I would also like to express my special thanks to the 128 bipartisan cosponsors of my bill, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, H.R. 649, comprehensive human rights legislation that I introduced earlier this year with lead Democratic cosponsor Tom Suozzi to address the massive crimes against humanity committed by the Chinese Government against the Uighurs.
The legislation would require the administration to categorize and report on the human rights abuses being committed by the Chinese Communist Party each and every day, take specific steps to sanction Chinese officials for these abuses, especially through the use of the Magnitsky Act, and stop, to the greatest extent possible, the Chinese Government's efforts to create a high-tech police and surveillance state.
With endorsement of our bill 12 months ago and cosponsorship by the Speaker herself, as well as endorsement by the Washington Post, which said, a full year ago, ``This has become''--that is to say, the situation in Xinjiang--``one of the world's most urgent human rights crises. Congress should pass the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.'' Today the Senate bill is before us, and I encourage my colleagues and the cosponsors of H.R. 649 to vote for it.
Mr. Speaker, at a congressional hearing that I cochaired last year, Mihrigul Tursun recounted her horrifying ordeal with torture, sexual abuse, and detention in one of China's mass internment camps in Xinjiang.
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 currents coursing through her body, and mocked her belief in God. She was tortured simply for being an ethnic Uighur and a Muslim in China.
There are millions of stories like this waiting to be told about the crimes against humanity being committed each and every day by the Chinese Government against the Uighurs, the Kazakhs, and the Turkic Muslims.
Given that this year is the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, maybe we should not be surprised by the cruelty and brutality of the Chinese Communist Party. But the size and scale of what is happening in Xinjiang is audaciously repressive, even by China's low standards:
The mass internment of millions of people on a scale that has not been seen since the Holocaust; children ripped from the warm embrace of their families to be indoctrinated in communist ideology and forced to renounce their religious culture and language; rape, sexual abuse, and forced abortions of women being held in internment camps; forced labor on a scale that allows Chinese companies to profit from modern-day slavery.
That atrocities such as these can exist in the 21st century is astounding and enormously sad.
We cannot be silent. We must demand an end to these barbaric practices and accountability from the Chinese Government. We must say
``never again'' to the cultural genocide and the atrocities suffered by the Uighurs and others in China.
Chinese authorities initially denied the existence of mass internment camps, Mr. Speaker, and even now portray them as vocational training centers. What a cruel joke. They employed lies, censorship, and economic coercion to stifle discussion of their crimes.
But documents obtained by The New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have exposed the brutality behind Beijing's plans to radically and coercively transform the culture and religion of ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslims in China.
The leaked internal papers show detailed plans to intern between 1 million and 3 million Uighurs in modern-day concentration camps, where they are subjected to severe human rights abuses and Orwellian indoctrination efforts for those ``whose thinking has been infected.''
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 has directed the crackdown, saying that the Communist Party must put ``the organs of dictatorship'' to work and show--his words--``absolutely no mercy'' in dealing with the Uighurs and other Muslims.
In one speech exposed by the leaked documents, President Xi Jinping says, ``The weapons of the people's democratic dictatorship must be wielded without any hesitation or wavering.''
In 2017, he told thousands of police officers and troops standing at attention to prepare for ``a smashing, obliterating offensive.''
According to the documents, Communist Party officials who were reluctant to carry out Xi's draconian policies were investigated and expunged--and worse:
``Secret teams of investigators 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.''
Xi Jinping has created, Mr. Speaker, one of the worst human rights tragedies on the face of the Earth. Xi Jinping and his government are directly responsible--directly responsible--for these crimes against humanity.
Our hope is that a reckoning is coming, but only if the international community stands up to China. I would note with some sadness, notably absent are voices from many Muslim countries, and I have raised it myself with many leaders of Muslim countries.
{time} 1730
They have not been as critical of China as they ought to be. They need to speak out and to do it boldly and very clearly.
I do want to commend the Trump administration for its actions over the past several years. They have issued strong statements and, according to the U.S. Commerce Department just last month, 28 government agencies and businesses were placed on the Entity List and barred.
The way the Secretary of Commerce put it: `` `The U.S. Government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China,' said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. `This action will ensure that our technologies, fostered in an environment of individual liberty and free enterprise, are not used to repress defenseless minority populations.' ''
These are important steps. This legislation, however, takes the next step. More must be done. Chinese officials, as I said earlier, need to be held accountable for crimes against humanity, including Global Magnitsky and international sanctions and U.N. investigations.
Those who tortured Mihrigul Turson should know that justice is coming for them as well. And the Chinese Government companies profiting from forced labor need to be barred from selling their products made so horribly by forced labor from coming into this country.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me first thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for their work on this legislation.
I also want to acknowledge the work of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, led by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern). His expertise, and that of his staff, has made a significant contribution to the development of this legislation.
This bill addresses one of the most egregious violations of human rights in the world today. More than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities have been detained by the Chinese Government and sent to camps in Xinjiang, where they face torture, sexual abuse, brainwashing, and other abuses in an attempt to erase their culture and their religion.
The Chinese Government is engaging in these atrocities under the guise of antiterrorism efforts, and the victims have been denied any due process. The severity of this disgrace was recently confirmed by a trove of leaked confidential Chinese documents that detail just how sinister these policies are.
Meeting with members of the Uighur American community is a sobering experience. They have stories about family members in China who can no longer be reached, friends who have gone missing, report after report of violence, abuse, and mistreatment.
The intention of the top Chinese Communist Party leadership through this campaign is clear: In the short-term, turn Xinjiang into a prison for ethnic and religious minorities, and, in the longer term, force these minorities to assimilate completely, erasing the evidence of their unique culture, history, and religion.
The Chinese Government has a long record of oppressing Tibetan Christians, the Falun Gong, and other ethnic religious minorities. But what makes these efforts different is the use of technology to erase the Uighur people and their way of life. In some cases, these technologies can be traced back to American companies and research institutions.
Unfortunately, we have yet to see an adequate response from the Trump administration. While the administration's decision to announce its visa restrictions and add abuse-enabling Chinese tech firms to the Entity List were good steps, they do not go far enough. There needs to be real consequences for those who have designed and built these internment camps.
With the bill we are considering today, the House of Representatives is making clear that there needs to be more serious repercussions. Specifically, this bill calls on the Secretary of State to designate those responsible for these abuses with Global Magnitsky sanctions, including the freezing of their assets. It would also require the American firms to do due diligence on where and how their technology is being used so that they do not unwittingly become part of the Chinese Government's campaign to violate the human rights of their own citizens.
This legislation is a necessary response to one of the most pressing human rights concerns in the world today. I am glad the House is considering it, and I encourage all Members to vote for its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, December 3, 2019.Hon. Eliot L. Engel,Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Engel: This is to advise you that the Committee on the Judiciary has now had an opportunity to review the provisions in S. 178, the ``Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019'' that fall within our Rule X jurisdiction. I appreciate your consulting with us on those provisions. The Judiciary Committee has no objection to your including them in the bill for consideration on the House floor, and to expedite that consideration is willing to forgo action on S. 178, with the understanding that we do not thereby waive any future jurisdictional claim over those provisions or their subject matters.
In the event a House-Senate conference on this or similar legislation is convened, the Judiciary Committee reserves the right to request an appropriate number of conferees to address any concerns with these or similar provisions that may arise in conference.
Please place this letter into the Congressional Record during consideration of the measure on the House floor. Thank you for the cooperative spirit in which you have worked regarding this matter and others between our committees.
Sincerely,
Jerrold Nadler,Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Commtttee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, December 2, 2019.Hon. Jerrold Nadler,Committee on the Judiciary,House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nadler: I am writing to you concerning S. 178, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019. I appreciate your willingness to work cooperatively on this legislation.
I acknowledge that provisions of the bill fall within the jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary under House Rule X, and that your Committee will forgo action on S. 178 to expedite floor consideration. I further acknowledge that the inaction of your Committee with respect to the bill does not waive any future jurisdictional claim over the matters contained in the bill that fall within your jurisdiction. I will also support the appointment of Committee on the Judiciary conferees during any House-Senate conference convened on this legislation.
Lastly, I will ensure that our exchange of letters is included in the Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill. Thank you again for your cooperation regarding the legislation. I look forward to continuing to work with you as the measure moves through the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Eliot L. Engel,
Chairman.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), the ranking member.
Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan UIGHUR Act.
I want to commend my colleagues, all three of them, from New Jersey--
I think this is New Jersey Day on the floor--Mr. Smith, Mr. Sires, and Mr. Malinowski.
For the last several years, the Communist dictatorship in Beijing has been unleashing a brutal crackdown on the Uighur and Turkic Muslims in western China.
It is believed that between 1 to 3 million ethnic minorities have been detained and sent to internment camps where they are indoctrinated with state propaganda and tortured. The goal of the Chinese Government is to strip these individuals of their religious and cultural identity.
Many people detained are never heard from again. Families have been torn apart. Sons and daughters are left wondering if they will ever be reunited with their moms and dads.
Some of our most senior officials, including National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, have described these detention centers as
``concentration camps.'' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has referred to China's repression as the ``stain of the century.''
The Chinese Government states that these camps are part of their efforts to combat violent extremism. They also say these detention centers are job training facilities. But what is happening is nothing less than a state-sponsored and systematic campaign designed to enforce a ``cultural genocide.''
As the beacon of hope and freedom to the rest of the world, the United States cannot stay silent. If we do, our silence will be remembered as our complicity; our inaction will become our appeasement.
We know that the Chinese Communist Party would love nothing more than for the rest of the world to mirror its authoritarianism. We cannot allow this to happen.
This legislation gives us the opportunity to take real action and help stop these evil crimes:
First, it provides that the United States policy towards China should be explicitly linked to the human rights abuses;
Second, it requires the application of the Global Magnitsky sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for repression against Uighur or Turkic Muslims;
Third, it mandates the State Department submit to Congress a report on human rights abuses in this western province of China; and
Fourth, it restricts the export of certain U.S. technology items to China that are used to suppress individual privacy, freedom of movement, and basic human rights.
This is a very important bill, and, again, I would like to thank our colleagues--and particularly Brad Sherman, who introduced this along with Senator Rubio--for all their efforts to get this done to where we are today.
So let's come together as Republicans and Democrats to ensure that atrocities committed by the Communist dictatorship in Beijing will have consequences. Let's show the world that the United States will impose a cost on the Chinese Communist Party's leaders for their crimes now and in the future.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in favor of S. 178, the UIGHUR Act of 2019.
This bill has the best of both worlds: It has a Senate bill number and House of Representatives content. The bill came over from the Senate, and then we unanimously adopted, in the Foreign Affairs Committee, my amendment in the nature of a substitute, which put together three bills focused on the Uighur issue. It included the work of Senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez found in S. 178; the work found in H.R. 649 of Chris Smith and Tom Suozzi of this House; and the legislation that I reintroduced with the ranking member of the Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, Ted Yoho, H.R. 1025.
So this bill represents putting together those three bills to deal with the detention of over 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and other Chinese repression of its Muslim minority population.
The Chinese Government has sought to erase the distinct Uighur Muslim culture and religious traditions through mass detentions, reeducation camps, and a coordinated campaign under the banner ``Strike Hard Against Violent Extremism'' launched in 2014.
Thanks to recently leaked Chinese Communist Party documents, we now know that the impetus for this campaign came from the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.
In April 2014, General Secretary Xi ordered the party officials to, and these are the words, show ``absolutely no mercy'' in using ``organs of dictatorship,'' another quoted phrase, to suppress Muslim minorities. More than a million Uighurs were then imprisoned in camps.
In a country with the rule of law, you are incarcerated by the state because you have been convicted of a defined statutory offense. Why are 1 million people behind barbed wire in the Xinjiang province of China? The charge against them is ``their thinking has been infected by unhealthy thoughts.''
Where in the world would anyone be free if a million people can be incarcerated because the government has determined that their thoughts are unhealthy?
Along with reeducation camps, the Strike Hard campaign has also involved high-tech surveillance and monitoring of Uighurs, monitoring and suppressing Muslim religious practice, including funeral practices, and suppression of the Uighur language.
Beyond its borders, the party has tried to intimidate Chinese Muslim minorities who are living abroad. And in China, some individuals with permanent residency status in the United States have been prohibited from leaving the region. In Xinjiang, the party has forced Uighur families to have Han Chinese agents live in their homes.
The extent of this Chinese effort to, in effect, ``sinofy'' the Muslim population of western China is staggering. The legislation before us is an important start, but it is only a start in our efforts to counter Chinese repression of its Muslim minorities, and we will have hearings in the Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee to develop additional steps that America could take.
I want to highlight two parts of this legislation. First, the bill requires the President to impose the Global Magnitsky sanctions against all Chinese officials who are responsible for the repression of the Uighurs. We are long past the point when this should have been done, and it should not be linked to ongoing negotiations on trade or any other issue.
Second, the bill requires the Commerce Department to update our export controls to ensure that the Commerce Control List, which covers dual-use items, is updated to create a special regime for China. Commerce will be required to identify items that assist in the monitoring, surveillance, mass detention, and forced labor we see going on in China today, and deny licenses for the export or reexport of those items to China.
U.S. technology should not be used to further one of the most egregious human rights abuses of our time. And in writing this legislation and the amendment in the nature of a substitute that came out of the Foreign Affairs Committee, we worked diligently to ensure that we avoid capturing too much and unduly hindering legitimate and beneficial commerce, including thorough discussions with the tech industry.
So I thank Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul, of course, our Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who was here. I thank Senators Rubio and Menendez, Chris Smith, and Tom Suozzi. I thank Jim McGovern for his work, and I thank my partner in running the Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, Mr. Yoho.
{time} 1745
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).
Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I just want to give my strong support for S. 178.
I look back over the years when we have seen this, and we have had these discussions in our Foreign Affairs Committee about the atrocities that are going on in the Xinjiang province.
Last year we talked about the concentration camps that we see going up, and then there were reports about the crematoriums that were going in. And we read advertisements to hire guards for the crematoriums. They must be physically fit, they must be able to defend themselves, and they need to know how to use a weapon. So they had armed crematoriums set up in this province.
My question is: Why do you need armed crematoriums if it is a crematorium to burn people? You know, the dead.
And I think the intent of what China is doing is self-evident. And America, as the leader of the free world, and all countries that believe in freedom and liberty, they must stand up against this injustice because this is going on around the world. And if you believe the words of General Eisenhower at Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps after the end of World War II when he said: Never again. Never again will we allow this to happen. But it is happening right now. And it is happening in an area that we know in a country that is suppressing freedom around the world.
We see it in Hong Kong. We have seen what they have done with Tibet. They want to do it to any country or any population that is against the Communist Party, the Chinese Communist Party. And this is something, if we don't do this, this will go on. And this is where the world needs to wake up, and they need to say, any time we buy something made in China, we are empowering this country and Xi Jinping and the Communist Party complex to do the same thing over and over again.
It is time we make a strong stand and S. 178 is a great start to doing this. I look for strong support in the House. I look for it to be signed into law and that we send a strong signal from America, being the leaders in the free world, to the rest of the world to follow suit and send a strong signal back to China that this is not going to be tolerated. We will not put up with this.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the sponsors of this bill for doing what they are doing, because this is a message for the people around the world who don't know what is going on. It is this body that is kind of leading the charge on this, and I am proud to be associated with it, so thank you all.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi).
Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sires for yielding me this time.
I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Senate bill 178, which holds the Chinese Government accountable for their truly horrific treatment--let me say that again--truly horrific treatment of the Uighur Muslim minorities, including the mass internment of over 1 million people who are subjected to systemized brainwashing, sexual abuse, and forced labor in western China.
I want to start by thanking Chairman Engel and Subcommittee Chairman Sherman for bringing attention to this issue and supporting this legislation to penalize China for its egregious human rights violations against the Uighurs. I am proud to have worked with Representative Chris Smith from New Jersey and Senator Marco Rubio from Florida to help write part of this truly bipartisan legislation.
Mr. Speaker, Uighur families are prohibited from practicing their Muslim faith. They are often separated from their family members and prohibited from reading the Koran, making their daily prayers, and in some instances are forced to eat pork even during Ramadan, which, of course, violates their religion.
The so-called reeducation camps in China where Uighurs are forced to work in food, textile, or manufacturing jobs in or near the mass internment camps are, of course, repugnant to our values and violate human rights.
The brutal religious-based persecution of the Uighurs in China is alarming, but it is not new. China has continued to repress anyone who does not conform to their system, including Tibetans, Christians, and, of course, the people of Hong Kong, as we have seen in recent events.
Since President Nixon went to China in 1971, most Americans have believed that with increased economic integration and exposure to our system of democracy in the west, the Chinese Government would some day adopt some of our fundamental values. This clearly has not happened.
Not only does the Chinese Government reject any real steps towards democracy, continue its unfair trade practices, and cheat by stealing our intellectual property, but it also continually violates human rights.
The United States must hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its repression of the Uighurs and active disregard for international law.
I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this important and, again, truly bipartisan legislation.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, beyond what has been done to date, Chinese companies profiting from forced labor in Xinjiang must be prohibited from exporting goods to the United States and to other countries. The administration has, to its credit, blocked one Chinese company for forced labor manufacturing, but there are many other companies, particularly in the manufacturing of cotton and garments, that are profiting off the slavery of detained Uighurs. Many more companies need to be barred from entry into the U.S. market.
In addition to the crimes against humanity that Xi Jinping has imposed upon the people of Xinjiang, the United States also needs to address the high-tech authoritarianism of the future being auditioned in Xinjiang.
Beijing is using Xinjiang as a proving ground for an all-knowing police and surveillance state. The technology used to construct China's high-tech police state is being exported around the world to some countries in Africa, central Asia, and beyond. Every petty dictator and aspiring totalitarian can use this technology to crush democratic aspirations, human rights, religious freedom, and the rule of law.
Let me also say a word or two about Uighur Americans, like the great Rebiya Kadeer, who I have been friends with since 2006--I have had her at hearings. She is an unbelievable leader. Her entire family and extended family, dozens of people, have been rounded up and have been put into prison. Nury Turkel, Rushan Abbas, and Gulchehra Hoja have had their families, as well, threatened and detained because they dared to speak up here in the United States.
So many Uighur Americans have experienced the agony of family detentions and disappearances, again, a cruelty laid at the feet of Xi Jinping. He not only goes after the individual, he goes after the whole family. And again, the women in prisons in China are sexually abused and tortured. The men are abused, as well.
For those watching us today, the message you hear should be clear. The United States wants to hold the Chinese Government and the Chinese companies accountable for crimes against humanity and the cruelty they inflict on your families and your loved ones. We will not be silent. Justice is coming. We are demanding accountability.
I also want to take a moment to thank the reporters of Radio Free Asia's Uyghur Service. Their families have been rounded up and put into prison, into concentration camps by Xi Jinping's dictatorship. This is beyond horrific, and we need to respond accordingly.
I also want to thank and note the contribution of Dr. Scott Flipse to the legislation before us today, and also the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and, frankly, to the Hong Kong Democracy and Human Rights Act that was signed into law just a few days ago.
I also want to thank former CECC staff directors Paul Protic and Elyse Anderson and current staff members Jon Stivers, Peter Mattis, Megan Fluker, and Amy Reger for helping this Congress shine a bright light on the atrocities.
And, of course, our full and subcommittee staffers, as well, have done yeoman's work on this terrible issue.
We are united today. We need to be united with all Americans in saying, never again.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
It has been more than 3 years since the Chinese authorities have accelerated and expanded their repressive campaign in Xinjiang. The global response to these abuses, up until now, has been insignificant, partly due to the successful campaign by Beijing to coerce silence from those who speak out.
Where there has been talk, there has sadly been little action. Today, we have an opportunity to turn the tide by sending a strong message of support to the Uighur people and accountability for those Chinese officials who have violated their own people's rights and religious freedom for years with impunity.
I urge my colleagues to join me today in sending a strong message to both the perpetrators and the victims alike with an overwhelming vote in support for this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, before I yield, I would like to point out that there are three Members of the New Jersey delegation here. Two of them are refugees from communism.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud the House of Representatives is considering S. 178, the ``Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response Act'' or the ``UIGHUR Act.''
In the last year, Chinese authorities have expanded their network of mass internment camps, where it is now estimated that 1.8 million or more Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been involuntarily detained in approximately 1,400 extrajudicial internment facilities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Detainees are subjected to torture, extended solitary confinement, and political indoctrination. Many scholars and human rights groups argue that these practices may amount to ``crimes against humanity.''
Over the last month, leaks of highly classified Chinese government documents uncovered operations manuals for the mass internment camps and exposed details about the mass detention and surveillance systems in Xinjiang. Among the findings in the Chinese government's own documents:
Reeducation centers are designed to ``wash clean the brains'' of those interned in them;
Those who show signs of resistance are subjected to ``assault-style re-education'' efforts;
Children of detainees are reportedly often placed in orphanages, welfare centers, and boarding schools;
Special security measures are mandated to ensure detainees cannot
``escape,'' thereby refuting Chinese government assertions that detainees are there voluntarily; and
The establishment and expansion of the mass internment camps are part of a systematic policy directed by General Secretary Xi Jinping and carried out by XUAR Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo as well as other senior officials at the central and local levels.
Further, we also have become more aware of the widespread use of a government-subsidized and large-scale system of forced labor in both mass internment camps and in factories throughout the Xinjiang region.
Satellite imagery, personal testimonies, and official documents indicate that detainees in camps, and some who have been released, are forced to work in food production, textile, and other manufacturing jobs. Products reportedly produced with forced labor include:
Textiles, such as yarn, clothing, gloves, bedding, and carpet; Electronics, including cell phones and computers; Food products, shoes, tea, and handicrafts.
Current U.S. law prohibits the import of any product made with forced labor. Any U.S. or international company that produces or has a supply chain in Xinjiang may be complicit with forced labor and human rights violations. Customs and Border Protection rightly stopped the import of some goods from Xinjiang, but much more needs to be done to ensure that Americans are not purchasing products made with forced labor.
The UIGHUR Act is an essential update and strengthening of U.S. policy in response to gross human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The bill calls on the President to submit a list to Congress of Chinese officials responsible for the mass incarceration, political indoctrination, or reeducation efforts and to impose Global Magnitsky Act sanctions for all those on the list. It also includes needed export restrictions on technology critical to the Chinese government's ability to suppress human rights and individual privacy.
With passage of this legislation, it should be clear that Congress stands in solidarity with the Uyghur people and other suppressed minorities affected by the mass internment and surveillance system in the Xinjiang region, and we will continue to do all we can to support the full exercise of their human rights in Xinjiang and in China.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Sires) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, S. 178, as amended.
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. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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