[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
RELIGION WITH ``CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS'':
PERSECUTION AND CONTROL IN XI JINPING'S CHINA
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HEARING
before the
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 23, 2015
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CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
House
Senate
CHRIS SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman MARCO RUBIO, Florida, Cochairman
ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
TRENT FRANKS, Arizona DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
TIM WALZ, Minnesota GARY PETERS, Michigan
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
MICHAEL HONDA, California
TED LIEU, California
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
CHRISTOPHER P. LU, Department of Labor
SARAH SEWALL, Department of State
STEFAN M. SELIG, Department of Commerce
DANIEL R. RUSSEL, Department of State
TOM MALINOWSKI, Department of State
Paul B. Protic, Staff Director
Elyse B. Anderson, Deputy Staff Director
(ii)
CO N T E N T S
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Statements
Page
Opening Statement of Hon. Christopher Smith, a U.S.
Representative from New Jersey; Chairman, Congressional-
Executive Commission on China.................................. 1
Walz, Hon. Timothy J., a U.S. Representative from Minnesota...... 3
Hultgren, Hon. Randy, a U.S. Representative from Illinois........ 4
Lin, Anastasia, Human Rights Activist and the Current Miss World
Canada......................................................... 6
Fu, Bob, Founder and President, ChinaAid Association............. 8
Kadeer, Rebiya, President, World Uyghur Congress................. 12
Gyatso, Losang, Tibetan Service Chief, Voice of America.......... 16
Pittenger, Hon. Robert, a U.S. Representative from North Carolina 26
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements
Lin, Anastasia................................................... 31
Fu, Bob.......................................................... 34
Kadeer, Rebiya................................................... 60
Gyatso, Losang................................................... 62
Smith, Hon. Christopher, a U.S. Representative from New Jersey;
Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China.......... 64
Rubio, Hon. Marco, a U.S. Senator from Florida; Cochairman,
Congressional-Executive Commission on China.................... 65
Submission for the Record
Statement Submitted for the Record by Ellen Bork, Senior Fellow,
Foreign Policy Initiative; Visiting Fellow, Henry Jackson
Society........................................................ 67
Statement by CECC Chairs Representative Chris Smith and Senator
Marco Rubio on President Xi's ``Increasingly Bold Disregard for
Basic Human Rights''........................................... 69
Witness Biographies.............................................. 69
RELIGION WITH ``CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS'': PERSECUTION AND CONTROL IN
XI JINPING'S CHINA
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THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015
Congressional-Executive
Commission on China,
Washington, DC.
The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 11:02
a.m., in HVC 210, Capitol Visitor Center, Representative
Christopher H. Smith, Chairman, presiding.
Also present: Senator Marco Rubio, Cochairman; and
Representatives Randy Hultgren, Robert Pittenger, and Timothy
J. Walz.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A U.S.
REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW JERSEY; CHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL-
EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
Chairman Smith. Good morning, and thank you especially to
our very distinguished witnesses for being here this morning,
as well as to all of those who care so deeply about human
rights and are here in the audience.
The freedom of religion is the most fundamental and the
most elemental of all human rights. It is clearly the first
freedom from which all the others flow. It allows each citizen
the precious right to follow their conscience peacefully and
without fear.
It protects the critical part of who we are as human beings
to seek, to speak, and to act out our fundamental beliefs. When
this freedom is protected, the very well-being of society is
enhanced. No government should deny or suppress this essential
claim to conscience.
The reality is, and the tragic reality is, governments and
terrorist groups do restrict the freedom of religion, sometimes
in the most brutal and public ways. The freedom of religion
today, as it has been for a number of years, is under siege in
many places in the world, including and especially in China,
which is of course the subject of today's hearing.
Because religious freedom conditions are deteriorating
globally, I recently introduced H.R. 1150, the Frank Wolf
International Religious Freedom Act. The bill gives the
administration tools to better address religious freedom
violations around the world.
It is why I am also fighting to reauthorize the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom, or USCIRF, which
is a bipartisan and independent advisory group that has done
incisive work over the years. USCIRF gives Congress vital
recommendations about religious freedom conditions globally and
recommendations for actions.
Several years ago during a visit to the United States, Xi
Jinping was interviewed by a Chinese reporter on fellowship at
U.S. colleges. After the interview, President Xi asked a single
question of this reporter who was there, not about his family,
not about his studies, not about whether he enjoyed living in
the United States.
The one question he asked was, ``Why do so many Chinese
students studying in the United States become Christian? '' Why
one of the most powerful political leaders would ask this
question may never be known, and the student did not have an
answer.
But religion was on President Xi's mind that day. Whatever
was behind the complex question, religious freedom conditions
in China, especially under his watch, have not improved. Quite
the opposite. It has been a punishing year for China's diverse
religious communities.
China continues to rank right up there with Iran, Vietnam,
and Saudi Arabia in terms of the sheer misery it inflicts on
members of its diverse religious communities. This is the
verdict of the bipartisan, independent U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom.
It is the verdict of the State Department--if only it would
connect with policy--but it is in the human rights reports and
China has been again designated as a country of particular
concern, and has been since 1999, for being one of the worst
violators in the world of religious freedom. This is also the
verdict of human rights organizations.
Chinese authorities are frightened by the simple
proposition that individuals have the right to live out their
beliefs openly and peacefully without fear of intimidation. All
we have to do is look at events in the past few weeks to see a
coordinate, unnecessary, and often brutal campaign to manage,
control, or crush China's many religious communities. It has
been a very bad month in China.
Two days ago, a cross on a Christian church was burned near
the city of Wenzhou. Over 1,200 crosses, along with 35 church
buildings, were demolished since 2014. This was done reportedly
because they were too prominent, demonstrating the Party's
weakness.
During the just-concluded month of Ramadan, Uyghur Muslim
students, teachers, professors, and government employees were
deprived of the freedom to fulfill their religious duties. In
recent years, officials have shut down religious sites,
conducted raids on independent schools, confiscated religious
literature, and banned private study of the Koran. A new draft
counterterrorism law equates terrorism with ``the religious
education of minors.''
The Dalai Lama turns 80 this month and the Chinese
Government expanded attempts to undermine his leadership and
control in the selection of the Tibetan Buddhist leaders. Two
hundred and seventy-three Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns are
currently detained. Sadly, the Reverend Tenzin Deleg died in
prison last week; he was serving a life sentence on politically
motivated charges.
Beijing also continues its relentless 16-year campaign to
absolutely obliterate the Falun Gong, the anniversary of which
is each year during July. There are reports of torture,
detention, deaths in custody, and allegations based on credible
evidence of harvesting of organs.
Two weeks ago, the Chinese Communist Party authorities also
launched a massive crackdown on human rights lawyers. The
lawyers were accused of being ``a criminal gang,'' charged with
``creating chaos'' because they defended the rights of Falun
Gong, Uyghurs, Christians, and other persecuted persons in
China. Many of the lawyers detained are professing Christians,
spurred by their faith to defend the vulnerable and at-risk.
Senator Rubio and I put out a statement about the arrest of
human rights lawyers in China. We call the detentions
unjustified and said the roundup of human rights lawyers was an
undeniable set-back in U.S.-China relations. I would like to
add that statement for the record. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
China actively suppresses the faith of communities. Its
massive repression of rights lawyers and the brutal and
sometimes deadly ways it deals with prisoners of conscience are
a sad and black mark on China's recent history. It will be
remembered by history as brutal, unnecessary, and entirely
counterproductive.
It is counterproductive because religious restrictions make
China less stable. Repression can exacerbate extremism and
cause instability. Religious freedom, according to the Pew
Research Center, can be a powerful and effective antidote to
religious extremism. It is counterproductive because targeting
peaceful religious citizens undermines the legitimacy of the
state because it reminds even non-believers of the state's
capricious power.
It is counterproductive because religious persecution
marginalizes the persecuted, robbing China of their talents,
their economic productivity, and their contributions to
society. The issue of religious freedom must be addressed by
the administration during a planned summit in September, but we
must ask whether this summit should even take place.
There are many issues in the U.S.-China relationship that
need attention, but given President Xi Jinping's bold disregard
for human rights and his brutal suppression of dissent, does he
deserve to get the red carpet treatment in Washington?
I would like to yield to my good friend, Mr. Walz, for any
opening comments.
[The prepared statement of Representative Smith and the
joint statement submited for the record by Representative Smith
and Senator Rubio appear in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF HON. TIMOTHY J. WALZ, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM
MINNESOTA
Representative Walz. Well, I thank the Chairman first of
all for his passion and his lifelong commitment to human
rights, and second for holding this important hearing. I would
also like to thank our witnesses. Your courage and activism
inspires all of us and it is that very real part of being human
that the Chairman spoke about, the spiritual side of each of
us, we understand how important it is.
As many of you know--I have spoken about it in this
Commission many times--I, as a young man, had the opportunity
and the privilege to live in Foshan in Guangdong and have still
many acquaintances and part of who I am shaped by those
experiences.
Just like any nation, the sense of what we want as humans,
the opportunity to live our lives as we choose, to worship and
believe as we choose, is fundamental. So the Chairman holding
this hearing is exactly right. I do not think it is any secret,
the statistics and the recent events the Chairman talked about
against religious freedom.
But I think what most of us know is that, again, nations
and citizens are not synonymous, but I think as we both know
the way to strengthen a nation and strengthen that sense of
resolve is through respecting the spiritual freedoms and the
religious freedoms of their citizens. I think it is important
to have these hearings.
Every nation strives toward a more perfect union, and I
think it is incumbent upon us as citizens of the world, if you
will, to make this case. So the Chairman is exactly right. I am
grateful for him bringing this forward.
We are here today to hear from each of you, and I think you
should view this Commission--the Chairman's passion is
evident--that this is a place that we understand our
responsibility to be a place where we can have the
conversation, where we can further those goals and where we can
make the case to the Chinese Government that the way to
strengthen the nation is to honor those religious freedoms.
So, Chairman, I thank you.
Chairman Smith. Mr. Walz, thank you very much. Thanks for
underscoring that this is a truly bipartisan Commission and
there is no distance between us. There are lots of other issues
where we disagree, but not here. I think it is important that
that be conveyed to the Chinese leadership.
Randy Hultgren?
HON. RANDY HULTGREN, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS
Representative Hultgren. Thank you, Chairman. I also want
to echo my gratitude for the work that each of you has done
fighting for human rights, letting us know how we can work
together. This really is something that is universal for us. We
know that if religious freedom is taken away in other places,
if people are persecuted for their faith, it very easily can
happen here as well. So we have to be vigilant, we have to be
ever watchful of how important this basic freedom is.
So I just again want to thank you, all of you, for being
here, for the position that you put yourselves in and your
families in to be a strong voice for what is right. We want to
help. I am convinced that as we shine light into some areas
that are dark, this will cause things to change.
So this is a pivotal time, I know, with the President's
visit coming up, we need, as a Congress and as an
administration, to stand up again for people who do not have a
voice themselves. You are speaking up for them, and we need to
speak up for them. So, thank you. I look forward to learning
from you.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate, as always, your incredible work
on this and other issues as well. I yield back.
Chairman Smith. Thank you so much, Mr. Hultgren, for your
leadership. I am glad you are not in the chair again. You have
been presiding over the House many, many days. It is good to
have you here.
I would like to now begin with our witnesses, beginning
first with Ms. Anastasia Lin, who is a Toronto-based actress.
She won the Miss World Canada title in 2015. Since her start in
acting at the age of seven, Anastasia has appeared in over 20
films and television productions, and most prominently played
lead actress in several Toronto-based films about human rights
themes in China.
Her work has garnered numerous international awards,
including the Mexico International Film Festival's Golden Palm
Award and the California Indie Fest Award of Merit. Along with
her acting and participation in pageants, she is also known for
her public position against human rights abuses in China, a
very brave position.
Canadian television reports attributed her victory in the
2015 Miss World pageant in part to her passion for human
rights. Anastasia will participate in the 2015 Miss World
competition to be held this December in Sanya City in China.
We will then hear from Pastor Bob Fu, who was a leader in
the 1989 student democracy movement in Tiananmen Square, and
later became a house church pastor. In 1996, authorities
arrested and imprisoned Pastor Fu and his wife for their work.
After their release, they escaped to the United States and in
2002 he founded ChinaAid Association.
ChinaAid monitors and reports on religious freedom in China
and provides a forum for discussion among experts in religion,
law, and human rights in China. Pastor Fu is frequently
interviewed by media outlets around the world and has testified
previously at U.S. congressional hearings and at hearings
around the world. He has also appeared before the European
Parliament and the United Nations.
Pastor Fu holds a double bachelor's degree from the
People's University and the Institute of Foreign Relations and
has taught at the Beijing Communist Party School. In the United
States, he earned a Master's degree from Westminster
Theological Seminary and is now working on his Ph.D.
We will then hear from Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, who is a
prominent human rights advocate and leader of the Uyghur
people. She is the mother of 11 children and a former
laundress-turned-millionaire. She spent six years--six years--
in a China prison for standing up to the authoritarian Chinese
Government. Before her arrest in 1999, she was a well-known
Uyghur businesswoman and at one time among the wealthiest
individuals in the People's Republic of China.
Ms. Kadeer has been actively campaigning for the human
rights of the Uyghur people since her release in 2005. She was
nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize several times since
2006.
Despite Chinese Government efforts to discredit her, Ms.
Kadeer remains the pro-democracy Uyghur leader and head of the
World Uyghur Congress, which represents the collective
interests of the Uyghur people in the world.
We will then hear from Mr. Losang Gyatso, who is the
service chief of Voice of America's Tibetan Service which
broadcasts news and information into Tibet and is arguably the
most influential and trusted source of information for the
Tibetan people.
Before joining VOA, Mr. Gyatso was a founding director of
mechakgallery.com, a non-profit group promoting contemporary
Tibetan art through exhibitions, publications, and social
media.
Prior to that while working as an advertising executive in
New York City in the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Gyatso was a Tibetan
community organizer and one of the most prolific graphic
designers for projects carried out by groups such as the
International Campaign for Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet,
and Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Thank you
for your extraordinary work.
I would like to now turn to Ms. Lin for her testimony.
STATEMENT OF ANASTASIA LIN, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND THE
CURRENT MISS WORLD CANADA
Ms. Lin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China for convening this
event.
My name is Anastasia Lin. I am a Canadian actress. I will
be representing Canada at the 2015 Miss World competition in
Sanya, China. At least, that is my hope. Recent events leave me
worried for my family who are still in China.
I campaigned for the title Miss World Canada on a human
rights platform. I wanted to speak for those in China who are
beaten, burned, electrocuted for holding their beliefs, people
in prison who eat rotten food with blistered fingers because
they dared to have convictions. These are not criminals, these
are people who believe in truthfulness, compassion, and
tolerance.
When I was crowned Miss World Canada my father was very
proud of me, but within days his tone changed. He told me to
stop my advocacy or he would sever contact with me. I
understand he was visited by the Chinese security agents and
forced to say these things to me.
I have taken on roles in film and television shows that
depict human rights abuses in China, and to prepare I speak
with those who have suffered, including Falun Gong
practitioners.
In ``The Bleeding Edge,'' a film to be released this
winter, I played one such woman. She is in prison and tortured.
In one scene, her family is brought before her, made to kneel
and beg her to give up her beliefs. This is the region's policy
of guilt by association and this is why my father was
threatened by the security forces, never mind that I am a
Canadian citizen, upholding Canadian values on the other side
of the world.
It is a shock to realize that the man who made you feel
safe is in danger. I had to choose between silence and my hope
for a better China. Then I remembered, silence helps no one.
Silence feeds terror.
Practitioners of Falun Gong who have been marginalized,
defamed, and vilified in China since 1999 are noble people.
Despite the constant threat of arbitrary torture, psychiatric
abuse, or death, they are steadfast in their principles. They
have always sought peaceful means to resist persecution and
generate awareness.
In China today, our traditional values are buried under the
mortal scars of endless political campaigns. Material wealth
and the pursuit of self-interest are foremost in people's
minds. The courage of Falun Gong practitioners and other
dissidents and human rights lawyers are exceptions that give me
hope for China's future. Yet, it is these people that suffer
the most, people with stories of courage and tragedy, like the
father of my fellow Canadian Paul Li.
The elder Mr. Li is 60 years old and lives in Chengdu,
China. Once a highly respected county magistrate, he is now
beginning his second eight-year prison sentence. He was a
rarity in China, a high official that did not use his position
to gain wealth or personal advantage, and instead he followed
Falun Gong's teachings of truthfulness, compassion, and
tolerance and sought to be fair in his dealings.
Mr. Li spent his first eight years in prison for writing
essays criticizing the Communist Party's crimes and they
tortured him and tried to get him to renounce his relief and
embrace atheism. They made him blind in one eye.
He did not give up. After being released, he exposed cases
of torture and abuse and that was why he was again arrested and
sentenced to another eight years this April. This is a story of
incredible courage, almost completely ignored by the world's
media. There are millions of such stories.
Thousands continue to be sentenced to prison every year,
often after show trials. Lawyers who represent Falun Gong
practitioners, including those lawyers targeted in the most
recent crackdown, have faced disbarment, beating, and
imprisonment. The current crackdown on lawyers targets these
individuals and comes as some 80,0000 criminal complaints are
filed against the former Party leader, Jiang Zemin, by Falun
Gong practitioners.
The persecution of Falun Gong is widespread and brutal. In
1998, the Chinese Communist Government estimated there were 70
million practitioners of Falun Gong in China. Since the
persecution began in 1999, millions have been imprisoned,
tortured, and sexually assaulted. Estimates of the murdered
range widely because information is scarce, and exposing the
persecution is punished severely.
While we have the names and stories of the some 3,800
practitioners who have been killed in the persecution, multiple
independent investigators estimate that tens of thousands have
been killed so their vital organs could be harvested and sold
for organ transplantation, a lucrative business in China.
This is a gruesome and unspeakable crime that has created
profit for those brutal persecutors. The victims did not do
anything wrong. They are people of faith and morality. They are
people that any country would be fortunate to have. These are
the people of integrity that China so desperately needs
nowadays.
Mr. Chairman, I hope that, together, we can gain the
Chinese people a voice. The hope for a better future lies in
the people there gaining the freedom to believe what they want
and talk to whoever they want to talk to about whatever they
want to talk about. I hope this can happen soon. For myself,
this would give me back a father, but for many others, it would
save their lives.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lin appears in the
appendix.]
Chairman Smith. Thank you so very much, Ms. Lin, for your
very eloquent and incisive testimony, and done so with such
kindness even toward the persecutors.
I would like to know recognize Bob Fu, and as I do, remind
my colleagues, when Frank Wolf and I went and visited China
right before the Olympics we had a human rights agenda,
obviously, that we were promoting.
We called Bob Fu from the U.S. Embassy van and mentioned
that--and it was tongue-in-cheek--that we might go to Tiananmen
Square and unfurl a banner that says ``Respect Human Rights.''
Within 20 to 25 minutes, our embassy got a phone call from
the Chinese Foreign Affairs Department saying that we would be
escorted out of the country or arrested if we proceeded with
that, and this was just in a phone call from ourselves to Bob
Fu. Maybe the van, maybe the phone call was bugged. On that
trip, Bob had set up for us to meet with a number of house
pastors, Christian house pastors.
All but one were stopped by the government, and the one man
and his family that we met with was arrested afterward and put
through a withering time with the secret policy, again
underscoring, just as with the Falun Gong and all the others,
and we will hear from the others momentarily, but the
repression based on the best information, as bad as it was
then, it is even worse now.
Pastor Bob Fu?
STATEMENT OF BOB FU, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, CHINAAID
ASSOCIATION
Mr. Fu. Thank you, Chairman Smith, for your unwavering
leadership and solidarity with those who are persecuted in
China and all over the world. I also thank the Cochair, Senator
Rubio, and thank all the members, Congressman Walz and
Congressman Hultgren, who are demonstrating their support, your
support, for this honorable cause.
This is the third year of President Xi Jinping's
administration in China, whose policies and actions have raised
increasing alarm, and in some cases have astonished the
international community. Domestically, Mr. Xi has approached
his political rivals through a selective anti-corruption
campaign and monopolized power within the leadership of the
Communist Party, the government, and the military.
On foreign policy, Mr. Xi has adopted a dangerous and
aggressive agenda, challenging existing international law and
creating his own when deemed necessary, including the National
Security Law, which has been viewed by many as a pretext for
human rights abuses.
This antagonistic and arrogant approach to governance over
the past two and a half years has earned Xi the nickname
``Chairman Mao, Jr.,'' or ``Xitler.'' In the past two years,
the human rights and rule of law in China have rapidly
deteriorated.
The number of dissidents taken into police custody,
arrested, and convicted since Xi took power has exceeded the
total number that occurred during the 10-year reign of
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Chinese citizens
who peacefully criticize the
government or defend the rights of citizens, lawyers who dare
to represent so-called ``sensitive cases'' without cooperating
with the government, and activists who assemble in a peaceful
manner to attempt to request the government's permission to
establish an NGO or peacefully protest against government
policies or judicial injustice, even to gather for a meal, are
subsequently invited to drink tea, summoned for interrogation,
detained, or arrested and eventually tried in a corrupt
judicial system.
To be sure, the Chinese Government has intensified its
harassment of NGOs, civil society organizations, law firms
representing human rights cases, charitable organizations, and
political organizations such as the New Citizen Movement.
During the Xi administration, and particularly in the past
18 months, religious freedom abuses have reached a level not
seen since the Cultural Revolution. Not only have house
churches continued to experience intensifying persecution, but
now the government-sanctioned Three-Self churches are being
subjected to government-sponsored persecution and campaigns.
The Chinese Government's persecution of Tibetan Buddhists,
Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners, as my fellow
witnesses will and have testified, has also increasingly
worsened. The Chinese Government perceives that religious
practitioners are being guided by so-called foreign influence
and has subsequently pursued absolute control over religious
communities.
This new so-called National Security Law that just took
effect on July 1 has expanded the management, oversight, and
suppression of religious activity under the guise of so-called
national security.
So, I will talk about religious freedom and human rights
and rule of law in China, specifically focused on the forced
demolition of churches and crosses in Zhejiang province and
ongoing persecution of house churches and the torment and
treatment of human rights lawyers and human rights defenders in
China.
Then, I will offer some recommendations for the U.S.
foreign policy on China, and I want to request the Chair to
agree for both our annual report and my written testimony to be
on the record.
Chairman Smith. Without objection, all of that, and any
additional remarks or materials the other witnesses would like
to have included will be made a part of the record.
Mr. Fu. Thank you.
The forced demolition of church crosses. In the past year,
the government of Zhejiang province has demolished churches and
crosses under the pretext of implementing standards for
buildings and initially people thought it was maybe just a
local eradication of some buildings based on the building
codes.
But up until today, we have documented over 1,500 churches
that had their crosses forcibly removed, and a number of
pastors and believers have been beaten up and some pastors are
even sentenced to criminal imprisonment for defending the
crosses.
According to the information we have collected at least--
besides the government-sanctioned churches, which is more than
1,500 with their crosses being removed by force, or some of the
churches, the whole buildings were totally destroyed--at least
50 other house churches in rural areas were also destroyed or
their crosses were forcibly removed.
I think we have a few photos, if you could show these
photos. You can tell, some of the churches are being demolished
as late as yesterday morning. The crosses were even burned from
the top of the church building.
Yesterday at a large church, their cross was being forcibly
removed. This morning, more than 44 churches had issued a joint
declaration, basically denouncing the government's evil act of
forceful removal of crosses, and made a commitment to defend
their crosses from being removed. A number of Chinese human
rights lawyers were also called to help those churches, so some
of the lawyers are still in Zhejiang province.
This morning, according to a BBC report, there are a few
hundred churches in Guangdong province that have received
official notice that they are to be shut down. So, apparently
this campaign has already expanded into Guangdong province.
Also this morning, honorable members of this commission, in
Guangzhou city, a church called Guangfu Church was raided by 50
public security officers; the pastor's wife and three other
senior leaders of the church were taken into custody.
So, these kinds of barbaric acts of just demolishing
churches and destroying the peaceful symbol of Christian faith,
not only to the Protestant churches, but to Catholic churches
as well, demands and warrants a unanimous condemnation by the
international community.
Notably, even the government, the Chinese Catholic
Patriotic Association of Zhejiang, and the Chinese Catholic
Bishops Conference of Zhejiang, and the Chinese Christian
Council, all sent official letters to the government agencies
protesting and basically denouncing this barbaric act and
urging the government to stop this kind of destruction.
This is an unprecedented, of course, rebuke from those
government-controlled religious institutions, and it certainly
reflects the millions of believers' mindset that I think it
could trigger more unrest, as contrary to the Communist
government's intention.
Of course, the persecution against the house churches with
a secret document in 2011 that we obtained, mandates the
eradication of all house churches within 10 years. In the past
18 months, we have seen a continued, systematic campaign that
increased both the number of the persecutions of the house
churches, and also the number of arrests has been dramatically
worsened.
So, in reviewing religious freedom abuses perpetrated
against the house church during both the 2014 and 2015 years,
the following characteristics emerged: The abuse of
administrative penalties and regulations regarding the length
of administrative or criminal detention of church members and
leaders, persecuting churches and church members under the
guise of so-called eradicating cults and confiscating house
church possessions, religious materials, including bibles and
other scriptures, and banning and harassing Sunday schools, and
even the church-managed kindergartens.
Like in Guangxi province, four leaders of the kindergarten
teachers were given a criminal sentence this year for just
teaching the children about character building. That is it.
They received a two-to-three-year criminal sentence just for
managing that kindergarten school.
As the Chairman just mentioned, since July 10, the
government initiated this sudden campaign against human rights
lawyers. This happened in spite of the number of arrests
against other prominent human rights lawyers, including Pu
Zhiqiang, including the NGO leader Guo Yushan, including human
rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, and Hu Shigen, including, of course,
the human rights defender and journalist, 71-year-old Ms. Gao
Yu.
This new wave of attacks against human rights lawyers and
human rights defenders really proves that the Xi Jinping
administration has no intention--no intention at all--to obey
its own law, let alone international law.
These human rights defenders, they courageously not only
defend abuses of the house churches and Catholic churches, but
also they are the defenders for Falun Gong practitioners and
political dissidents and Tibetans, persecuted Muslims, and
human rights advocates. So, they are labeled as subversives or
some are said to be causing trouble.
I will give you another example that happened in March
2014, when a group of human rights lawyers--Tang Jitian, Jiang
Tianyong, Wang Cheng, Zhang Junjie, and nine family members of
their clients who are Falun Gong practitioners--in
Jiansanjiang, Heilongiang province, when they just visited
there, tried to just ask the whereabouts of their clients.
All these human rights defenders and family members were
detained and were abused physically, and the four detained
human rights lawyers were beaten and tortured, resulting in
collectively having 24 of their ribs broken, and some of them
are still kind of receiving medical treatment. So, this is just
one of the incidents that has happened in the past year.
This morning, Chairman Smith, there was a case in Guangzhou
involving three bold human rights defenders. They are a
Christian human rights lawyer Tang Jingling, Yuan Xinting, and
Wang Qingying. They are human rights defenders.
So, for simply holding a banner in front of a government
building demanding freedom of speech, this morning their trial
just started, and several of the lawyers have been arrested,
including lawyer Sui Muqing, who is one of the victims of this
July 10 raid.
So, as of this morning, we learned just over 246 human
rights lawyers and advocates and legal professionals have
either been interrogated, detained, or have gone missing into
police custody, of which 11 human rights lawyers and 3 human
rights advocates have been criminally detained and 6 remain
missing.
I received a note from one of the missing human rights
lawyers with whom Congressman Smith has met, attorney Li
Heping. His wife just sent a note this morning saying that she
had to send off her 13-year-old son to her hometown in a rural
area, away from Beijing.
She basically said this 13-year-old boy, witnessing on July
10 when her home was raided and his father, attorney Li Heping
was taken away in front of this 13-year-old, with another
little girl, so she said despite her reluctance to send her son
away, she just prayed that being in a rural area, maybe that
could protect their 13-year-old son from being further
harassed.
The 16-year-old son of the other two human rights lawyers,
lawyer Ms. Wang Yu and her husband attorney Bao Longjun, and
their 16-year-old son Bao Mengmeng, on July 9, he was just on
the way to go to study in Australia.
Then, after the public security officers abruptly just
kidnapped his father and also this 16-year-old son and
separated them and put him in detention for 48 hours, now today
they forced this boy to move from Tianjin city, his hometown,
to Inner Mongolia. He was already summoned three times for
interrogation.
I have a 16-year-old daughter. Actually, I brought her with
me today. As a father, how do you feel that when you are
together and suddenly a group of strangers, by force, grab the
father away for already 11 days? Nobody knows where the father
or the mother is being detained.
Their lawyers are not able to find out anything. So this
new wave of campaign, once again, shows that it is almost the
government that became part of a Mafia-style, to arbitrarily
force the disappearance and kidnapping of these human rights
lawyers. They are the backbone of China's rule of law, and they
are the defenders, and they should be rewarded for their
action, as Chairman Smith made the statement on July 10 right
after this happened.
So I want to make a few recommendations, finally.
Chairman Smith. Pastor Fu, could we get back to that after
we get through all the others?
Mr. Fu. Yes.
Chairman Smith. Just in the interest of time.
Mr. Fu. Yes.
Chairman Smith. Marco Rubio will be here momentarily and I
am sure he will want to hear those recommendations.
Mr. Fu. Yes.
Chairman Smith. I would like to now yield and recognize
Rebiya Kadeer.
[The annual report of ChinaAid and the prepared statement
of Mr. Fu appear in the appendix.]
STATEMENT OF REBIYA KADEER, PRESIDENT, WORLD UYGHUR CONGRESS
Ms. Kadeer. I would like to express my deep appreciation to
Congressman Smith for the invitation to speak here today. It is
my honor to discuss religious persecution of the Uyghur in
China.
The situation of the Uyghur Muslim is not getting any
better because of our strong belief in Islam and the Chinese
Government's repression is only getting worse. So I believe
this hearing is very timely to discuss the religious
persecution of all groups represented here today. To save time,
I will have my special assistant to read my written statement.
I am very honored to be here today and I wish to express my
profound appreciation to Representative Chris Smith and Senator
Marco Rubio for inviting me to testify today. I also want to
thank other CECC Commissioners for their strong support of
religious freedom in China.
The Uyghur people perceive their belief in Islam not only
as a personal expression of faith, but also as a statement of
their cultural distinctiveness from China's mainstream
Communist, atheist, and materialistic culture. For many
Uyghurs, the incursion of the Chinese state into this private
aspect of their lives and the role it plays in establishing a
broader, new identify for them is viewed as part of China's
assimilative process or a form of cultural genocide.
In East Turkistan, the two-fold implementation of strict
national and regional regulations concerning religious belief
and practice mean the Uyghur people are subject to the harshest
conditions governing religious life in China.
This occurs even though China's domestic laws, such as the
Constitution and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law, guarantee
religious freedom. Rather than simply forbid religious practice
of the Uyghur people, Chinese authorities have implemented
regulations that progressively narrow the definition of lawful
activity.
As a result, many Uyghurs often discover traditional,
normal religious customs are increasingly not permitted.
However, Chinese officials justify many of the restrictions
through claims that outlawed practices have been imported from
overseas and that it faces an organized threat to public
security in the form of the ``three evil forces'' of terrorism,
separatism, and religious extremism.
China's highly politicized criminal legal system, as well
as the state apparatus governing and monitoring religion, have
insured that government is the ultimate arbiter in the
interpretation of religious affairs. In fact, the bodies
established by the Chinese state to oversee administration in
China do little to protect religious believers, but assist the
government's repression of religious freedom by helping to
formulate and promote restrictive regulations.
Uyghur religious leaders, such as imams, are required to
attend annual political indoctrination classes to ensure
compliance with Chinese Communist Party regulations and
policies. Only state-approved versions of the Koran, the Holy
Book of Islam, and the sermons are permitted, with all
unapproved religious texts treated as illegal publications
liable to confiscation and criminal charges against whoever was
found in possession of them.
Any outward expression of faith in government workplaces,
hospitals, and some private businesses, such as men wearing
beards or women wearing head scarves, is forbidden. No state
employees or no one under the age of 18 can enter a mosque, a
measure not enforced in the rest of China. Organized private
religious education is proscribed and facilitators of private
classes in Islam are frequently charged with conducting illegal
religious activities.
Students, teachers, government workers are prohibited from
fasting during Ramadan, the holy month of Islam. In addition,
Uyghurs are not permitted to undertake Hajj, which is
pilgrimage, unless it is with an expensive official government
tour in which state officials carefully vet Uyghur applicants.
Uyghurs found to have contravened religious regulations are
punished severely. In a disturbing number of cases, Uyghurs
have been given long prison sentences for illegal religious
activities for actions considered normal by international human
rights standards.
For example, in East Turkistan today police can stop any
Uyghur at any time to check their mobile phones for religious
content. If the police deem such religious content as illegal,
the Uyghur can be arrested on the spot. An area of considerable
concern is also the open discrimination against Uyghur
religious believers, especially women, who choose to lead
religious lives publicly.
In 2015, the restrictions placed on Uyghurs' ability to
observe Ramadan fasts were widely reported. As detailed by the
overseas media, government work units outrightly denied Uyghurs
the right to follow their religious customs. For example,
middle schools in Bortala, Tarbaghatay and Tumshuq informed
their employees and students that they were not permitted to
fast.
In Jing county, restaurant owners were mandated by the
local Food and Drug Administration to remain open during
fasting hours and some were even forced to sell alcohol and
tobacco products, which were against their religious faith.
Reports also surfaced on social media that Uyghurs were
being compelled to eat watermelon in public to demonstrate non-
observance of the fast. Although these reports remain
unconfirmed, they are consistent with numerous accounts I have
heard from Uyghurs, particularly students, who were required to
drink water at school in front of their teachers to prove they
were not fasting, but were following school and local
government regulations.
Ramadan, in 2015, was particularly tense and harsh for the
Uyghur people. In an article dated June 24, 2015, Radio Free
Asia described how government workers were being put on alert
prior to the holy month. Their report was an alarming
indication of the suspicion with which the state views Uyghurs
who continue with their religious practices.
Furthermore, according to Radio Free Asia, one county
issued guidelines calling for intrusive searches of convenience
stores, repair shops, and mosques. These restrictions create an
atmosphere of distrust and fear.
However, 2015 witnessed provocations against the Islamic
faith previously not seen. Reports that a beer drinking
festival had been organized in Niya, a predominantly Uyghur
settlement, on the eve of Ramadan. It was a humiliation of the
Islamic faith and an attack on the Uyghur people's belief.
A report published by Human Rights Watch in 2005 described
the close relationship between the Uyghur identity and Islam.
The authors of the report accurately state Islam is perceived
as a fading Uyghur ethnic identity and so the subordination of
Islam to the state is used as a means to ensure the
subordination of the Uyghur people as well.
A report issued by the Uyghur Human Rights Project [UHRP]
in 2013 found a sharp deterioration in Uyghur religious rights
in the period following 2005. Since the publication of the UHRP
report, in April of 2013 the abuse of China's denial of
Uyghurs' rights to freedom of religion has not abated.
The increased repression of religious practices and belief
under way corresponds with Chinese President Xi Jinping's
determination to implement a major strategic shift in East
Turkistan that prioritizes security policies in the region.
State rhetoric regarding the tightening of security is
often accompanied by crackdowns on the so-called ``three evil
forces,'' which frequently target peaceful religious expression
of the Uyghur people.
A trip to East Turkistan by Xi Jinping concluded on April
30, 2014, reinforced the call for enhanced security measures.
Xi visited People's Liberation Army soldiers and the People's
Armed Police in Kashgar, a Uyghur-majority city, that he
claimed was the front line of counterterrorism.
Radio Free Asia reported a series of cases involving limits
placed on Uyghur religious expression across East Turkistan in
2013 and 2014, including Balaqsu near Kashgar in May 2013,
Beshtugmen in Igerchi near Aksu city in May 2013, Uchturpan in
Aksu prefecture in August 2013, Shihezi in November 2013,
Turpan in April 2014.
In April 2014, the fourth extension to an original 12-year
jail term handed down to Uyghur religious leader Abdukiram
Abduveli, in an extraordinary move, the harshness of the
religious policies prompted a Uyghur delegate to China's
People's Consultative Conference to speak up during a March
2014 session.
Further signs that regulations governing religion hardened
since Xi's announcement is an April 2014 notice issued by the
Chinese Communist Party committee of Qartal Bazaar in Aksu city
regarding the holding of an unlawful funeral ceremony for
Uyghur cadre Nurdin Turdi, a loyal Party official,
distinguished actually by the state.
The notes widely circulated on social media said that as
Nurdin Turdi's funeral was held at the mosque and not at his
home, his family was in contravention of regulations on
funerals for individuals holding Turdi's status.
As a consequence of the infraction, the funeral fees
normally paid by the state to such individuals were rescinded,
six months of benefits for the family were withheld.
Customarily, the state used to permit Islamic burials for any
Uyghur who wished to have one in the past.
Prior to Ramadan 2015, reports surfaced of the harsh
sentencing of a Uyghur man from Kashgar to six years in jail
because he had grown a beard, in accordance with his religious
beliefs. The man's wife was handed a two-year sentence for
veiling herself. The ban on Islamic veiling in Urumqi in 2015
was described by scholars James Leibold and Timothy Grose as
``a sign of a deepening rift of mistrust between the Uyghurs
and the Han-dominated Communist Party.''
Universal religious freedom is protected under Article 18
of the normative human rights standards outlined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international
instruments whose standards China is obliged to meet, and also
ensure the right of religious freedom, such as the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
China's domestic laws, such as the Constitution and the
Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law, have strong provisions on freedom
of religious belief. Despite the international and domestic
legal framework, restrictions on religious freedom are deemed
lawful by Chinese authorities through the strict implementation
of regulations that contradict China's own laws and
international obligations.
Thank you.
Chairman Smith. Thank you very much, Ms. Kadeer, for your
testimony and leadership.
Mr. Gyatso?
STATEMENT OF LOSANG GYATSO, TIBETAN SERVICE CHIEF, VOICE OF
AMERICA
Mr. Gyatso. Thank you, Chairman Smith. Thank you to the
Commission for inviting me. I would just like to clarify that I
am not a practicing activist. I am here as an engaged Tibetan
and as Service Chief of Voice of America's [VOA] Tibetan
language service. I am here to provide a sense of what is
happening in Tibet today and to put it in the context of
Chinese policies and actions in Tibet over the last 50, 60
years.
I have four images to show you. It will be in the first two
or three minutes. As I hold them up, it will be a signal for
you to view it on the screen over there.
Since problems facing religion, religious institutions, and
religious teachers in Tibet is widely known and well-documented
by this Commission and many other governmental and non-
governmental organizations in the United States and abroad, I
will not take up too much of your time going over too many
examples.
I would like to, however, touch on two events that took
place this month which may serve to highlight the degree to
which the Chinese Communist Party is willing to carry out
actions that cause enormous suffering for Tibetans, and that
create an environment of oppression in monasteries and in the
personal lives of Tibetans that have triggered the self-
immolation protests by over 140 Tibetans since 2009.
The latest such protest took place on the afternoon of July
9, two weeks ago. A young monk named Sonam Topgyal set himself
on fire at a public square in Kyegudo, the prefectural capital
of what China today refers to as the Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture in Qinghai province.
Photos and videos showing Sonam Topgyal on the ground in
flames have emerged since then and once again, as in many
previous such cases, Sonam Topgyal was taken from the site by
Chinese security and is believed to have died at a hospital.
A note he wrote one week earlier has surfaced, and in it he
says, ``I am the 27-year-old son of Tashitsang of Nangchen,
Yulshul, in Tsongon region,'' referring to his hometown and the
region with the traditional Tibetan geographic designation.
He continues, ``Currently, I am a monk studying in Dzongsar
Institute. As people within the country and outside are aware,
the Chinese Government does not look at the true and real
situation of the minorities, but practices only harsh and
repressive policies on them. At a time when the government is
carrying out policies to stamp out our religion, tradition, and
culture and destroy our natural environment, there is
absolutely no freedom of expression for the people and there is
no channel to appeal our situation.''
The other development this month which has been
particularly difficult for Tibetans is the prison death of a
widely respected lama and political prisoner on July 12, 11
days ago. Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche's family and monastic community
had not been allowed to see him since 2013, and were not
allowed to see him on the day that Chinese authorities claim he
died of a heart attack, nor for several more days as they
pleaded to have his body returned to them in order to conduct a
funeral fitting for a high lama.
Tibetans pleading for the return of his body were beaten
severely by security forces on July 13, 10 days ago, in Nyagchu
county, Sichuan province. Several days after the announcement
of his death, his family and some monks were allowed to see his
body in the detention center, where he was incinerated in the
prison crematorium against their wishes.
The Chinese have been in Tibet since 1951, long enough to
understand that a prison cremation for a highly regarded
spiritual teacher will be seen by Tibetans as a humiliating and
degrading act, and therefore understand it to be an added
punishment for those who had been pleading his innocence for 13
years, and then pleading for his remains after his death.
Further troubling is the fact that his sister and niece
have gone missing since July 17. A relative of Rinpoche living
in exile that VOA interviewed, suspected that the two women had
been detained for possibly persisting in demanding a proper
investigation into his sudden death.
On July 14, nine days ago, House Members at a hearing on
Tibet by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission had urged the
Chinese authorities to return the body of Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche
to his family members. As far back as 2004, the U.S. Senate
passed a resolution by unanimous consent, calling for
Rinpoche's release. Both calls have gone unheeded.
Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche's story is neither unique nor rare
when you look back over the last six decades of Chinese rule of
Tibet. Today, there are many known and probably many, many more
unknown Tibetans languishing in China's prisons for simply
expressing their dissent with the oppressive rules and
regulations governing Tibetan lives and the institutions and
figures of Tibetan Buddhism.
Writers and artists are imprisoned for simply writing or
singing about their love of Tibet's mountains and lakes,
culture and history. Many more are detained for refusing to
denounce their religious heads, such as the Dalai Lama, during
reeducation campaigns at temples and monasteries. All of the
above seemingly innocuous acts can today be categorized as
separatist acts according to recent regulations targeting
Tibetans.
Once imprisoned, the Tibetans are accused of acting at the
instigation of the Dalai Lama and/or foreign anti-China forces,
by which most Tibetans understand the Chinese to mean the
United States, and are then subjected to torture and prolonged
mistreatment with the sole purpose of extracting confessions
that correspond to the accusations.
This process, repeated across Tibet for 50 years, has
created immeasurable suffering for the Tibetan people and
deeply disturbed their psychological well-being for decades. As
I mentioned earlier, the Chinese Government's attack on
religion and religious institutions and figures in Tibet is not
a recent development, nor are they random aberrations in their
rule of Tibet since 1951. The Chinese Communist Party has been
purposefully and methodically working to dismantle the very
fabric of Tibetan spirituality and religious tradition since
1955.
Between 1955 and 1968, almost every single religious
institution in Tibet, estimated to number over 6,000
monasteries and temples, many of them a 1,000 years, 500 years
old, had been aerial bombed, artillery shelled, and razed to
the ground. Tens of thousands of lamas, religious teachers,
monks, and nuns were imprisoned, executed, or disrobed.
Public humiliation and torturing of respected reincarnated
lamas, often to death, took place across Tibet in the 1950s and
1960s in order to ridicule religion and to prove that religious
figures were powerless.
Attacks on religion during that period was the reason why
all of the heads of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, all
five heads, went into exile in 1959 before the fall of the
Tibetan Government and remain so to this day.
The highest ranking lama remaining inside Tibet in 1959 was
the Panchen Lama. He spent 13 years in solitary prison for
speaking against what the Chinese had done in Tibet up to 1961.
After his sudden death in 1989, the Chinese installed their own
choice of his reincarnation, a child whose parents were Party
members, Chinese Communist Party members. The child that was
selected by monks in the Panchen Lama's own monastery and
approved by the Dalai Lama as is customary, was disappeared,
along with his entire family in May 1995 and has not been heard
of since then.
In 2007, China's State Administration for Religious Affairs
introduced measures that dictate which Tibetan religious
figures may or may not reincarnate, and the requirement for the
approval of selected reincarnated lamas by offices under the
Communist Party. While this may appear simply surreal and
bizarre to most people, there are two very serious possible
consequences from these measures; one that will even further
diminish human rights in Tibet, and the other that will impact
the state of religious institutions and the very existence of
religious practice as we know it in Tibet.
First, since nearly all expressions critical of conditions
in Tibet, and/or, in praise of aspects of Tibetan culture and
identity can be categorized as ``separatist'' activities that
are punishable acts today, the following sentence in the
measure, ``living Buddha reincarnations should respect and
protect the principles of the unification of the state,'' would
mean that all officially sanctioned reincarnated lamas and the
religious institutions affiliated with them, would be forced
into silence on issues relating to human rights and the state
of religious and cultural freedoms in Tibet.
And second, and this may not be fully appreciated by many
people at present, the interference by the Communist Party in
the selection or de-selection of reincarnated spiritual masters
undermines Tibetan Buddhism at its most fundamental level by
aiming to break the trust and faith that Tibetans have invested
in their lamas for hundreds of years.
Tibetan Buddhist practice, based on ancient Indian
traditions, holds at its very core the sacred relationship
between religious teachers with pure and direct spiritual
lineages, many that go back 1,000 years, and the student
practitioners who take vows, initiations, and meditation
instructions from them. The successful guidance through complex
psychological states and through layers of consciousness in the
course of a person's spiritual practice relies completely on
this connection between trusted and respected reincarnated
lamas and their followers.
The measures to control reincarnated lamas is therefore
aimed at this bedrock of Tibetan religious practice and could
lead to the destruction of thousands of unbroken spiritual
lineages of the lamas, and to the eventual demise of Tibetan
Buddhism as it has been practiced since the 13th century when
the reincarnation system was initiated in Tibet. As an example
and on a much more mundane level, it is as if a government
decided that it would select people to practice medicine,
surgery, and psychiatry, based not on their qualifications and
background, but on their political leaning. You can imagine
what this would do to the state of healthcare.
These are just a few examples of how persecution of
religion and religious institutions and figures in Tibet are an
ongoing feature of Chinese rule of Tibet, and they are posing
existential challenges for Tibetans in maintaining intellectual
rigor and spiritual vitality in the monasteries and temples
across Tibet.
The Dalai Lama says in his autobiography that in one of his
meetings with Chairman Mao in 1954, Mao turned to him, leaned
forward, and said, ``Religion is poison.'' That view appears to
have been, and continues to be, the guiding principle of
Chinese rule in Tibet, where its policies since 1955 have gone
from destroying religion completely, to today, where a small
number of monitored monasteries and controlled religious
figures are allowed to exist as a show of the government's
tolerance for religion and as tourist attractions, while in
reality, the monastic institutions and the system of
reincarnated lamas is being controlled and used purely for the
perpetuation of China's control of Tibet.
Thank you.
Chairman Smith. Mr. Gyatso, thank you very much for your
very comprehensive and incisive testimony.
We are joined by Senator Marco Rubio, who was in, and
probably has to go back to, a hearing that is on the Iran
nuclear deal as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, a
leader on that committee. Secretary Kerry is testifying, but I
would like to yield to my good friend and colleague.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARCO RUBIO, A U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA;
COCHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
Senator Rubio. I just want to thank you, and I want to
thank all of you for being here for this important hearing. I
do not have an extensive statement. Are we going to go into the
question period?
Chairman Smith. Yes.
Senator Rubio. Yes. I just wanted to make a couple of
points. I mean, we have all watched over the last two weeks as
the Chinese Communist Party and its authorities have launched
an unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers, on
activists, the most severe since the legal system was
reestablished after the Cultural Revolution.
To date, there has been over--that we know of--200 people
detained, questioned, reported missing. So I think this hearing
today is timely, and in particular the focus on religious
liberties, which there seems to be an amped-up effort to target
those, whether it is the extensive cross removal campaign
resulting in the destruction of hundreds of Chinese crosses,
the Thai authorities forcibly repatriating Uyghur Muslims back
to China, Tibetan Buddhists who have continued to set
themselves on fire in desperation at the abuses of their
people; it goes on and on.
So I think this is an important opportunity to shed light
on this extraordinary development that is going on in China,
that the world seems largely either unaware of, or uninterested
in, given all the other challenges that exist on this planet. I
think it is one we need to continue to focus on and ensure that
this country's foreign policy is one deeply and firmly anchored
in moral clarity and human rights.
So thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this
hearing today, and I look forward to hearing from our
witnesses. I apologize that I have to leave a few minutes
early. We are in the middle of an Iran hearing. It is the only
chance we will have to talk to Secretary Lew, Secretary Kerry,
and Secretary Moniz on an important issue as well. But again, I
wanted to come by for a few minutes and hopefully be able to
ask some questions.
I would love to, if I can go first. I appreciate your
indulgence in that regard.
So Mr. Gyatso, I want to begin with you. Do you think that
a Chinese-appointed Dalai Lama is something that Tibetans would
ever accept or eventually get used to?
Mr. Gyatso. Thank you for that question. It is an extremely
difficult and delicate subject for Tibetans. I think the
clearest answer I can provide would be that there is actually
an existing example of an imposition of an important lama
inside Tibet, the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama, as I
mentioned earlier, this current Panchen Lama, was imposed by
the Chinese in 1996. The Panchen Lama that was recognized by
his own monastery, and as customary, approved by the Dalai
Lama, has been disappeared since 1996 to this day.
The Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama has not received
acceptance at all across Tibet. He has had trouble finding
proper religious teachers who are willing to accept that role.
He has had problems having monasteries that are willing to have
him study in the institutions, and almost every aspect of his
public appearances in Tibet have to be orchestrated and
choreographed with people bussed in to greet him, et cetera. So
I think that gives you a very small indication, although he is
a lama of a smaller scope than the Dalai Lama, that acceptance
of a Chinese-appointed Dalai Lama is not a viable option.
Senator Rubio. And Mr. Fu, I wanted to ask you, what policy
recommendations do you have for the U.S. Congress, for the
executive branch, in terms of protecting religious freedom in
China? How should the U.S. Government convey those concerns to
Chinese officials in these high-level bilateral meetings?
Mr. Fu. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Yes, I think the how
part, at least I can give a few recommendations. First of all,
I think given the fruitless years of U.S.-China human rights
dialogue with China, I think I would really recommend the
administration to cancel this kind of really useless, toothless
human rights dialogue.
I would also recommend that human rights should play a more
central role instead during the annual U.S.-China Strategic and
Economic Dialogue instead, including a review mechanism to
ensure progress on human rights is made during each year's
meeting.
I also would urge Congress, both the House and Senate, to
seriously pass the Global Magnitsky Act and the other Human
Rights Protection Act sponsored by Congressman Smith, and I
think that the mechanism, if passed by the Congress for the
Global Magnitsky Act, would really give the true teeth to
ensure, at least partially, those human rights abusers would be
more hesitant to make further persecution.
For instance, the latest campaign against human rights
lawyers. And the Chinese Government admitted the central figure
who orchestrated or laid this campaign is Minister Guo
Shengkun. He is the Minister of Public Security, and he has
contributed to this increasing crackdown, like the crackdown
and forced removal of crosses in Zhejiang province.
The Party secretary of Zhejiang, Mr. Xia Baolong, who has
been the leading force for these latest abuses, although with
the authorization and approval from President Xi Jinping. Mr.
Xia Baolong and Mr. Guo Shengkun should clearly be put on the
list at the State Department for the travel ban, banning them
to travel to America. We can coordinate with the European
allies to ban them as well.
So these are some of the key recommendations I would give.
Senator Rubio. And Ms. Lin, I wanted to ask you, you have
documented that this has happened to you as well, how the
Chinese Government often uses China-based family members of
Chinese rights activists as leverage to get them to stop their
work.
Can you describe a little bit about it? I mean, you have
written about it before, but is that an ongoing practice? How
many people have you met that are affected by it, the idea that
they use your relatives back in China as leverage against you
to prevent you, or hopefully to convince you?
Because I think it is amazing. I know it would be shocking
to a lot of Americans to know that there are people living in
this country, perhaps American citizens, who are being extorted
and/or blackmailed through the safety or security of their own
relatives back in China.
Ms. Lin. Yes. I would say that this is a common experience
of many Chinese overseas, including Chinese Canadians, Chinese
Americans. It is a well-known fact among the community that the
Chinese consulate would send people to watch over the Chinese.
Religious freedom and human rights does not just affect
people that are living in China, but every Chinese who still
has loved ones there. I do not know what it feels like to be
tortured by prison guards, but now I know the deep fear
probably felt by many Chinese people that their convictions
might be paid by their loved ones.
But if we keep silent, there is no end to this kind of
compromise. The Chinese people overseas need to speak up about
this issue. Yes, we might be afraid, but courage is not always
the absence of fear. To be courageous, is to know that
something else is much more important than fear. To be able to
live according to your conscience, for Falun Gong practitioners
and other dissidents, it outweighs the fear of death. That is
why I am going back to China. I hope my presence in that
country would help those who are facing these unspeakable
horrors, to preserve their hope a little longer. Thank you.
Chairman Smith. Thank you.
At my request, I would like to ask that Senator Rubio, we
will suspend for about two minutes. If you would not mind
saying hello. I know you could not get here because of the
hearing and you are going back to the Iran hearing.
Senator Rubio. I am just going to come down to say hello to
everyone.
Chairman Smith. That would be great.
[Whereupon, at 12:26 p.m. the hearing was recessed.]
AFTER RECESS
[12:27 p.m.]
Chairman Smith. Thank you, Cochair Senator Rubio. The
hearing will now reconvene.
Let me just ask a few questions. Again, your testimonies
have been absolutely stellar and hopefully motivating, not just
to the Congress and to the press and free peoples everywhere,
but to the President and to the administration as well.
When Pastor Fu says that in the past two years human rights
and the rule of law in China have rapidly deteriorated, the
number of dissidents taken into police custody, arrested, and
convicted since Xi took power has exceeded the total number
that occurred during the 10-year reign of President Hu Jintao
and Premier Wen Jiabao.
That ought to be in headlines across the world that the
race to the bottom with North Korea is unprecedented. It has
shades as you pointed out, of Chairman Mao, Jr. There is an
emulation here of the extraordinary excesses of Chairman Mao
and the depravity, the cruelty that was visited.
As you said, Mr. Gyatso, about the meeting with the Dalai
Lama and Chairman Mao, the answer back was that religion is
poison. What the government is doing to its own people is
poison.
We fail in capitals around the world, including this one,
to recognize the insatiable appetite for depravity and cruelty
by the guards, right up to the highest levels of this
government in Beijing, to hurt people, to find very specific
ways, whether it be ensuring that fasts are broken, Ramadan is
not followed, public drinking of water and taking of food in
order to humiliate, of course the genocide being committed
against the Tibetans which is ongoing and pervasive, the
relentless attempt to not just persecute, but to eradicate
religion and spiritual belief and exercises, and I think that
is the track that Xi Jinping is on. The evidence is
overwhelming.
My first question--I think the point is, and Mrs. Rebiya
Kadeer certainly has dealt with this with her own family as
well, the Senator asked a very, I think, important question
about not just the incarcerated and persecuted dissident or
religious believer or Falun Gong practitioner, but also the
whole family goes to jail, not just in China, but everywhere
else where members of the family and the extended family
reside.
We know that with Chen Guangcheng, who Bob Fu worked
tirelessly to free and to get his wife and family out of
Beijing; we are waiting for his nephew to be released--you
might want to speak to that. But they always find other people
to take actions against.
I remember being in Hungary not so long ago and a member of
our Embassy there made a very serious faux pas when they were
somehow accusing the Hungarian Government of having a cozy
relationship with China. Who has a cozy relationship with China
then? President Obama and others in our government,
particularly on the economics front.
But I said, do you realize that they follow and they send
more people to follow--this is to say, the Chinese Government--
in capitals around the world and in cities around the world
when there is more of a diaspora there because they feel they
own you, they own the Chinese people? If you speak out--and
Rebiya Kadeer has dealt with that here as well, where she has
been harassed by the Chinese Government here, not just there
but here.
So I think the point--and maybe some of you might want to
build on it--about what this government so cruelly does to the
families, they torture, they imprisoned, but then they cruelly
mistreat the families as well, trying to do what they are
doing--trying to do to you, with your dad saying to back off on
human rights. So the whole family goes to jail and I think that
is under-appreciated by policymakers everywhere.
I would say on the Muslim persecution--and you might want
to respond to all that. I would say on the persecution of the
Muslims, I do not know any other country in the world where
Muslims are persecuted the way the Uyghurs are in the People's
Republic of China, yet China sits as a member of good standing
on the Human Rights Council, on the Security Council of the
United Nations, and on many other prestigious seats there.
I plan on taking this testimony, which again, I think every
Member of Congress needs to read and we will get it out to the
Members, the House and Senate, hopefully the press will report
accurately--I believe they will--as to what they have heard
today, but also to Prince Zeid. He is the High Commissioner for
Human Rights.
I have worked with him on human trafficking issues in the
past. He runs a large UN bureaucracy of human rights personnel
and he is a Muslim. He should be speaking out every day of the
week generally on all the persecution in China, but if he
cannot show solidarity with the Uyghurs, that would be a very
serious flaw on his part. So we will convey this record to him,
especially the urgency that it is worse now than it was a year
ago, two years ago, and China is in, like I said, a race to the
bottom with North Korea.
If you might want to respond to any of that, I would
appreciate it. That is an opener. Also, Pastor Fu, we are going
to talk about your recommendations, if you would include them
as well.
Mr. Fu. Yes. You are absolutely right, Chairman Smith,
about the cruelty, the increasing cruelty, toward the family
members. Family members oftentimes have become hostages. I have
received multiple messages from these human rights lawyers even
before they were arrested, and, of course, the example of Gao
Zhisheng is another example, whose daughter was just attacked,
and the wife was beaten up on the street. I remember when I
spoke up in 2002 after I came to the United States, then my 70-
year-old father was taken into the police station.
Later on, after I rescued him out of China, I learned he
was beaten up with a big stick and basically tried to send a
signal to silence my voice here. I am the latest example. Of
course, you know that Major Yan Xiong, who is the army
chaplain, should be a hero and who is one of the student
leaders in the student democracy movement, a close friend of
mine. We always pray together over the phone, and he is a human
rights campaigner, too.
He requested to even visit his mother initially. Remember,
you also tried to intervene, and a number of other Members of
Congress wrote letters, tried to really do a private diplomacy
for just simple, humanitarian grounds. Major Yan Xiong's mom
was recently holding her last breath, waiting for her son to go
back to say farewell. The Chinese Embassy and Consulate
rejected his visa application, and his mom died last week, and
he still was not granted a visa.
So this shows the cruelty. Of course, my friend Yang
Jianli, who spent five years in prison for just speaking up and
traveling in China, meeting with other dissidents, I think
given the kind of deteriorating situation, one of the concrete
recommendations I would urge you and Senator Rubio to really
strongly push is to urge the Obama administration to reconsider
the invitation to President Xi Jinping to visit the United
States in September. This is not the environment for him to get
a red-carpet welcome. He is not welcome by the American people.
He may be welcomed by some politicians who care nothing but
for economic interests and who really value nothing but their
purse. And this visit by Xi Jinping in September should either
be canceled, postponed, or at least pre-conditioned on the
release of those prisoners of conscience, some prominent ones
in the Free China 18 list.
Of those prominent human rights activists, journalists,
like Gao Yu, Pu Zhiqiang, Guo Yushan, Ilham Tohti, those are
the peaceful citizens, the conscience of China. With them in
the dark cells of Chinese prisons, I do not see that there is
any good reason to justify a state visit, a welcome to Xi
Jinping this September. So, this is one of my concrete
recommendations.
Ms. Kadeer. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for the question. In the
case of the Uyghurs, the Chinese Government not only targets
Uyghur activists in East Turkistan, but also those Uyghurs who
have fled outside of the country, and especially targets their
family members.
In my case, as you know, it is very well-known that two of
my sons were sentenced by the Chinese authorities just because
of my human rights advocacy. One son was sentenced to seven
years, another to nine, basically for guilt by association.
Although both of my sons are out of prison now, having
served their terms, I do have 24 other relatives, including
children and grandchildren. They are not in prison, but it is
not any different than if they were in prison. Actually, they
are all under surveillance and strict government control, so
they are in an open prison.
All their financial means are frozen and confiscated by the
government. Some of my grandchildren who graduated from
universities, they are also black-listed and they could never
get a job anywhere.
Another example is a reporter, a Uyghur reporter at Radio
Free Asia. His name is Shohret Hoshur. Because of his reporting
of Chinese Government human rights violations, three of his
siblings were detained by the Chinese authorities.
These are obviously just two cases, but for all Uyghurs who
have fled Chinese persecution and have become active overseas,
their relatives and family members are harassed and some family
members, the government uses them to pressure their relatives
outside of the country, to spy on their own communities on
behalf of the Chinese authorities.
Due to the increasing religious repression of the Chinese
authorities against the Uyghur people and targeting the Uyghur
people's faith in Islam, which is demonized by the Chinese
authorities, for many religious Uyghurs it is almost impossible
to live a normal life in and around East Turkistan.
As a result, many have sold whatever they could sell and
fled to southeastern Asian countries like Thailand and
Malaysia, hoping to reach Turkey in recent years. We have seen
men, women, children, and even pregnant women leaving our
homeland en masse.
We had several hundred Uyghurs detained by the Thai
authorities for the past two years, and recently 109 of them
were forcibly deported by the Thai Government to China. We have
seen the photos of the deportation. They were treated like
criminals by the Chinese authorities and taken away.
We now have nearly 60 Uyghurs still in Thai detention
centers. We deeply fear for their future, should any
deportation happen, but we already know the Chinese Government
is harassing the relatives of the nearly 60 Uyghurs detained in
Thailand, pressuring the family members basically to pressure
the Uyghurs detained in Thailand to return to China.
So the situation, of course, is very similar across the
board, whether one is a Falun Gong member, one is a Chinese
Christian, one is a Tibetan under Chinese rule. The Chinese
Government's aggressive persecution of the activists, both
inside and outside China, is extremely severe. But at the
moment we are deeply concerned with the fate of the 109 Uyghurs
deported to China. We also hope the rest of the Uyghurs in Thai
detention would not be deported.
Thank you.
Ms. Lin. I would like to talk about some of my colleagues'
experiences. These are very courageous people that I work with
on independent film and television projects that expose human
rights abuses in China.
The NTD TV president's brother was harassed in China
because he practiced Falun Gong and also speaks about the
abuses that are happening. A film producer I worked with last
summer, Leon Li, made a film about the organ harvesting that is
happening in China and his family members have been threatened
by the security force.
These are people that are working in the media and helping
to bring light to these kinds of abuses. I think if every
Chinese can speak up and if our governments can protect these
citizens by talking about it publicly, to let the Chinese
Government know that when they do such things they will have a
reputational cost, then perhaps they will respect our borders
more. Thank you.
Chairman Smith. We are joined by Commissioner Pittenger, a
good friend and colleague, and also a religious freedom human
rights activist and a very, very strong believer and
inspiration to me.
Mr. Pittenger?
STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT PITTENGER, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM
NORTH CAROLINA
Representative Pittenger. Thank you, Chairman Smith, for
your wonderful leadership applied to religious freedom for
people throughout the world. We met some 30 years ago and I
have always been grateful for your big heart and compassion
toward these important issues.
I have been engaged in this since my involvement with
Campus Crusade for Christ back in the 1970s. For 10 years, I
was an assistant to Dr. Bill Bright, president of the
organization. We quietly worked through various groups in
various parts of the world and the plight of those who are
suppressed for their faith, as well as working and traveling in
the former Soviet Union back in the 1980s with Congressman
Frank Wolf and David Amess, a Member of Parliament. We went
there on behalf of those seeking freedoms of conscience and
religious liberties.
So I am deeply committed to these issues and I want to
express my heartfelt solidarity with each of you. I know that
many gathered here last week for the Falun Gong demonstration
and for the rights to practice their beliefs.
We stand with all people of all faiths for that right and
that privilege. It is a God-honored commitment that I believe
that all people should have. So, thank you for having this
hearing, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to continued discussion
and dialogue with you.
Chairman Smith. Thank you very much.
Before we conclude, if there are any other points that any
of you would like to make, I do want to say that China is a
signatory to the Genocide Convention. They have, in my
opinion--and they ought to be held to account for it--committed
multiple acts of genocide and do so to this very day.
There is the gendercide issue, where females are being
slaughtered through the One-Child-Per-Couple policy. They pass
laws that are absolutely ineffective and unenforced because it
brings the numbers down. We know that as part of population
control that came right out of Washington, Planned Parenthood,
and other organizations in the 1960s, the idea of destroying
the baby girl, the girl child in utero, is an effective means
of reducing your population because not only do you kill the
baby in the womb who happens to be a girl, you also kill the
chances of that girl being a mother when she is 20, 25, and 30.
On religious grounds, the Tibetans, there is no clearer
example ever of genocide. I have read the Dalai Lama's book
when he talked about the Han majority replacement,
systematically displacing indigenous Tibetans. The multiple,
systematic attacks against Tibetan Buddhists is a clear example
of genocide.
The same goes, I believe, with the Uyghurs, less visible to
many people. It ought to be, but it is not. It is another
genocide, a systematic destruction of a people in whole or in
part. It fits the definition. Christians. They have tried to
manage it for years after trying to completely eliminate, as
Mao Zedong told the Dalai Lama, the poison of religion, then
they looked to manage it.
I think now they are reverting back to a destructive
modality. The Falun Gong, it is inexplicable what the fear is
there. It ought to be--I mean, people of faith form wonderful
citizens who are law-abiding and Falun Gong have shown no
tendency other than to be very, very good people with good
principles, and yet the Chinese Government has been on a tear
to slaughter, kill, and as you pointed out, Ms. Lin, the organ
harvesting issue is something we are really looking
aggressively into because that is another major fundamental
human rights abuse, to kill someone to procure their organs.
I held hearings 20 years ago, and we had a man who actually
was a police officer who left, got asylum here. He got asylum
in part because he came and appeared before our hearing. But he
brought documentary evidence showing that they were
exterminating, killing, executing prisoners, but not totally
until they got the preferred body organ for transplant. He gave
us a tremendous amount of documentation on that.
To think that kind of horror, which is Nazi-like, continues
today against Falun Gong and perhaps others is an atrocity that
cannot go unaddressed. Bob Fu, Pastor Fu, said that Xi
Jinping's invitation, and who knows if it is going to be a full
White House dinner with the red carpet. You enable evil, in my
opinion, when you bring people in and give them a public
relations opportunity back home that is second to none.
I believe in meeting with people that you profoundly
disagree with. I met with Bashir, who did the genocide against
the people of Darfur in South Sudan. I met with him for well
over an hour, argued with him. We do not do the arguing part.
We meet, we toast and we make nice. Diplomacy ought to be
heavily imbued with truth and reality.
Unfortunately--and the one that got me even more than when
President Obama had Hu here was when Chi Haotian came in, the
Defense Minister of China who was the operational commander for
the Tiananmen Square massacre. He should have been sent to the
Hague for crimes against humanity. Instead, he was given a 19-
gun salute by President Bill Clinton.
I will never forget it. I put together a hearing that day.
Some of you were here and we bore witness to the fact, two days
after Chi Haotian said nobody died at Tiananmen Square. Back
home, as I ready People's Daily, the English version, it was
like Chi Haotian takes Washington by storm. We need our
government, we need the President--he can do it as
diplomatically as he wants, but to have some red lines about
these human rights abuses that, as you have pointed out, all of
you have pointed out, has gone from bad to worse.
Again, we are going to give this hearing over to the White
House. Hopefully they will look at it and hopefully they will
not throw it into the circular file. But the President himself,
and Biden himself--you know, if you are going to get these
positions, if you aspire to be President, you had better be
president for all the people, Americans, as well as for people
who are struggling under the tyranny of a dictatorship as they
are in Beijing and throughout China.
So if you want to make any final comments, or Mr.
Pittenger, if you would want to conclude on anything, thank you
for your speaking truth to power with risks to yourselves and
your loved ones when you do it. I just want to say how grateful
we are. We will give this to Prince Zeid.
I will get a copy to Ban Ki-moon and hopefully I will
physically put it in his hands and ask him to read it, because
China gets a pass on human rights. They have been for far too
long and now that they are in a race to the bottom, I will say
it for the third time, with North Korea for abuses against
their own citizens, it is about time that the United Nations
found its voice.
Pastor Fu?
Mr. Fu. Yes. Thank you, Chairman, once again. I just want
to have the rest of the four specific recommendations to the
State Department specifically, and thank you, Congressman
Pittenger, for your leadership, too.
As you just mentioned, the family members, I mean, we
actually even on our list today there was a petitioner from
Heilongjiang province, Ms. Ma Yuqin. She was abused and
tortured even for just simply making peaceful petitions for her
property. Her whole factory was arbitrarily confiscated with
all her wealth gone.
I think the U.S. State Department should strongly consider
posting an officer at the U.S. Embassy in China with the sole
responsibility of monitoring and reporting on religious freedom
and related human rights abuses within China, including in the
areas of Tibet and Xinjiang. I also recommend that the State
Department's Office of International Religious Freedom and the
Commission on International Religious Freedom to, each year, at
least request to visit China.
When was the last time each of the offices and agencies
have visited China? I think it is already years that there has
been no visit. My request for a visit of the former Ambassador
was even denied a visa, but we did not hold any protests on
even denying a president-appointed ambassador-at-large. That is
a shame.
The third recommendation I would recommend is that the
State Department should make an official public statement
condemning this forced demolition of churches and crosses in
Zhejiang and other areas of China. So far, neither Secretary
Kerry nor the spokesperson has issued a public statement
condemning this large, brutal, shameful campaign.
The fourth and last one, is the State Department should
raise publicly and at all levels of exchange with the Chinese
Government the cases of prisoners of conscience, including the
China 18 and others. I know you had led the campaign to urge
President Obama to meet with the daughters of the prisoners of
conscience multiple times.
I think if the excuse not to meet with these family members
in China--it could pose a danger or potential threat--but how
about here in the United States? There is no threat to meet
with the family members. So, these are the recommendations.
I hope the State Department and our Embassy can really
actively engage with those family members affected by the
forced removal of crosses and the demolition of churches, the
pastors can go and visit them and to meet with them and to
really know about the situation and take concrete steps. Thank
you.
Ms. Lin. Just one final remark, Mr. Chairman. There are 50
Falun Gong practitioners who have been recently denied refugee
status in South Korea and are ready to be deported back to
China to face those inhumane violations.
I admire your commitment to human rights, but not every
government is like that. I think we now face a choice, every
one of us who are outside and inside China. We can choose to be
silent and conform to these kinds of violations or we can use
our liberty to advocate for those whose liberty has been
deprived. Thank you very much.
Chairman Smith. On those 50, we will look into it and see
if it would be appropriate--it probably will, but we will have
to do a quick vetting of it. I mean, the whole issue of
refoulement is that you do not send somebody back where there
is a well-founded fear of persecution. You can count on each of
those people, I think, going back to persecution, not even the
fear of it.
We have had ongoing arguments with the UNHCR, and then a
number of host governments who continually do this, send Falun
Gong and others back to near certainty, either incarceration,
certainly harassment, and we contact not only the government of
South Korea, but also the High Commissioner for Refugees. So we
will follow up on that right after this hearing.
Ms. Kadeer?
Mr. Gyatso. If I may, just one final.
Chairman Smith. Yes.
Mr. Gyatso. In terms of finding some sort of a resolution
and a solution to the situation inside Tibet, one thing that is
clear for Tibetans in exile, and I think from messages coming
out of inside Tibet also, there is support for the Dalai Lama's
proposal made to the Chinese Government many years ago of
finding an amicable solution for Tibetans to exist within the
Chinese state but with autonomy over their culture, education,
et cetera.
I think a possible solution within this Dalai Lama's
lifetime would be for the United States and other ally
countries that may see the wisdom of this solution, this
proposal, to support it more openly and to help introduce
education for the Chinese people to understand the content of
that proposal so that they can see that a viable solution is
not being properly addressed by the Chinese Government. Because
after the passing of this Dalai Lama, I believe Tibet will
enter a much bleaker situation.
Thank you.
Ms. Kadeer. In the case of Uyghurs, our biggest concern is
extrajudicial killing of Uyghurs by the Chinese security
forces, especially in predominantly Uyghur areas of Yatican,
Kashgar, and Hotan.
It is also extended sometimes to Aksu and Urumqi areas. In
most cases, we see Chinese security forces shoot and kill
Uyghurs and just blame them. We do see, sometimes, family
members, women and children, who are involved especially in
police raids into the homes of the Uyghurs.
Just two days ago, the Chinese security forces in the city
of Aksu shot and killed a Chinese woman with her child. She was
taking her daughter to a piano lesson, and for some reason she
may not have stopped at the particular checkpoint. We believe
she was mistaken as a Uyghur and shot and killed. This is the
first time a Han Chinese was extrajudicially killed in our
home.
Her husband was obviously furious with the extrajudicial
killing of his wife in the presence of the daughter, so he
basically asked, ``Why didn't you stop her? Or if you were
suspicious, why didn't you shoot the tires? Why did you shoot
inside of the car and kill my wife? Is it your job to just
shoot and kill, not to stop people? '' They said we thought
maybe some Uyghurs or something were inside.
So my hope is both the administration and U.S. Congress,
especially the State Department, could raise the issue urgently
of the extrajudicial nature of Chinese security forces killing
of not just Uyghurs, because they test with Uyghurs and then
they extend to Tibet, to Falun Gong, to Chinese Christians.
Usually this is the way to go, so I hope the U.S. Congress and
the administration will pay particular attention to the
extrajudicial killings. Thank you.
Chairman Smith. Any concluding comments?
[No response].
Chairman Smith. Thank you so much. You are true heroes.
[Whereupon, at 1:04 p.m. the hearing was concluded.]
A P P E N D I X
=======================================================================
Prepared Statements
----------
Prepared Statement of Anastasia Lin
july 23, 2015
Thank you Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the Congressional-
Executive Commission on China for convening this event.
My name is Anastasia Lin. I'm an actress and a Canadian citizen. I
will be representing Canada at the 2015 Miss World competition in
Sanya, China, at least that is my hope. Recent events leave me
uncertain, I'm a little worried about what will happen next if I
continue to speak out.
I campaigned for the title of Miss World Canada on a human rights
platform. I wanted to speak for those in China that are beaten, burned
and electrocuted for holding to their beliefs; people in prison who eat
rotten food with blistered fingers because they dare have convictions.
These are some of China's most noble people, people of moral
fortitude--a characteristic once treasured in my homeland, a
characteristic now so desperately needed.
When I was crowned Miss World Canada, my father was so proud of me.
He received hundreds of congratulatory messages. But within a
couple days, my father's tone changed. He told me nervously that I must
stop my advocacy for human rights in China, or else he would have no
choice but to sever contact with me. I understand my father was visited
by Chinese security agents, who forced him to apply pressure on me in
this way.
Over the past several years, I have taken on roles in several
independent film and television programs that depict human rights
abuses in China. My job requires me to be intimately familiar with the
stories of those who have suffered unspeakable horrors, including a
number of Falun Gong practitioners who were imprisoned and tortured for
their beliefs.
Prison guards put bamboo sticks under their fingernails. Women are
tortured with electric batons on their private parts and raped.
Hundreds of thousands have been jailed for a belief. These are not
criminals. They are simply people who wanted to meditate and improve
themselves by following the values of truthfulness, compassion and
tolerance.
I have studied these stories and performed them. In Bleeding Edge,
a film to be released this Winter, I play a woman imprisoned for
practicing Falun Gong. Like so many millions, she is tortured. But it
is the scene where her family members are brought before her, made to
kneel and beg her to give up her belief, that is the hardest to bear.
Because it is not just her body and her mind that are battered; the
Communist Party makes her family suffer. This is the regime's policy of
guilt by association. It is why my father was threatened by security
forces. Nevermind that I am a Canadian citizen, upholding Canadian
values, on the other side of the world.
I can't understand what it is like to be tortured or face the
inhuman violations of prison guards. But I now understand what it means
to feel deep fear that my convictions could be paid for by the people I
love the most in the world.
I wish I could tell you that I didn't waver, that I didn't question
if I wasn't being too selfish and putting my family at risk, but I did.
Then I remembered, this isn't about me.
Through my encounters with persecution victims and their family
members, I have found that these practitioners of Falun Gong--who have
been marginalized, defamed and vilified in China for the past sixteen
years--are noble people. Despite the constant threat of arbitrary
detention, torture, psychiatric abuse, or death, they have been
steadfast in their commitment to their principles, and have always
sought peaceful means to resist and generate public awareness of the
persecution.
In China today, our traditional values have buried under the moral
scars of endless political campaigns. Material wealth and the pursuit
of self-interest are foremost in many people's minds. The courage of
Falun Gong practitioners, and of other dissidents and human rights
lawyers, stand in stark contrast to these trends and this is what gives
me hope for China's future. There are still people of integrity there.
And yet, it is these people that suffer the most. Good people like
my father, a law abiding and contributing citizen, an honest
businessman now too afraid to talk to his daughter, who once supported
her in everything she did, who now must leave her to face the world
alone.
Mr. Chairman, I hope you understand this is a common experience for
so many American and Canadian citizens. Those Chinese who dare to speak
their minds do so knowing that those still within the regime's reach in
China could pay the price for it.
We have a saying these days, being ``invited to tea.'' It is when
the Chinese security agents ask you to come with them to remind you who
has the baton and that they don't mind using it.
For myself, I know silence is more dangerous. If you don't speak
up, those security personnel will know that their tactic work, and they
will never stop. That's why I told the world what happened to my dad. I
hope he understands. I hope he knows how much I love him.
I also hope that people will pay attention to stories so much more
tragic than my own. Like that of Paul Li who, like me, is also a
Canadian citizen in Toronto.
Three months ago, Paul's father Li Xiaobo was sentenced to his
second 8-year prison term. Mr. Li is 60-years-old and in Chengdu,
China. He was once a highly respected county magistrate, and because he
followed Falun Gong's teachings of truth, compassion and tolerance, he
and sought to be fair in all his dealings. He didn't use his position
to gain wealth and personal advantage. That is very rare among chinese
officials.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Mr. Li wrote
essays criticizing the Communist Party's actions. He spent 8 years in
prison for these words. In order to try to force him to renounce his
beliefs and embrace the Party's doctrine of atheism, authorities
tortured him brutally, making him blind in one eye.
After being released from prison, he continued to publicize cases
of torture and abuse, and again wrote and distributed literature to
inform his compatriots about the persecution of Falun Gong.
I could never claim to have that kind of courage and unbending
integrity. This is the kind of person that China needs, the kind of
person the world needs.
Last year, while Mr. Li and his son were out distributing
information, he was again arrested. Paul, who is a Canadian citizen,
was eventually deported back to Canada. But in April of this year, Mr.
Li was again sentenced to eight years in prison.
His deeds are heroic, and yet unlike myself, when Paul Li tried to
get the media to pay attention to his case, he met with silence.
Maybe nobody paid attention because Mr. Li's story is just too
common.
The persecution on Falun Gong is among the worst most widespread
and the brutal human rights violations in history. After the end of
1998, the Chinese Communist government estimated that the number of
people who practiced Falun Gong was about 70 million.
Since the persecution began in 1999, millions have been arbitrarily
detained, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, sexually assaulted or
murdered.
Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners continue to be sentenced to
prison every year, often after show trials where they have no chance of
justice, and where decisions are made by Communist Party authorities
rather than independent judges.
Lawyers who try to represent Falun Gong practitioners--including
many of the lawyers targeted in the most recent crackdown--have faced
harassment, disbarment, beatings, and imprisonment.
Historically, most Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in
reeducation-through-labor camps (RTL). In a 2013 study, Amnesty
International reported that Falun Gong detainees comprise between one
third to 100 percent of the prisoners in the labor camps it studied.
Freedom House recently reported that ``hundreds of thousands'' of
practitioners had been sent to these camps, where they face an elevated
risk of torture and death in custody. Common torture methods include
beatings; shocks with electric batons; violent forced-feedings that
often puncture the esophagus or lungs; suspension in stress position;
and sexual humiliation and abuse.
Facing growing international and domestic pressure, the Chinese
government closed the reeducation-through-labor system in 2013. But
this was mainly a cosmetic change, as many camps were simply renamed as
prisons, rehabilitation centers, or reeducation centers. For Falun Gong
practitioners, it did nothing to improve their circumstances. In fact,
between 2013 and 2014, the reported number of abductions and arrests of
Falun Gong practitioners rose by nearly a third (29.8%), from 4,942 to
6,415 per year.
While Falun Gong practitioners have the names and stories of some
3800 practitioners who have been killed in the persecution, multiple
independent investigators estimate that tens of thousands of Falun Gong
practitioners have been killed so their vital organs could be extracted
and sold for organ transplantation--a lucrative business in China.
I'd like to remind you all that there are so many people in China
facing unspeakable suffering, not because they did anything wrong, but
because they are people of faith and morality. They are people any
country would be fortunate to have. I hope China realizes that before
too many more of them have been jailed or killed for possessing the
kind of conviction and virtue China so desperately needs.
I want to finish by telling you about my father. He is a successful
and decent businessman. He's also uniquely generous. For many years, he
has been contributing to villages to build roads and donating money to
people that can't get work. He brings his children out to the street to
give out red envelopes of money every New Year to people less fortunate
than himself. He has really inspired me throughout my life to think of
others.
I don't get to talk to him anymore. Here I am doing something I
think he should be so proud of, something I think is so important for
the country I was born in, and he and I can't even speak. I also have
to question if my testimony here today may make him angry with me, or
worried for his business and family in China.
These threats are how American and Canadian citizens with family in
China feel the weight of the regime's repression even here, on the
other side of the world. Human rights and religious freedom in China
don't just affect the people they live there, they affect every person
of Chinese ethnicity around the world that still have loved ones there.
I hope that you can help Chinese people gain a voice, to support
them in their wish to believe what they want to believe and talk to
whoever they want to talk to about any topic they wish. I hope this can
happen soon. I miss my dad.
Thank you.
______
Prepared Statement of Bob Fu
july 23, 2015
Honorable Chairman Congressman Smith, Co-Chairman Senator Rubio,
Members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and
distinguished guests:
This is the third year of President Xi Jinping's Administration in
China, whose policies and actions have raised alarm, and in some cases
astonished the international community. Domestically, Xi has purged his
political rivals through a ``selective anti-corruption campaign'' and
monopolized power within the leadership of the Communist party, the
government and the military. In foreign policy, Xi has adopted a
dangerous and aggressive agenda, challenging existing international law
and creating his own when deemed necessary, including the national
security law, which is being viewed by may as a pretext for human
rights abuses. This antagonistic and arrogant approach to governance
over the past two and half years has earned Xi the nickname ``Chairman
Mao Junior'' and ``Xi-tler.''
In the past two years, human rights and rule of law in China have
rapidly deteriorated. The number of dissidents taken into police
custody, arrested and convicted since Xi took power has exceeded the
total number that occurred during the 10-year reign of President Hu
Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Chinese citizens who peacefully
criticize the government or defend the rights of citizens; lawyers who
dare to represent ``sensitive cases'' without cooperating with the
government; and activists who assemble in a peaceful manner, attempt to
request the government's permission to establish a non-governmental
organization (NGO), or peacefully protest against government policies
or judicial injustices are subsequently ``invited to drink tea,''
summoned for interrogation, detained or arrested, and eventually tried
in a corrupt judicial system. To be sure, the Chinese government has
intensified its harassment of NGOs, civil society organizations, law
firms representing human rights cases, charitable organizations, and
political organizations such as the ``New Citizen Movement.''
During the Xi Administration, and particularly in the past 18
months, religious freedom abuses have reached a level not seen since
the Cultural Revolution. Not only have house churches continued to
experience intensifying persecution, but now ``Three-Self'' churches,
that is, government-sanctioned churches are being subjected to
government-sponsored persecution campaigns. The Chinese government's
persecution of Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong
practitioners has also worsened. The Chinese government perceives
religious practitioners as being guided by ``foreign influence'' and
has subsequently pursued absolute control over religious communities.
Finally, China's newly passed national security law will expand the
management, oversight, and suppression of religious activity under the
guise of national security. Specifically, Article 27 states that ``The
State lawfully protects citizens' freedom of religious belief and
normal religious activities, upholds the principle of religions
managing themselves, preventing, stopping and lawfully punishing the
exploitation of religion's name to conduct illegal and criminal
activities that endanger national security, and opposes foreign
influences interference with domestic religious affairs, maintaining
normal order of religious activities. The State shuts down cult
organizations in accordance with law, preventing, stopping, lawfully
punishing and correcting illegal and criminal cult activities.'' The
last clause regarding so called ``cults'' is especially concerning
noting the Chinese government's use of this term to persecute both
Falun Gong practitioners and most recently house churches. To be sure,
the new national security law is expected to embolden the Chinese
government to intensify its harassment of religious practitioners and
organizations in order to control all aspects of religious life.
I will testify on religious freedom, human rights and rule of law
in China and focus specifically on the forced demolitions of churches
and crosses in Zhejiang province, the ongoing persecution of the house
church, and the treatment of human rights defenders and the rule of law
in China.
I will then offer related observations and recommendations for U.S.
foreign policy on China.
i. forced demolitions
In the past year, the government of Zhejiang province has
demolished churches and crosses under the pretext of implementing
standards for buildings. Based on China Aid's research during 2014 and
the first six months of 2015, the Chinese government's suppression of
house churches and ``Three-Self,'' that is, government sanctioned
churches have escalated significantly compared to previous years. In
2014, the comprehensive intensity of the government's persecution of
Christian churches and Christians overall in China increased
dramatically. In comparing the total number of religious persecution
cases, the number of religious practitioners persecuted, the number of
citizens detained and sentenced, the number of severe rights abuse
cases, and the number of individuals in severe abuse cases with China
Aid statistics from 2013, the totals of these six categories increased
by 152.74 percent. In comparison with China Aid statistics from
previous annual reports, there is a trend of increased persecution over
the past eight years, which averages an annual increase of 166.47
percent.
In 2014, the Communist Party Committee and the government of
Zhejiang province destroyed churches and crosses under the guise of a
campaign entitled ``three rectifications and one demolition,'' which
attempted to regulate so-called ``illegally constructed buildings.'' By
the end of 2014, more than 30 churches were forcibly demolished
throughout the province, over 300 individuals were interrogated by
police, more than 150 religious practitioners were physically injured,
more than 60 individuals were administratively or criminally detained,
and more than 10 pastors and church leaders were arrested. According to
information collected by China Aid, by the end of June of this year,
more than 1,500 churches had their crosses forcibly demolished or
removed in Zhejiang province, at least 50 of which were house churches
in rural areas, with more than 1,300 Christians having been
interrogated, arrested, or held in custody for protesting or attempting
to prevent the destruction of their churches or crosses.
Just in the past month, both Protestant and Catholic government
sanctioned churches in the cities of Hangzhou and Jinhua had their
crosses forcibly demolished or removed. A few members of these churches
peacefully protested and in some cases hired lawyers to defend their
rights. In addition, both the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association
and China Christian Council representing Zhejiang province sent letters
to the provincial and central government authorities demanding they
cease from forcibly demolishing their church's crosses. The government
sponsored campaign to destroy the crosses of predominately government
sanctioned churches reflects a new development in religious persecution
in China.
ii. persecution against the house church
The Chinese government's persecution campaign against the house
church movement continues to escalate as a continuation of the 2011
government mandate to ``eradicate house churches within 10 years.''
During the past 18 months, the Chinese government has orchestrated a
systematic campaign to persecute house churches in China. The larger
urban house churches such as the Shouwang Church in Beijing and Wanbang
Church in Shanghai continue to remain prohibited by the Chinese
government, while house churches such as Chengdu's Xiuyuzhifu Church,
Guangzhou's Liangren Church, and Guiyang's Huoshi Church are subjected
to strict control and harassment by public security and religious
affairs bureaus. House churches in rural areas also continue to
experience increased levels of persecution.
Unlike previous years, the Chinse government began to persecute
house churches under the guise of ``eradicating cults'' in 2014. The
Chinese government consistently cites ``attacking cults'' as a pretext
to launch large-scale persecution campaigns against house churches.
Details of religious freedom cases reveals that the CPC regularly cited
Clause 300 of the Criminal Law, defined as ``organizing cults and sects
and using superstition to undermine law enforcement,'' in an attempt to
harass and persecute house church pastors, elders, and church members.
The Chinese government's persecution of house churches under the
pretext of ``eradicating cults'' and through other means is detailed in
China Aid's 2014 Annual Report on Religious and Human Rights
Persecution in China. Unfortunately, the persecution of the house
church continues to worsen in 2015, here is a sampling of the reports
we have received this year:
January 20, 2015: Over 20 church members from
Sichuan's Langzhong Church were taken into police custody, and
nine were administratively detained for 10-15 days.
March 20, 2015: 10 Christians in Jiangsu province were
detained for attending a worship service.
March 23, 2015: Yongxing Christian Church in Anhui
province was forcibly demolished.
April 14, 2015: A church in Anhui province was
forcibly demolished.
April 16, 2015: Approximately 10 Christians in two
regions of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were taken into
police custody.
April 24, 2015: Two religious practitioners in
Xinjiang were administratively detained for gathering in a
house to worship.
April 24, 2015: Three Christians were sentenced to two
years in prison and a contractor was sentenced to one year and
nine months in prison for ``illegal business operations'' for
printing character improvement textbooks that included
references to Christian values.
April 26, 2015: Five members of the Discipleship
Church in Shandong province were sentenced to three to four
years in prison.
April 30, 2015: Bethany Church Jilin province was
forcibly closed.
May 10, 2015: Over 30 Christians in Xinjiang were
detained by police and their church was forcibly closed.
May 20, 2015: Three house churches in Guangdong
province were forcibly closed.
May 26, 2015: Twelve members of Qianxi Church in
Guizhou province were administratively detained, and seven were
later placed under criminal detention.
May 28, 2015: In Liaoning province, the wife of Pastor
Wang Zhongliang was bound and gagged by public security
officers for several hours prior to the interrogation of her
husband.
June 1, 2015: Pu'er Church in Yunnan province was
raided by the government.
June 13, 2015: Beijing's Yahebo Church was raided.
June 16, 2015: Members of Sichuan's Langzhong Church
were detained for 10 days, and members of Shuiguanzhen Church
were detained for 15 days.
June 29, 2015: 8 members of the Daguan Church in
Guizhou province were criminally detained.
In reviewing religious freedom abuses perpetrated against the house
church during both 2014 and 2015, the following characteristics
emerged: the abuse of administrative penalties and regulations
regarding the length of administrative or criminal detention of church
members and leaders; persecuting churches and church members under the
guise of ``eradicating cults;'' confiscating house church possessions,
religious materials, and books; banning and harassing Sunday schools
and their use of religious publications; forcibly collecting and
documenting information about house churches and church members;
forcing house church members to join the government sanctioned Three-
Self church; detaining and sending house church leaders to labor camps
on the pretext of ``suspicion of organizing and using a cult to
undermine law enforcement;'' and restricting religious teaching to
minors and college students.
iii. human rights defenders and the rule of law
Ironically, Xi Jinping shouted the slogan ``govern the country
according to law'' when he took office, but the rule of law in China
has perhaps regressed to a time of reminiscent of the Cultural
Revolution. In the less than three years of Xi's presidency, human
rights conditions and the rule of law in China has deteriorated
significantly. The Chinese government has increased its interrogation,
detention, and arrest of dissidents, human rights advocates, NGO
leaders, feminist activists, human rights lawyers, and other civil
society actors. The Chinese government also continues to abuse Article
73 of China's criminal procedural law, known as ``residential
surveillance,'' which allows for the arbitrary detention of Chinese
citizens, which has been used against human rights lawyers, dissidents,
religious practitioners, and journalists.
The Xi Administration continues to harass, intimidate, and arrest
NGO and think tank leaders, such as Dr. Xu Zhiyong of the New Citizen
Movement, whose campaigns to promote equal access to education and the
public disclosure of government official's financial records have been
banned by the Chinese government. The leaders of the Beijing-based non-
governmental think tank ``Transition Institution,'' namely Guo Yushan
and He Zhengjun have been arrested on the charge of ``illegal business
operations'' and are awaiting trial.
The Chinese government continues to arrest influential public
intellectuals and journalists who dare to criticize the government and
disseminate information on constitutionalism, including the veteran
journalist Gao Yu, 71, who was unjustly sentenced to seven years in
prison for the crime of ``illegally providing state secrets to
(institutions) outside (China's) borders.''
To be sure, human rights lawyers in China are among the bravest
Chinese citizens seeking justice and promoting the rule of law in
China. Unfortunately, the reward for courageously defending Falun Gong
practitioners, political dissidents, and human rights advocates is to
be labeled a ``trouble maker'' by the government and subsequently
subjected to harassment from local government public security agencies
and government officials in the judicial system.
The Chinese government has intensified it persecution of human
rights lawyers, including the arrest and detention of prominent lawyer
Pu Zhiqiang, who has been in detention for over one year and still
awaits trial. Pu represented numerous Chinese citizens whose basic
rights had been violated by the government, and expressed his views on
public issues via the Internet, including criticizing the government's
policies on the treatment of ethnic minorities.
Sadly, the internationally recognized human rights lawyer Gao
Zhisheng is still being denied freedom of movement and access to
medical treatment since being released from prison in August of 2014
after serving a 5-year prison sentence.
In March of 2014, human rights lawyers Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong,
Wang Cheng and Zhang Junjie, and nine family members of their clients,
visited the ``Jiansanjiang Rule of Law Education Center'' in China's
northeastern Heilongjiang province and demanded the release of
illegally detained citizens. These lawyers and family members were all
arrested by the local public security agent and subsequently placed
under administrative detention for ``utilizing cult activities to harm
society.'' The four detained human rights lawyers were beaten and
tortured resulting in collectively having 24 of their ribs broken. The
``Jiansanjiang'' incident became well known throughout China among both
human rights lawyers and citizens alike causing many to travel to
Jiansanjiang to show their support. In the end, the local public
security bureau kidnapped and beat more than 100 individuals that were
peacefully protesting.
Unfortunately, there are a hundreds of these incidents in which
human rights lawyers are harassed or worse, beaten. Here is a sampling
of the reports we have received this year:
In February, during a trial in the city of Liuzhou
attorneys Wen Yu and Sui Muqing were expelled from the court by
the presiding judge and physically injured by judicial police.
In April, Beijing-based attorneys Wang Fu, Liu Jinping
and Zhang Lei were surrounded and assaulted at the gate of
Hengyang Intermediate Court by judicial police.
In June, attorney Zhang Kai, Li Guisheng and six other
human rights lawyers traveled to Guizhou province to represent
a human rights case and were beaten by local police.
On July 10th, the Chinese government began
interrogating and detaining human rights lawyers and advocates,
and legal professionals, which continues today. As of July
21st, 242 human rights lawyers and advocates, and legal
professionals have either been interrogated, detained, or have
gone missing into police custody, of which 11 human rights
lawyers and 3 human rights advocates have been criminally
detained, and 6 remain missing.
There are many who fear that the July 10th crackdown on human
rights defenders may be under the pretext of China's new national
security law, including the State department, which made the the
following statement last week: ``Over the last few days we have noted
with growing alarm reports that Chinese public security forces have
systematically detained individuals who share the common attribute of
peacefully defending the rights of others, including those who lawfully
challenge official policies. We are deeply concerned that the broad
scope of the new National Security Law is being used as a legal facade
to commit human rights abuses. We strongly urge China to respect the
rights of all of its citizens and to release all those who have
recently been detained for seeking to protect the rights of Chinese
citizens.''
In April of this year, the 14th Plenary of the 12th National
People's Congress Standing Committee reviewed the Foreign NGO
Management Law, which many fear will further suppress civil society.
The eventual enactment of this law and the national security law
recently passed on July 1st indicate that the Chinese government aims
to comprehensively exercise unconstrained control over its citizens,
including limiting access to information, and controlling every aspect
of civil and political life, which is a dangerous and alarming trend
that should be viewed as both a United States foreign policy and
national security priority.
In gauging U.S. foreign policy towards China, I'd like to make the
following observations:
The U.S. government must carefully evaluate the effectiveness of
its foreign policy with China over the past few years. The United
States has numerous exchanges and partnerships with the Chinese
government on economic, military, and political issues, but has yet to
produce any positive outcome in advancing human rights, religious
freedom or rule of law in China. In fact, the over the last decade, the
United States has done little more that expressed its concern over
China's deteriorating human rights record. Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Liu Xiaobo still remains in prison, and prominent political prisoners
of conscience Wang Bingzhang and Peng Ming who peacefully advocated for
China's democratization are still serving life sentences.
In the past decade, the Chinese government has both openly and
secretly executed more than one thousand prisoners of conscience. The
Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan
Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, and Christians both within house churches
and government sanctioned TSPM churches has reached an unprecedented
level. To be sure, religious freedom and related human rights remain an
empty promise for Chinese citizens, and President Xi's suppression of
freedom of speech on university campuses, and arrest and detention of
dissidents, human rights lawyers, and civil society actors appears to
be becoming the norm in China. Yet, every year, Congressional leaders
and human rights organizations make strong appeals to the Obama
administration, hoping that the U.S. government will take stronger and
more effective measures to pressure the Chinese government to adhere to
basic human rights as defined by international law. To be sure, the
current approach of our U.S. foreign policy with the Chinese government
has not worked, and there are consequences to this failed foreign
policy, namely the lives of those Chinese citizens working at their
peril to advocate for the basic freedoms we too often take for granted
here in the United States.
Thus the U.S. government must have a new policy with China that
clearly defines human rights as a priority in ongoing and future
dialogues and identifies opportunities to pressure the Chinese
government to respect their citizen's access to basic human dignity,
freedom, and civil and political rights. U.S. foreign policy must link
the improvement of human rights and rule of law in China with ongoing
and future cooperation in the economic, political, and military
sectors.
Therefore, I would offer the following recommendations for U.S. foreign
policy on China:
Noting that the annual U.S.-China Human Rights
Dialogue has yet to make any significant gains, many within the
human rights community, including myself, believe the dialogue
should be cancelled indefinitely. However, if the dialogue
should continue, there should be strict preconditions, such as
clearly defined and measureable outcomes and the inclusion of
human rights advocates and Chinese civil society
representatives.
Human rights should play a more central role during
annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&ED) and
include a review mechanism to ensure progress on human rights
is made during each year's meeting. This year's discussions of
human rights at the S&ED was extremely disappointing, which
included no reference of specific human rights cases, such as
those prisoners of conscience listed among the China 18, or
others.
The U.S. Congress must periodically evaluate the
efficacy of U.S. foreign policy towards China regarding human
rights and when necessary enact legislation that addresses the
unique challenges of confronting China on its human rights
record. The United States' foreign policy must send a strong
and consistent message to the Chinese government that it must
reverse its trajectory of denying basic human rights to its
citizens or face specific consequences.
The U.S. State Department should strongly consider
posting an officer at the U.S. Embassy in China with the sole
responsibility of monitoring and reporting on religious freedom
and related human rights abuses within China, including in the
areas of Tibet and Xinjiang.
The State Department's office of the International
Religious Freedom and the U.S. Commission International
Religious Freedom should attempt to visit China each year to
conduct field work and communicate with Chinese religious
communities directly.
The U.S. State Department should make an official
public statement condemning the forced demolition of churches
and crosses in Zhejiang province and throughout China.
The U.S. State Department should raise publicly and at
all levels of exchanges with the Chinese government the cases
of prisoners of conscience included in the China 18 and others.
The U.S. government must reconsider its invitation to
President Xi to visit the United States in September, which
should either be cancelled, postponed or preconditioned on the
following: (1)the release of prisoners of conscience listed
among the China 18 and others such as Gao Yu, Pu Zhiqiang, Guo
Yushan, and Ilham Tohti; 92) the release of human rights lawyer
Gao Zhisheng from house arrest; 93) ending the harassment and
detention of human rights lawyers, including releasing
currently detained lawyers and legal professionals; and 94)
ending the forcible demolition of churches and crosses in
Zhejiang province and throughout China.
addendum:
1. China Aid's 2014 Annual Report on Religious and Human Rights
Persecution in China
2. China 18 Prisoners of Conscience: http://www.china18.org
* * *
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Prepared Statement of Rebiya Kadeer
july 23, 2015
I am very honored to be here today and I wish to express my
profound appreciation to Representative Chris Smith and Senator Marco
Rubio for inviting me to testify.
Uyghurs perceive their belief in Islam not only as a personal
expression of faith, but also as a statement of their cultural
distinctiveness. For many Uyghurs, the incursion of the state into this
private aspect of their lives and the role it plays in establishing a
broader identity is viewed as part of an assimilative process.
In East Turkestan, the twofold implementation of strict national
and regional regulations concerning religious belief and practice mean
the Uyghur people are subjected to the harshest conditions governing
religious life in the People's Republic of China (PRC). This occurs
even though China's domestic laws, such as the Constitution and the
Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law, guarantee religious freedom.
Rather than simply forbid religious practice, Chinese authorities
have implemented regulations that progressively narrow the definition
of lawful activity. As a result, many Uyghurs often discover
traditional religious customs are increasingly not permitted. However,
Chinese officials justify many of the restrictions through claims that
outlawed practices have been imported from overseas and that it faces
an organized threat to public security in the form of the ``three evil
forces'' of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.
China's highly politicized criminal-legal system, as well as the
state apparatus governing and monitoring religion, have ensured the
government is the ultimate arbiter in the interpretation of religious
affairs. In effect, the bodies established by the Chinese state to
oversee administration in China do little to protect religious
believers, but assist the government's repression of religious freedom
by helping to formulate and promote restrictive regulations.
Religious leaders, such as imams, are required to attend political
education classes to ensure compliance with Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) regulations and policies; only state-approved versions of the
Koran and sermons are permitted, with all unapproved religious texts
treated as ``illegal'' publications liable to confiscation and criminal
charges against whoever was found in possession of them; any outward
expression of faith in government workplaces, hospitals and some
private businesses, such as men wearing beards or women wearing
headscarves, is forbidden; no state employees and no one under the age
of 18 can enter a mosque, a measure not in force in the rest of China;
organized private religious education is proscribed and facilitators of
private classes in Islam are frequently charged with conducting
``illegal'' religious activities; and students, teachers and government
workers are prohibited from fasting during Ramadan. In addition,
Uyghurs are not permitted to undertake Hajj, unless it is with an
expensive official tour, in which state officials carefully vet
applicants.\1\
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\1\ See: http://docs.uyghuramerican.org/Sacred-Right-Defiled-
Chinas-Iron-Fisted-Repression-of-Uyghur-Religious-Freedom.pdf
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Uyghurs found to have contravened religious regulations are
punished severely. In a disturbing number of cases, Uyghurs have been
given long prison sentences for ``illegal'' religious activities for
actions considered normal by international human rights standards.\2\
An area of considerable concern is the open discrimination against
Uyghurs, especially women, who choose to lead religious lives
publicly.\3\
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\2\ http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/hunger-
04252014152239.html
\3\ http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/
index.phpd?showsingle=125102
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In the 2015, restrictions placed on Uyghurs' ability to observe the
Ramadan fast were widely reported. As detailed by the overseas media,
government work units outright denied Uyghurs the right to follow their
religious customs. For example, middle schools in Bortala, Tarbaghatay
and Tumshuq informed their employees and students that they were not
permitted to fast.\4\ In Jing County, restaurant owners were mandated
by the local Food and Drug Administration to remain open during fasting
hours.\5\ Reports also surfaced on social media that Uyghurs were being
compelled to eat watermelon in public to demonstrate non-observance of
the fast. Although these reports remain unconfirmed, they are
consistent with numerous accounts I have heard from Uyghurs,
particularly students, who are required to drink water at school in
front of their teachers to ``prove'' they are following school and
local government regulations.
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\4\ See: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/02/asia/china-xinjiang-ramadan/
and http://www.ibtimes.com/ramadan-2015-fasting-banned-china-muslim-
government-employees-students-teachers-1975294
\5\ See: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/china-bans-ramadan-
fasting-muslim-region-150618070016245.html
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Ramadan in 2015 was particularly tense. In an article dated June
24, 2015, Radio Free Asia described how government workers were being
put on alert prior to the holy month. The report was an alarming
indication of the suspicion with which the state views Uyghurs who
continue with their religious practices. Furthermore, according to
Radio Free Asia, one county issued ``guidelines calling for the
intrusive searches of convenience stores, repair shops, and mosques.''
\6\ These restrictions create an atmosphere of distrust; however, 2015
witnessed provocations against the Islamic faith previously not seen.
Reports that a beer drinking contest had been organized in Niya, a
predominately Uyghur settlement, on the eve of Ramadan was a
humiliation of the Islamic faith.\7\
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\6\ See: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/ramadan-
06242015084626.html
\7\ www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/22/us-ramadan-china-
idUSKBN0P20L620150622
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Religious repression of Uyghurs has been long documented by the
State Department, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and several
human rights organizations. In 2014 USCIRF called for China to remain a
Country of Particular Concern on the US State Department's blacklist of
religious freedom violators. USCIRF vice chair, Katrina Lantos Swett
told reporters: ``Any independent religious expression is targeted in
China . . . unless practitioners of whatever faith basically submit to
government-controlled religious organizations and religious worship,
they are at risk of becoming a target.'' \8\
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\8\ See: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/religious-
04302014155256.html
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A report published by Human Rights Watch in 2005 described the
close relationship between the Uyghur identity and Islam. The authors
of the report accurately state: ``Islam is perceived as feeding Uighur
ethnic identity, and so the subordination of Islam to the state is used
as a means to ensure the subordination of Uighurs as well.'' \9\ A
report issued by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) in 2013 found a
sharp deterioration in Uyghur religious rights in the period following
2005.\10\
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\9\ See: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/china0405/china0405.pdf
\10\ See: http://docs.uyghuramerican.org/Sacred-Right-Defiled-
Chinas-Iron-Fisted-Repression-of-Uyghur-Religious-Freedom.pdf
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Since the publication of UHRP's report in April 2013, the evidence
of China's denial of the Uyghurs' right to freedom of religion has not
abated. The increased repression of religious practices and belief
underway corresponds with Chinese president, Xi Jinping's determination
to implement a ``major strategic shift'' in East Turkestan that
prioritizes security policies in the region.\11\ State rhetoric
regarding the tightening of security is often accompanied by crackdowns
on the ``three evil forces of separatism, extremism and terrorism,''
which frequently target peaceful religious expression.\12\ A trip to
East Turkestan by Xi Jinping concluded on April 30, 2014 reinforced the
call for enhanced security measures. Xi visited People's Liberation
Army soldiers and the People's Armed Police in Kashgar, a Uyghur
majority city that he claimed was the frontline of
counterterrorism.\13\
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\11\ http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/836495.shtml#.U2KfFa1dWi4
\12\ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-03/06/content--
14766900.htm
\13\ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/us-china-xinjiang-
idUSBREA3S03D20140429
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Radio Free Asia reported a series of cases involving limits placed
on Uyghur religious expression across East Turkestan in 2013 and 2014,
including: Balaqsu, near Kashgar in May 2013; Beshtugmen and Igerchi,
near Aksu City in May 2013; Uchturpan, in Aksu Prefecture in August
2013; Shihezi in November 2013; Turpan in April 2014; and in April
2014, the fourth extension to an original 12-year jail term handed down
to Uyghur religious leader, Abdukiram Abduveli. In an extraordinary
move, the harshness of the religious policies prompted a Uyghur
delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to
speak out during a March 2014 session.\14\
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\14\ See: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/registration-
05022013112851.html; http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/hijab-
05312013175617.html/; http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/uchturpan-
08052013173737.html; http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/imam-
04232014162941.html; http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/hunger-
04252014152239.html and http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/
delegate-03192014174510.html
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A further sign that regulations governing religion hardened since
Xi's announcement is an April 14, 2014 notice issued by the Chinese
Communist Party committee of Qartal Bazaar in Aksu City regarding the
holding of an ``unlawful'' funeral ceremony for Nurdin Turdi, a loyal
party official distinguished by the state. The notice, widely
circulated on social media, states that as Nurdin Turdi's funeral was
held at a mosque and not at his home, his family was in contravention
of regulations on funerals for individuals holding Turdi's status. As a
consequence of the infraction, the funeral fees normally paid by the
state to such individuals were rescinded and six months of benefits to
the family withheld. Customarily, the state used to permit Islamic
burials for any Uyghur who wished to have one.\15\
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\15\ http://docs.uyghuramerican.org/5-8-14--Briefing-Religious--
Restrictions.pdf
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Prior to Ramadan in 2015, reports surfaced of the harsh sentencing
of a Uyghur from Kashgar to six years in jail because he had grown a
beard in accordance with his religious beliefs. The man's wife was
handed a two year sentence for ``veiling herself.'' \16\ The ban on
Islamic veiling in Urumchi in 2015 was described by scholars James
Leibold and Timothy Grose as a sign of ``a deepening rift of mistrust
between the Uighur and the Han-dominated Communist Party.'' \17\
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\16\ http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/30/activists-
call-chinas-jailing-of-muslim-over-beard-absurd.html
\17\ http://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2015/opinion/why-
china-is-banning-islamic-veils
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Universal religious freedom is protected under Article 18 of the
normative human rights standards outlined in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. Other international instruments whose standards China
is obliged to meet also ensure the right of religious freedom, such as
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. China's
domestic laws, such as the Constitution and the Regional Ethnic
Autonomy Law, have strong provisions on freedom of religious belief.
Despite this international and domestic legal framework, restrictions
on religious freedom are deemed ``lawful'' by Chinese authorities
through the strict implementation of regulations that contradict
China's own laws and international obligations.
______
Prepared Statement of Losang Gyatso
july 23, 2015
Since problems facing religion, religious institutions, and
religious teachers in Tibet is widely known and well documented by this
Commission and many other governmental and non-governmental
organizations in the US and abroad, I won't take up too much of your
time going over examples.
I would like to however touch on two events that took place this
month which may serve to highlight the degree to which the Chinese
Communist Party is willing to carry out actions that cause enormous
suffering for Tibetans, and that create an environment of oppression in
monasteries and in the personal lives of Tibetans that have triggered
the self-immolation protests by over 140 Tibetans since 2009.
The latest such protest took place in the afternoon of July 9. A
young monk named Sonam Topgyal set himself on fire at a public square
in Kyegudo, the prefectural capital of what China today refers to as
Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province. Photos and
videos showing Sonam Topgyal on the ground in flames have emerged since
then, and once again as in many previous cases, Sonam Topgyal was taken
from the site by Chinese security and is believed to have died in a
Xining hospital.
A note he wrote one week earlier has surfaced and in it he says,
``I am a twenty-seven-year-old son of Tashitsang of Nangchen, Yulshul
in Tsongon region. Currently, I am a monk studying at Dzongsar
Institute. As people within the country and outside are aware, the
Chinese government does not look at the true and real situation of the
minorities but practices only harsh and repressive policies on them. At
a time when the government is carrying out policies to stamp out our
religion, tradition and culture, and destroy our natural environment,
there is absolutely no freedom of expression for the people, and there
is no channel to appeal our situation. ''
The other development this month which has been particularly
difficult for Tibetans is the prison death of a widely respected Lama
and political prisoner on July 12. Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's family and
monastic community had not been allowed to see him since 2013, and were
not allowed to see him on the day that Chinese authorities claim he
died of a heart attack, nor for several more days as they pleaded to
have his body returned to them in order to conduct a funeral fitting
for a high Lama. Tibetans pleading for the return of his body were
beaten severely by security forces on July 13 in Nyagchu county,
Sichuan. Several days after the announcement of his death, his family
and some monks were allowed to see his body in the detention center
where he was then incinerated in the prison crematorium. The Chinese
have been in Tibet since 1951, long enough to understand that a prison
cremation for a highly regarded spiritual teacher will be seen by
Tibetans as a humiliating and degrading act, and therefore understand
it to be an added punishment for those who had been pleading his
innocence for 13 years, and then pleading for his remains after his
death. Further troubling is the fact that his sister and niece went
missing since July 17. A relative of Rinpoche in exile that VOA
interviewed, suspected that the two women had been detained for
possibly persisting in demanding a proper investigation into the cause
of his sudden death.
On July 14, House members at a hearing on Tibet by the Tom Lantos
Human Rights Commission had urged the Chinese authorities to return the
body of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche to his family members, and as back as
2004, the US Senate passed a resolution by unanimous consent calling
for Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's release. Both calls have gone
unheeded.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's story is neither unique nor rare when you
look back over the last six decades of Chinese rule of Tibet. Today,
there are many known and probably many more unknown Tibetans
languishing in China's prisons for simply expressing their dissent with
the oppressive rules and regulations governing Tibetan lives and the
institutions and figures of Tibetan Buddhism. Writers and artists are
imprisoned for simply writing or singing about their love for Tibet's
mountains and lakes, culture, or history. Many more are detained for
refusing to denounce their religious heads, such as the Dalai Lama,
during reeducation campaigns at temples and monasteries. All of the
above seemingly innocuous acts can today be categorized as separatist
acts according to recent regulations targeting Tibetans. And once in
prison, the Tibetans are accused of acting at the instigation of the
Dalai Lama, and or foreign anti-China forces, by which most Tibetans
understand the Chinese to mean the United States, and are then
subjected to torture and prolonged mistreatment with the sole purpose
of extracting confessions that correspond to the accusations. This
process, repeated across Tibet for 50 years has created immeasurable
suffering for the Tibetan people, and deeply disturbed their
psychological wellbeing for decades.
As I mentioned earlier, the Chinese government's attack on religion
and religious institutions and figures in Tibet is not a recent
development, nor are they random aberrations in their rule of Tibet
since 1951. The Chinese Communist Party has been purposefully and
methodically working to dismantle the very fabric of Tibetan
spirituality and religious traditions since 1955. Between 1955 and
1965, almost every single religious institution in Tibet, estimated to
number over six thousand monasteries and temples, had been aerial
bombed, artillery shelled, and razed to the ground. Tens of thousands
of Lamas, monks and nuns were imprisoned, executed, or disrobed. Public
humiliation and torturing of respected reincarnated Lamas, often to the
death, took place across Tibet in the 1950s and 60s in order to
ridicule religion and prove that religious figures were powerless.
Attacks on religion during that period was the reason why all of the
heads of the five major schools of Tibetan Buddhism went into exile in
1959 before the fall of the Tibetan government, and remain so to this
day. The highest ranking Lama remaining inside Tibet was the Panchen
Lama, who spent 13 years in solitary prison for speaking against what
the Chinese had done in Tibet. After his sudden death in 1989, the
Chinese installed their own choice of the predecessor's reincarnation,
a child whose parents are Party members. The child that was selected by
monks in the Panchen Lama's own monastery and approved by the Dalai
Lama, was disappeared along with his entire family in May 1995 and has
not been heard of since then.
In 2007, China's State Administration for Religious Affairs
introduced measures that dictate which Tibetan religious figures may or
may not reincarnate, and the requirement for the approval of selected
reincarnated lamas by offices under the communist party. While this may
appear simply surreal and bizarre to most people, there are two very
serious possible consequences from these measures; one that will even
further diminish human rights in Tibet, and the other that will impact
the state of religious institutions and the very existence of religious
practice as we know it in Tibet.
Firstly, since nearly all expressions critical of conditions in
Tibet, and or, in praise of aspects of Tibetan culture and identity can
be categorized as `separatist' activities that are punishable acts
today, the following sentence in the measure, ``Living Buddha
reincarnations should respect and protect the principles of the
unification of the state,'' would mean that all officially sanctioned
reincarnated Lamas and the religious institutions affiliated with them
would be forced into silence on issues relating to human rights, and
the state of religious and cultural freedoms in Tibet.
And secondly, and this may not be fully appreciated by many people
at present, the interference by the communist party in the selection or
deselection of reincarnate spiritual masters undermines Tibetan
Buddhism at its most fundamental level by aiming to break the trust and
faith that Tibetans have invested in their Lamas for hundreds of years.
Tibetan Buddhist practice, based on ancient Indian traditions, holds at
its very core, the sacred relationship between religious teachers with
pure and direct spiritual lineages, many that go back a thousand years,
and the student practitioners who take vows, initiations, and
meditation instructions from them. The successful guidance through
complex psychological states and through layers of consciousness in the
course of a person's spiritual practice relies completely on this
connection between trusted and respected reincarnated Lamas and their
followers.
The measures to control reincarnated Lamas is therefore aimed at
this bedrock of Tibetan religious practice and could lead to the
destruction of thousands of unbroken spiritual lineages of the Lamas,
and to the eventual demise of Tibetan Buddhism as it has been practiced
since the 13th century.
As an example and on a much more mundane level, it is as if a
government decided that it would select people to practice medicine,
surgery, and psychiatry based not on their qualifications, but on their
political leaning. You can imagine what that would do to the state of
health care.
These are just a few examples of how persecution of religion and
religious institutions and figures in Tibet are an ongoing feature of
Chinese rule of Tibet, and they are posing existential challenges for
Tibetans in maintaining intellectual rigor and spiritual vitality in
the monasteries and temples across Tibet. The Dalai Lama says in his
autobiography that in one of his meetings with Chairman Mao in 1954,
Mao turned to him, leant forward, and said that, ``religion is
poison.'' That view appears to have been and continues to be the
guiding principle of Chinese rule in Tibet, where its policies since
1955 have gone from destroying religion completely, to today, where a
small number of monitored monasteries and controlled religious figures
are allowed to exist as a show of the government's tolerance for
religion, and as tourist destinations, while in reality, the monastic
institutions and the system of reincarnated Lamas is being controlled
and used purely for the perpetuation of China's control of Tibet.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Christopher Smith, a U.S. Representative
From New Jersey; Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China
july 23, 2015
The freedom of religion is the key human right. It is clearly the
first freedom from which all others flow. It allows each citizen the
precious right to follow their conscience peacefully and without fear.
It protects the critical part of who we are as human beings--to seek,
to speak, and to act out our fundamental beliefs. When this freedom is
protected the very well-being of society is enhanced. No government
should deny or suppress this essential claim to conscience.
The reality is that governments and terrorist groups do restrict
the freedom of religion, sometimes in the most brutal and public ways.
The freedom of religion is under siege in many places of the world,
including in China which is the subject of today's hearing.
Because religious freedom conditions are deteriorating globally, I
introduced HR 1150, the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act.
The bill gives the Administration tools to better address religious
freedom violations around the world. It is why I am also fighting to
reauthorize the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF) which is a bipartisan and independent advisory body. USCIRF
gives Congress vital recommendations about religious freedom conditions
globally.
Several years ago during a visit to the United States, Xi Jinping
was interviewed by a Chinese reporter on fellowship at a U.S. college.
(Some of the details changed to protect the identity of the person.)
After the interview, President Xi asked a single question of this
reporter--not about his family, not about his studies, not about
whether he enjoyed living in America--the one question he asked was
``Why do so many Chinese students studying in the United States become
Christians? ''
Why one of the world's most powerful political leaders asked this
question may never be known. And the student did not have an answer.
But religion was on President Xi's mind that day. Whatever was behind
that complex question, religious freedom conditions in China have not
improved because of it. Quite the opposite, in fact, it has been a
punishing year for China's diverse religious communities.
China continues to rank up there with Iran, Vietnam, and Saudi
Arabia in terms of the sheer misery it inflicts on members of its
diverse religious communities. This is the verdict of the bipartisan
and independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. It
is the verdict of the State Department, which has designated China as a
``Country of Particular Concern'' since 1999 for being one of the
world's worst violators of religious freedom. This is the verdict of
human rights organizations. We will hear today if our witnesses share
this verdict.
Chinese authorities are frightened by the simple proposition that
individuals have the right to live out their beliefs openly and
peacefully, without fear or intimidation. All we have to do is look at
events in the past few weeks to see a coordinated, unnecessary, and
often brutal campaign to manage, control, or crush China's many
religious communities. It's been a very bad month in China:
Two days ago, a cross on a Christian church was burned
near the city of Wenzhou . Over 1,200 crosses, along with 35
church buildings, were demolished since 2014. This was done
reportedly because they were too prominent, demonstrating the
Party's weakness.
During the just-concluded month of Ramadan, Uyghur
Muslim students, teachers, professors, and government employees
were deprived of the freedom to fulfill their religious duties.
In recent years, officials have shut down religious sites;
conducted raids on independent schools, confiscated religious
literature, and banned private study of the Koran. A new draft
Counterterrorism law equates terrorism with ``religious
education of minors.''
The Dalai Lama turned 80 this month and the Chinese
government expanded attempts to undermine his leadership and
control the selection of Tibetan Buddhist leaders. 273 Tibetan
Buddhist monks and nuns are currently detained. Sadly, revered
teacher Tenzin Deleg died in prison last week. He was serving a
life sentence on politically motivated charges.
Beijing also continues its relentless 16-year campaign
to obliterate the Falun Gong, the anniversary which is each
year during July. There are reports of torture in detention,
deaths in custody, and allegations of the harvesting of organs.
Two weeks ago, Chinese Communist Party authorities
also launched a massive crackdown on human rights lawyers. The
lawyers were accused of being a ``criminal gang'' charged with
``creating chaos'' because they defended the rights of Falun
Gong, Uyhgurs, Christians, and others persecuted. Many of the
lawyers detained are professing Christians, spurred by their
faith to defend the vulnerable.
Senator Rubio and I put out a statement about the arrest of human
rights lawyers in China. We called the detentions ``unjustified'' and
said the round-up of human rights lawyers was ``an undeniable setback
in U.S.-China relations.'' I would like to add that statement to the
record without objection.
China's active suppression of faith communities, its massive
repression of rights lawyers, and the brutal, and sometimes deadly, way
it deals with prisoners of conscience are a sad and black mark on
China's recent history. And it will be remembered by history as brutal,
unnecessary, and entirely counterproductive.
It is counterproductive because religious restrictions makes China
less stable, repression can exacerbate extremism and cause instability.
Religious freedom, according to the Pew Research Center, can be a
powerful and effective antidote to religious extremism.
It is counterproductive because targeting peaceful religious
citizens undermines the legitimacy of the state, because it reminds
even non-believers of the state's capricious power.
It is counterproductive because religious persecution marginalizes
the persecuted, robbing China of their talents, their economic
productivity, and their contributions to society.
The issue of religious freedom must be addressed by the
Administration during a planned September summit.
But we must ask whether this summit should even take place. There
are many issues in the U.S.-China relationship that need attention, but
does President Xi--given his ``bold disregard'' for human rights and
his brutal suppression of dissent--deserve to get red carpet treatment
in Washington?
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator From Florida;
Cochairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China
july 23, 2015
Nearly two weeks ago Chinese Communist Party authorities launched
an unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists that
has been characterized as the most severe since the legal system was
reestablished in 1980 after the Cultural Revolution. To date, more than
200 have been detained, questioned, or reported missing.
These ``Black Friday'' events have rightly garnered widespread
international condemnation but Chinese President and Communist Party
General Secretary Xi Jinping is unbowed and in fact seemingly
emboldened. State media reported earlier this week that the Party
managed to extract so-called ``confessions'' from some of the accused
regarding their alleged involvement in a criminal gang suspected of
interfering with the judicial process and inciting disorder.
As we examine the situation facing China's courageous lawyers, men
and women who have been described as the closest thing China has to a
political opposition, an interesting thread emerges--namely the role of
faith.
Many of those detained are practicing Christians. Several of the
detained have taken on high-profile cases of individuals who have
earned the ire of the Chinese Government for daring to live out their
religious and spiritual convictions, including Uyghur Muslims,
Christian house church leaders, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong
practitioners.
It is precisely this issue of religious freedom which is the focus
of today's Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing.
Without question, religious freedom is under assault in China.
Irrespective of belief, the government's oppression knows no bounds.
In its most recent annual report, the independent, bipartisan U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) described the
situation facing religious adherents in China this way: ``In 2014, the
Chinese government took steps to consolidate further its authoritarian
monopoly of power over all aspects of its citizens' lives. For
religious freedom, this has meant unprecedented violations against
Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, and Falun
Gong practitioners. People of faith continue to face arrests, fines,
denials of justice, lengthy prison sentences, and in some cases, the
closing or bulldozing of places of worship.''
USCIRF and the U.S. Department of State are of one mind that China
is deservedly considered a Country of Particular Concern, a designation
reserved for only the most severe violators of religious freedom.
News headlines in just the last year have been dominated by
harrowing accounts of persecution and repression. Chinese authorities
have implemented an extensive cross removal campaign resulting in the
destruction of hundreds of Christian crosses. Thai authorities forcibly
repatriated Uyghur Muslims to China where they face an uncertain
future. Tibetan Buddhists have continued to set themselves on fire in
desperation at the abuses their people have endured at the hands of the
Chinese government.
The Chinese government has sought, through brutal methods, to
restrict the ability of the Chinese people to worship and peacefully
live out their faith according to the dictates of their conscience.
Their misguided efforts have arguably had the unintended consequence of
infusing many of these religious adherents with greater vibrancy as
evidenced most dramatically by the explosive growth of Christianity in
China.
The developments in China, including the crackdown on human rights
lawyers and the deteriorating situation for religious freedom, are
worthy of attention at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. With
the upcoming human rights and counterterrorism dialogues and the
pending September visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Obama
administration must seriously weigh what points of leverage exist in
our bilateral relationship and seize on them.
Submissions for the Record
----------
Statement Submitted for the Record by Ellen Bork, Senior Fellow,
Foreign Policy Initiative; Visiting Fellow, Henry Jackson Society
july 23, 2015
I thank the Chairman, co-chairman and the commission for inviting
me to comment on the geopolitical context for China's religious
persecution and to offer thoughts on how the United States should
respond.
Even considered in the light of China's worsening record on human
rights, developments over the past several weeks have been disturbing.
They include the roundup of over 200 human rights lawyers and
activists, the forced repatriation to China from Thailand of more than
100 Uighurs, Turkic Muslims from China's far west, the adoption of a
new national security law, and the death in prison of a revered Tibetan
monk, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. His death was followed by the cruel and
suspicious refusal to return his body to his family for funeral rites,
which prevented independent examination to determine the cause of
death.
These events occur in the context of two geopolitical trends: a
decline in democracy around the world and concerted efforts by the most
powerful authoritarian regimes to undermine settled democratic norms
and the institutions that uphold them. At the same time, President
Obama has downgraded democracy and human rights as priorities in
American foreign policy, contradicting the case for American leadership
in Asia based on democratic values he placed at the heart of his
``pivot' to Asia.
According to Freedom House's most recent annual survey, democracy
around the world has declined for the ninth year in a row. The number
of countries that registered declines in political and civil liberties
outstripped those with gains by nearly two to one. The survey also
recorded the lowest number of countries showing improvement in
democratic governance in the past nine years. Arch Puddington wrote in
an essay accompanying the survey: ``acceptance of democracy as the
world's dominant form of government--and of an international system
built on democratic ideals--is under greater threat than at any point
in the last 25 years.''
China is a leading force in this ``democratic recession.''
Domestically, China's notorious human rights record has been judged by
Chinese Human Rights Defenders to be the worst since the mid-1990s,
``especially in terms of abuses aimed at silencing, intimidating, and
punishing those who promote the protection of fellow Chinese citizens'
rights.'' Although Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping didn't
start the trend, CHRD noted he has accelerated it, including by leading
``an ideological shift that harkens back to the Maoist era'' and
stressing ``a CCP orthodoxy that rejects constitutional democracy,
human rights, free press, and rule of law as `Western universal
values.''' ``Never allow singing to a tune contrary to the party
center,'' Xi commented on party and academic websites earlier this
year, the New York Times reported. ``Never allow eating the Communist
Party's food and then smashing the Communist Party's cooking pots.''
General Secretary Xi uses subtler language in the global assault
China is leading on democratic norms and multilateral institutions
based on them. China, along with Russia and other authoritarian
countries, is trying to redefine settled norms in order to weaken the
liberal international order that threatens their external and internal
legitimacy. To do this, they are using tools including media and
foreign aid as well as adopting ``laws'' to restrict freedoms of
assembly, speech, religion and other rights. I recommend to the
commission the work Alexander J. Cooley of Columbia University and
Christopher Walker and the National Endowment for Democracy and Arch
Puddington and others at Freedom House have done on the challenge of
``resurgent authoritarianism.''
China, writes Professor Cooley, is taking the lead in advancing an
``emerging counter norm'' of ``civilizational diversity'' and the
``principle of noninterference in the domestic affairs of sovereign
states.'' The forced repatriation of the Uighurs from Thailand, and
other countries, is a perfect example. Beijing has long claimed
Xinjiang, the former East Turkistan, along with Tibet and Taiwan as a
``core interest,'' a phrase that conveys these claims and the party's
policies there are beyond compromise. Now, in addition to rebuffing
unwelcome criticisms of repression inside Chinese-held territory,
Beijing is pursuing its ``core interests'' by interfering in other
countries' affairs, violating international law on non-refoulement of
refugees in the process. It seems unlikely that a democratic government
in Thailand would have done Beijing's bidding.
China attempts much the same thing with regard to Tibetans,
interfering brazenly in the affairs of Nepal, its much smaller, weaker
neighbor that has historically provided refuge for Tibetans fleeing
Chinese repression. ``Under China's Shadow: Mistreatment of Tibetans in
Nepal,'' a 2014 report by Human Rights Watch details intelligence
cooperation agreements between Nepal and China, pressures on Nepal to
restrict rights of Tibetans in Nepal and quotes Tibetans fearful of
being returned to China from Nepali territory.
Now it appears China is expanding its ``core interests'' to
encompass new territorial and maritime claims, as well as an
ambiguously broad concept of national security. Edward Wong of the New
York Times reports the recently adopted national security law can be
read as defining ``core interests'' to include ``the political regime;
the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the nation; and
people's livelihoods, sustainable economic development of society and
other major interests.'' This articulation of ``core interests'' could
extend the concept to islands in the East China Sea or to China's
disputed border with India, including in the state of Arunachal
Pradesh, which Beijing already claims as ``Southern Tibet.'' A
definition of China's ``core interests'' that includes the survival of
the party or unity of the nation could also make activities of lawyers,
including, for example, those defending the rights of Uighurs or
Tibetans, vulnerable to charges of violating national security.
The assault on democracy is a direct challenge to the U.S. In an
article earlier this year in the Journal of Democracy, Robert Kagan
traced democracy's ascendancy in the last century to a ``configuration
of power and ideas.'' The victory of democratic values was not
preordained or inevitable. At different times, other ideologies had
held sway. The U.S. used a ``variety of tools, including direct
military intervention'' - or the threat of it - ``to aid democratic
transitions and prevent the undermining of existing fragile democracies
all across the globe.'' Europe played an important role as well. The
norms that emerged Kagan writes ``did not appear out of nowhere or as
the result of some natural evolution of the human species.'' They were
built and defended. They were and remain ``transient.''
Despite its stake in the survival of democratic values and
institutions, Washington is on its back foot when it comes to defending
them. President Obama has made a different approach to democracy and
dictatorships, uncritical engagement and passivity, the signature of
his administration. His ``pivot to Asia'' initially contained a strong
rationale for U.S. leadership based on the advancement of democratic
values. He quite rightly presented these as universal rather than
American. In his speech to the Australian parliament, he rejected other
political models, including communism, as failures.
That ambitious and principled vision has not been sustained.
In the absence of executive leadership, Congress can play an
important role. It has done so in the past. Members of Congress led
American support for the Helsinki movement even when the executive was
reluctant. Congress was central to the effort to pressure China on
human rights, especially through the annual review of China's trade
status, although eventually it too gave way to pressures to pursue
unconditioned trade and engagement.
As a first step, Congress can help by carrying this cause to their
constituents. They should make individual Chinese political prisoners
household names just as Soviet dissidents were. At a minimum, there is
evidence that such attention improves the conditions under which
political prisoners are held and protects them from torture. Human
rights activists welcome international attention. Dissidents are
already in trouble with the regime, one Chinese intellectual once told
me. ``If the support is not there it will hurt much more.''
Congress should identify or create leverage to use in pressing
Beijing. Congress should consider the global application of the visa
and financial sanctions regime adopted for Russia in 2012. That
legislation, known as the Magnitsky Act, after the Russian lawyer whose
death in jail inspired them, did two things. It replaced the historic
Jackson-Vanik amendment's link of free emigration to trade with the
Soviet Union with a measure tailored to Russia's current post-Soviet
circumstances. Adoption of the Magnitsky sanctions also ensured that
there was no lapse in America's support for human rights in Russia. By
contrast, China's MFN process was ended and PNTR adopted without
something to replace it. Expressing U.S. disapproval of human rights
abuses through a visa ban or possible financial sanctions would be an
important step, as would adoption of a pending measure that would
enable the State Department to make Chinese diplomats' travel within
the U.S. conditional on access to Tibet.
The U.S. must reassert American leadership in defending the liberal
democratic order against the alternative leading authoritarian
countries are trying to establish. ``Insofar as there is energy in the
international system,'' Kagan wrote, ``it comes from the great-power
autocracies.'' America must match and exceed their efforts. There is no
doubt we can. As President Obama often says, it is ``who we are.''
______
Statement by CECC Chairs Representative Chris Smith and Senator Marco
Rubio on President Xi's ``Increasingly Bold Disregard for Basic Human
Rights''
tuesday, july 14, 2015
(Washington, DC)--With the recent detentions and interrogations of
scores of human rights lawyers and the death in detention of Tibetan
Buddhist religious leader Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, the Chairs of the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) issued the following
statement.
``We are deeply alarmed by the recent round-up of scores of human
rights lawyers and activists in China and believe this wave of
repression constitutes an undeniable setback in U.S.-China relations.
These unjustified detentions and interrogations, part of a coordinated
nationwide crackdown reaching far beyond Beijing, are just the latest
example of President Xi Jinping's intolerance for dissent and mockery
of the rule of law. President Xi promised a China governed by the rule
of law, but is instead using the law, particularly an onerous and vague
National Security Law, as a tool of oppression and control. The
detentions come on the heels of a joint statement of solidarity
released by 100 lawyers last Friday protesting the disappearance of
prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu, who worked at the Fengrui Law
Firm, which police have labelled a `major criminal organization' for
daring to take on dozens of sensitive cases. The detentions coincided
with the sad and unnecessary death of a prominent 65-year old Tibetan
religious leader, Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, who had served thirteen years
of a life term based on politically motivated charges. He had been
repeatedly denied medical parole for his heart condition.''
``President Xi wants a `new type' of relationship with the U.S, but
continues to pursue repressive policies rooted in China's past. Sadly,
China seems to be closing its doors to new ideas and ways of thinking
that are essential for the type of economic innovation, political
transparency, and diplomatic cooperation needed to shape the future of
U.S.-China relations. These issues and President Xi's increasingly bold
disregard for basic human rights must necessarily serve as the backdrop
for the planned September summit. We are compelled to ask whether such
treatment of one's own citizens is deserving of a red carpet welcome in
Washington.''
______
Religion With ``Chinese Characteristics'':
Persecution and Control in Xi Jinping's China
july 23, 2015
Witnesses
Anastasia Lin, Human Rights Activist and the Current Miss World
Canada
Ms. Anastasia Lin is a Toronto-based actress. She won the Miss
World Canada title in 2015. Since her start in acting at the age of
seven, Anastasia has appeared in over 20 films and television
productions, and most prominently played lead actress in several
Toronto-based films about human rights themes in China. Her work has
garnered numerous international awards including the Mexico
International Film Festival's Golden Palm Award and California's Indie
Fest Award of Merit. Along with her acting and participation in
pageants, she is known for her public position against human rights
abuses in China. Canadian television reports attributed her victory in
the 2015 Miss World Canada Pageant in part to her passion for human
rights. Anastasia will participate in the 2015 Miss World competition
to be held this December in Sanya city, Hainan province, China.
Bob Fu, Founder and President, ChinaAid Association
Pastor Bob Fu was a leader in the 1989 student democracy movement
in Tiananmen Square and later became a house church pastor. In 1996,
authorities arrested and imprisoned Pastor Fu and his wife for their
work. After their release, they escaped to the United States and, in
2002, he founded ChinaAid Association. ChinaAid monitors and reports on
religious freedom in China and provides a forum for discussion among
experts on religion, law, and human rights in China. Pastor Fu is
frequently interviewed by media outlets around the world and has
testified at U.S. congressional hearings. He has also appeared before
the European Parliament and the United Nations. Pastor Fu holds a
double bachelor's degree from People's University and the Institute of
Foreign Relations, and he has taught at the Beijing Communist Party
School. In the United States, he earned a master's degree from
Westminster Theological Seminary and is now working on his Ph.D.
Rebiya Kadeer, President, World Uyghur Congress
Ms. Rebiya Kadeer is a prominent human rights advocate and leader
of the Uyghur people. She is the mother of 11 children, and a former
laundress turned millionaire. She spent six years in a Chinese prison
for standing up to the authoritarian Chinese government. Before her
arrest in 1999, she was a well-known Uyghur businesswoman and at one
time among the wealthiest individuals in the People's Republic of
China. Ms. Kadeer has been actively campaigning for the human rights of
the Uyghur people since her release in 2005. She was nominated to
receive the Nobel Peace Prize several times since 2006. Despite Chinese
government efforts to discredit her, Ms. Kadeer remains the pro-
democracy Uyghur leader and heads the World Uyghur Congress, which
represents the collective interest of the Uyghur people in the world.
Losang Gyatso, Tibetan Service Chief, Voice of America
Mr. Losang Gyatso is the service chief of Voice of America's
Tibetan Service which broadcasts news and information into Tibet and is
arguably the most influential and trusted source of information for the
Tibetan people. Before joining VOA, Gyatso was a founding director of
mechakgallery.com, a non-profit group promoting contemporary Tibetan
art through exhibitions, publications, and social media. Prior to that,
while working as an advertising executive in New York City in the 1980s
and 1990s, Gyatso was a Tibetan community organizer and one of the most
prolific graphic designers for projects carried out by groups such as
the International Campaign for Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet, and
Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
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