CHRD Joins different human rights teams endorsing a brand new coverage memo: Prioritizing Human Rights in United States Coverage towards China: A Information for the Trump Administration

CHRD Joins different human rights teams endorsing a brand new coverage memo: Prioritizing Human Rights in United States Coverage towards China: A Information for the Trump Administration

February 3, 2025      

Introduction

The Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP) poses interrelated threats to the US’ nationwide safety, financial pursuits, and human rights. However for many years, policymakers have elevated nationwide safety and financial pursuits over human rights. This has led to worse outcomes in all three areas, significantly for individuals throughout China. The Trump administration ought to devise a technique that addresses these challenges in tandem, because the safeguarding of human rights can be central to any efficient technique to counter the CCP.

The get together’s grip on energy is premised on denying 1.4 billion individuals their human rights. Over the previous decade, the CCP has dedicated genocide and crimes in opposition to humanity in opposition to Uyghur Muslims, dismantled freedom and human rights in Hong Kong, Macau, and Southern Mongolia, sought to erase Tibet’s tradition and language, persecuted Christians, cracked down on freedom of faith or perception for individuals of all religion traditions, and focused human rights defenders and dissidents. The CCP more and more commits abuses past its borders and undermines worldwide human rights by actively undermining sovereignty in myriad methods, together with by means of transnational repression. Beijing additionally continues to undermine the energy of worldwide establishments, together with the United Nations, to rewrite the foundations of worldwide order in China’s favor. These offenses are inextricably linked to China’s refusal to cooperate with the worldwide group in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the CCP’s contribution to the fentanyl epidemic, which have performed a component in tens of millions of deaths worldwide.

If the brand new administration, in live performance with allies, doesn’t deal with the CCP risk to human rights, the safety, financial, and human rights penalties can be grave. Xi Jinping’s authorities has the sources and ambition to essentially reshape the worldwide order. A failure to adequately reply to the CCP’s human rights abuses may compromise the submit–World Battle II human rights system, name into query democracies’ skill to resolve conflicts peacefully, and threaten broader US pursuits.

US policymakers ought to (1) maintain accountable the people and entities in China who’ve perpetrated human rights violations, (2) present assist for human rights defenders and dissidents from China, (3) advocate for and supply reduction to political prisoners, (4) develop proactive responses to CCP atrocity crimes, (5) prolong refugee standing and asylum to people fleeing persecution, and (6) develop a constructive response to transnational repression.

China’s Latest Human Rights Report

Beneath Xi’s management, the CCP’s threats to human rights and freedom, each inside and past China’s borders, have intensified. At present, the CCP is:

• Finishing up atrocities that the US authorities has determined represent genocide and crimes in opposition to humanity in opposition to Uyghur Muslims. Right this moment, greater than one million Uyghurs are held in numerous types of arbitrary detention, together with political reeducation camps. An estimated three million Uyghurs work in some type of state-sponsored forced labor. And the CCP is subjecting Uyghur ladies of child-bearing age to pressured abortion and sterilization on an enormous scale.
• Undermining civil and political liberties in Hong Kong. Thousands and thousands of Hong Kongers took to the streets in 2019 to peacefully protest for democracy and in opposition to Beijing’s proposed extradition invoice. Since then, the CCP has taken greater than 1,900 individuals as political prisoners.¹ A lot of them are nonetheless behind bars, together with well-known figures like Joshua Wong, Gwyneth Ho, and Jimmy Lai. The get together’s repression has pressured pro-democracy information shops like Stand Information and Apple Every day to shutter. And the Safeguarding Nationwide Safety Ordinance, or Article 23, elevated jail instances and criminalized extra types of free expression.
• Heightening persecution in opposition to Tibetans. The CCP seeks to erase Tibetan tradition, language, and spiritual apply. Reports state that the get together (1) topics Tibetans to pressured labor, indoctrination, and reeducation, (2) strips Tibetans of their land and water rights, and (3) forcibly assimilates Tibetan youngsters in state-run boarding schools. In 1995, the CCP forcibly disappeared the Panchen Lama, the second most vital determine in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. The CCP has indicated that it intends to regulate the succession of the present Dalai Lama. Lastly, Beijing’s financial improvement insurance policies pose a grave risk to Tibet’s surroundings and water provide.
• Committing transnational repression, together with within the US. A number of the extra egregious examples embody (1) bounties issued by the Hong Kong authorities in opposition to pro-democracy advocates in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada, (2) bodily violence in opposition to peaceable protestors supporting freedom in Tibet and Hong Kong throughout Xi’s 2023 go to to San Francisco, and (3) the institution of over 100 abroad Chinese language police stations in 52 nations, including in the US.

Why Human Rights Matter in US Coverage towards China

There are numerous explanation why the US and the worldwide group must counter the CCP’s continued erosion of human rights. US pursuits in China can be higher served if the CCP was a clear regime that upheld the rule of legislation at residence and globally—not one which shuts its inhabitants off from world info flows, arbitrarily targets industrial actors, and frequently flouts worldwide legislation. Under are three causes human rights matter to US overseas coverage towards China:

1.   Enhancing human rights in China empowers individuals to problem an unaccountable regime. Earlier US administrations have insufficiently acknowledged how human rights abuses assist the get together stay in energy. Simply because the CCP makes use of nationwide safety and financial threats to extend its world affect, it undermines human rights to quell dissent and shore up its home energy. Failing to counter the CCP’s human rights abuses leaves invaluable diplomatic leverage on the desk.

2.  Democracies ought to lead in countering the CCP’s threats to rights. The CCP’s actions threaten human rights inside and outdoors China. Democracies want to guide in countering this risk. The US ought to work with like-minded allies and companions to develop efficient mechanisms to carry the CCP accountable for its rights violations and guarantee protections for the get together’s targets. Washington might want to handle worldwide establishments and civil society successfully to stave off the CCP’s malign affect as Beijing seeks to weaken the worldwide system.

3.  Folks throughout China deserve the US’s finest protection. The CCP’s human rights violations go away individuals throughout China with out illustration, and those that get up in opposition to injustice pay monumental prices. Folks throughout China who work for democracy and human rights want acknowledgment and assist from the US and the worldwide group. With out accountability for perpetrators and help for human rights defenders (within the type of technical help, help to refugees and asylum seekers, and monetary assist), progress can be elusive. The CCP will attempt to disempower the individuals taking dangers to safe the positive aspects the US says it needs to see. Washington ought to do extra to assist and defend the human rights the CCP assiduously denies.

A Technique to Fight Human Rights Abuses in China

Future methods to counter the CCP are unlikely to succeed if they don’t account for human rights. And it’s crucial that every one US administrations, in addition to allies and companions, robustly fulfill their very own commitments to uphold their human rights obligations as set out below binding worldwide legislation. A failure to take action permits and emboldens Beijing. Any US effort to counter the CCP must also search to carry the get together accountable and honor, in phrase and deed, the dignity of the individuals throughout and from China whom the US seeks to defend.

Under are six rules the brand new administration and Congress ought to take into account as they develop coverage and a technique to counter the CCP’s home and worldwide human rights violations.

1.    Make higher use of authorized, monetary, and reputational instruments to impose penalties on people and entities accountable for undermining human rights.

1. Strategically deploy sanctions. Officers ought to use current sanctions instruments to create diplomatic leverage and improve penalties for CCP officers and entities accountable for violations. To that finish, the US ought to make full use of its ample sanctions authorities to focus on entities and people accountable for human rights violations and absolutely implement preexisting sanctions.² Sanctions ought to goal Chinese language banks accountable for financing the CCP’s abuses and fascinating in unlawful actions together with pressured labor, sanctions evasion, and cash laundering.
2. Make sure the reauthorization of preexisting authorities. Congress ought to be sure that sanctions authorities don’t lapse.
3. Contemplate authorizing the usage of secondary sanctions for human rights abuses in China. Congress ought to authorize secondary sanctions authorities to carry these aiding and abetting the CCP accountable for his or her roles in human rights violations, particularly over Uyghur forced labor. Moreover, the administration ought to put the Ministry of Public Safety’s Institute of Forensic Science again on the entity list, because it has not modified the conduct for which it was first designated.
4. Use all different obtainable instruments. Past sanctions, the US ought to use different monetary instruments designed to deal with unlawful actions like pressured labor and different types of human trafficking, cash laundering, and sanctions evasion, together with by:
   1. Strengthening implementation and enforcement of the Uyghur Pressured Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ought to use all current authorities to difficulty penalties and fines for repeat violators of UFLPA, absolutely implement the brand new de minimis rules, and urge Congress to move further laws to carry exploiters of the de minimis exception accountable. This is able to assist prevent goods suspected of being produced with Uyghur pressured labor from being reexported to different markets. Sadly, CBP and different companies tasked with UFLPA implementation stay under-resourced. Congress ought to take into account offering further funding for employees, enforcement, and technical coaching, together with language abilities. The US must also coordinate additional with allies and companions to mitigate Uyghur enslavement.
   2. Making full use of the Treasury Division’s particular measures, together with a major cash laundering concern (PMLC) designation. The Treasury Division ought to take into account whether or not sure entities in Hong Kong qualify as PMLCs. It must also discover measures wanting a PMLC designation to sign to companies the chance of working in Hong Kong. Both course would ship a transparent warning to the enterprise group about degradations in Hong Kong’s authorized and judicial system and the island’s rising function as a sanctions evasion and cash laundering hub.

2. Strengthen assist for human rights defenders throughout and from China.

• Acknowledge the sacrifices of human rights defenders. Opponents of the CCP get up for human rights at nice private price. Their bravery mustn’t solely be recommended, but in addition wholeheartedly supported by means of public recognition and materials assist.
• Set up contact. Each time and wherever attainable, together with in China, US officers ought to set up and keep contact with activists. These people and organizations have endured escalating repression below Xi however proceed to advocate for authorized reform, higher entry to schooling and public well being, and an finish to one-party rule. If interactions immediate the defenders to hunt assist, US officers must be ready to supply sanctuary and asylum.
• Proceed to supply monetary sources for human rights defenders. That is considered one of Washington’s most vital contributions to the protection of human rights throughout China. Beijing’s hostility makes this help significantly extra advanced. However inventive approaches are attainable.
• Publicly acknowledge the work of human rights defenders as an integral part and supply of US coverage selections on China. Too usually the US treats the Chinese language authorities and Chinese language Communist Social gathering as reliable by default; Washington can change the dynamics by elevating defenders and their work in coverage debates.

3. Strengthen the US authorities’s equipment for securing political prisoner launch.

1. At each diplomatic assembly between US officers and their Chinese language counterparts, ask for the speedy and unconditional launch of political prisoners. US officers’ requests must be sturdy and particular—not just for info or for proof of life, but in addition for the prisoners’ launch. These requests must be made public, until safety dictates in any other case, to make it tougher for Beijing to disregard them. The US must also be ready to supply asylum within the US or coordinate with companion nations to resettle prisoners who want refuge past China’s borders.
2. Emphasize the discharge of political prisoners with political or nationwide safety significance. Efforts ought to concentrate on members of the family of US residents and political prisoners of curiosity to US nationwide safety. Precedence political prisoners embody Uyghurs like Gulshan Abbas, Ilham Tohti, Rahile Dawut, and Ekpar Asat; Tibetans just like the eleventh Panchen Lama, Go Sherab Gyatso, and Konchok Nyima; Hong Kongers like Jimmy Lai, Gwyneth Ho, and Joshua Wong; persecuted Christians like Pastor Wang Yi; and human rights defenders like Gao Zhisheng, Yu Wenshang, and Ding Jiaxi.
3. Create an Workplace for Political Prisoner Advocacy (OPPA) within the State Division. The workplace might be placed under the authority of the below secretary for civilian safety, democracy, and human rights (the J Bureau), or below the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and be tasked with coordinating and managing US efforts to safe political prisoner launch globally. Its precedence can be to advocate for the discharge of political prisoners related to US nationwide safety. Congress ought to require the workplace to launch an annual report figuring out key political prisoners and what the workplace, civil society, and Congress have accomplished or can do to safe their launch.A particular envoy ought to lead the OPPA. The envoy must be Senate confirmed and of ambassador rank, and she or he may function a liaison between the chief department, Congress, and civil society. This is able to centralize the processes for securing political prisoner launch, updating households on the standing of political prisoners, and coordinating authorities and civil society responses to extrajudicial imprisonment.

4. Develop and implement responses to the CCP’s previous and ongoing atrocity crimes.

1. Lead efforts to carry perpetrators accountable. Democracies, as leaders within the worldwide group, ought to hold perpetrators accountable for atrocity crimes and forestall future crimes from occurring. Atrocity crimes are debilitating for victims and survivors, and a failure to carry perpetrators accountable correlates with weak governance. This makes prevention of future atrocity crimes within the curiosity of the US and like-minded nations across the globe.
2. Improve monitoring for early warning indicators of atrocity crimes in Tibet. The CCP piloted most of the insurance policies it at the moment makes use of in opposition to Uyghurs in Tibet, and plenty of are nonetheless in impact there. This consists of, amongst different issues, pressured labor, extreme violations of civil and political liberties, undermining of native tradition, and invasive DNA assortment. Given the similarities between the Tibetan and Uyghur experiences, the US authorities ought to implement insurance policies to forestall the escalation of atrocity crimes like crimes in opposition to humanity or genocide. As a part of this course of in Tibet, the US ought to search to restart dialogue with the Dalai Lama. And if there may be proof that the CCP has already dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity or genocide, the US secretary of state ought to difficulty an atrocity dedication.
3. Create a fund for Uyghur survivors of the CCP’s ongoing genocide and crimes in opposition to humanity. The US ought to place fines collected from repeat violators of the UFLPA right into a fund administered by the Treasury or State Division payable to Uyghur survivors of genocide and crimes in opposition to humanity. These funds may additionally go towards organizations offering direct assist to Uyghur survivors of pressured labor and different injustices, together with numerous types of technical help, counseling and rehabilitation companies, and advocacy.

5. Provide dissidents protected haven.

1. The US ought to strengthen its refugee resettlement program. Security inside US borders is without doubt one of the most sensible instruments to supply assist. Ensures of security and authorized safety allow people from throughout China to advocate extra strongly for change. Policymakers ought to broaden assist for resettlement companies, guarantee enough funding, deal with delays in processing social safety numbers and employment authorization paperwork, and improve the provision of reasonably priced housing. The US must also proceed to put money into different humanitarian pathways together with humanitarian parole applications, personal sponsorship applications like Welcome Corps, and household reunification applications. Welcome Corps, particularly, could have to be amended to ensure that Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, and Tibetans to be eligible for personal resettlement routes. Importantly, public-private partnership applications ought to complement, not supplant, asylum entry on the border.
2. Contemplate priority refugee and asylum processing for sure teams throughout China. Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and peaceable critics of the CCP face everlasting persecution, and the lives of those that have escaped the nation can be endangered upon return to China. Lengthy wait instances expose asylees to human rights violations and different atrocities. Many Uyghurs have waited greater than 10 years for his or her asylum hearings within the US, an unconscionable period of time to reside with uncertainty about one’s future security. Numerous others, just like the 50 Uyghurs at the moment held in detention in Thailand, must be thought-about for precedence processing, maybe below Priority 1 (P-1) status. Any US embassy official can advocate a person or set of people for this precedence processing.
3. Contemplate whether or not humanitarian parole could be reformed to supply everlasting pathways for resettlement within the US. America ought to provide extra protections for human rights defenders in exile, dissidents, and diaspora communities experiencing transnational repression. For instance, Washington can broaden humanitarian pathways for everlasting authorized standing in the US, in addition to fund and assist nongovernmental and civil society organizations that present companies for survivors. Humanitarian parole is a useful gizmo in instances the place refugees are in pressing want of resettlement (like a just lately launched political prisoner or an individual whose life is in danger). But it surely doesn’t at the moment provide a everlasting pathway to citizenship. The US authorities ought to take into account reforming humanitarian parole to supply extra everlasting options for persecuted people.

6. Develop efficient home and multilateral responses to transnational repression.

1. Outline transnational repression and determine what instruments the US authorities has to guard and assist survivors. Transnational repression brings the CCP’s human rights offenses on to US soil. Washington and its allies must develop a plan to reply, with a concentrate on creating available authorized mechanisms to punish perpetrators and supply reduction for victims. Congress and the chief department ought to work collectively to outline transnational repression. They need to then guarantee authorities have the coaching and authorized remit to deal with these conditions. Officers ought to be capable to collect and share info, acquire and report statistics, present coaching and outreach, and information survivors to companies and assist. Technique of assist could embody psychological and social companies in addition to immigration and authorized help.
2. Develop a transparent, survivor-centered coverage response to transnational repression with allies and companions. The US ought to work collectively with pals and allies to lift transnational repression as a precedence difficulty and develop worldwide norms to deal with it. An preliminary working group may embody the UK, Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, and different like-minded nations.

The contents of this coverage memo are the results of the collective efforts of the nonpartisan China Human Rights Working Group run by Hudson Senior Fellow Olivia Enos. The group’s mission is to determine the highest coverage priorities for advancing human rights in US coverage towards the Chinese language Communist Social gathering.

Group members embody:

Rushan Abbas, Marketing campaign for Uyghurs
Anita Chang, ChinaAid
Sophie Richardson, Chinese language Human Rights Defenders
Jonathan Stivers, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong
Yaqiu Wang, Freedom Home
Anna Kwok, Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC)
Megan Khoo, Hong Kong Watch
Miles Yu, Hudson Institute
Sophie Luo, Humanitarian China
Franz Matzner, Worldwide Marketing campaign for Tibet
Corban Teague, McCain Institute
Pema Doma, College students for a Free Tibet
Elfidar Iltebir, Uyghur American Affiliation
Omer Kanat, Uyghur Human Rights Undertaking
Adrian Zenz, Victims of Communism Memorial Basis
Joey Siu, Washingtonians Supporting Hong Kong (DC4HK)