May 16, 2011 – Washington, DC
On May 13th, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights held a hearing on “China’s Latest Crackdown on Dissent.” The hearing was chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Representatives Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) also delivered opening statements. Harry Wu, Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation, was one of several witnesses; other witnesses included Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingsheng, Jing Zhang (Director at All Girls Allowed), Steven Mosher (President of the Population Research Institute), Philem Kine (Asia Researcher at Human Rights Watch), and Andrea Warden (Professor of Law at American University).
In his opening statement, Rep. Smith drew attention to the increasingly harsh crackdown China is waging against activists, human rights lawyers, and bloggers. He also expressed outrage at the growing oppression of religious groups and coercion of mothers under the one child policy. Rep. Payne echoed these calls, noting that there has been a substantial rise in social unrest, and that “the Chinese cannot enforce stability at the expense of human rights.” Rep. Fortenberry emphasized that the U.S., a nation founded on principles of freedom of speech and religion, must stand up to China, regardless of the country’s importance to U.S. economic interests and tell China that, “global trade is inseparable from global responsibility.”
Harry Wu’s testimony focused on China’s continual repression of its people, noting that since the Communist Party rose to power in 1949, “by depriving its people of basic rights and freedoms and keeping its people in the dark and in a constant state of fear, the CCP has managed to maintain its sovereignty.” He condemned the total neglect of the law in the government’s suppression of dissidents like Liu Xiaobo, Ai Weiwei, Tan Zuoren, and Liu Xianbin who have been disappeared or imprisoned for expressing their ideas on the internet. Mr. Wu also explained that through extrajudicial means, the CCP has illegally detained not only common people, but even Communist Party cadres through a system called ‘double regulation’, in which suspects are held in detention prior to formal arrest and required to make a confession outside of court.
He also emphasized that many of China’s recent actions, including passing a regulation prohibiting the mention of Mao Zedong thought in government policies and the sudden placement and abrupt removal of a Confucius statue in Tiananmen Square, show that the government is itself confused about the Party’s direction. He concluded, “The longer the CCP refuses to properly and responsibly deal with the country’s changing political, economic, and social conditions, the more likely another Tiananmen Square incident becomes. The longer the CCP tries to keep a tight lid on the diversity of opinion and expression within society, the more violent the backlash will be.”
Other panelists exposed China’s recent crackdown on human rights lawyers and the draconian enforcement of the one child policy, as well as provided Congress with recommendations on how to better confront China on these issues.
Watch the webcast testimonies of Harry Wu and other witnesses here.