U.S. Congressional eyes are once again focused on human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang. Members of Congress from both parties have voiced support for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as a response to the persecution of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities by Beijing authorities. A number of members across the aisle have also voiced their displeasure with the role of U.S. companies in the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang, saying they will next target U.S. companies concerned to apply pressure.
At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday (June 10), held jointly by the subcommittees on human rights and Asia Pacific, lawmakers harshly criticized Beijing authorities for a variety of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
“The Chinese Communist Party is widely known for many of its bad practices, such as speech censorship, jailing journalists, suppressing religion, oppressing all minorities, and monitoring its own citizens,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the ranking Republican member of the committee’s Asia Pacific panel, in his opening statement.
“But when it comes to the genocide of the Uighurs, the Chinese Communist Party has largely been able to hide its crimes from the world. From concentration camps and forced labor, to the dismantling of Uighur families, to the sexual abuse of Uighur women by Han Chinese, the crimes committed by the Chinese Communist Party against the Uighurs are unprecedented and unimaginable for a modern nation.”
The hearing, titled “Atrocities in Xinjiang: What Do We Do Next?” was the first cross-group hearing of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in seven years, and the first hearing of the Human Rights Subcommittee this Congress.
“We want to open the discussion (this session) with a very, very important issue,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who chaired Thursday’s hearing and stressed that it underscores the bipartisan importance Congress attaches to human rights issues in China.
“Nowhere are the violations of individual freedoms and basic human rights more comprehensive and atrocious than those faced by Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang,” Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said at the meeting.
Earlier this week, the Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which aims to boost U.S. competitiveness against China by investing heavily in U.S. industries. The bill includes a provision co-sponsored by Kaine and Romney that calls on the U.S. government not to send any official delegations to the Winter Olympics in Beijing next February, adopting a diplomatic boycott of the quadrennial sporting event while focusing on China’s human rights abuses.
Kane said, “We think the Olympics will create an opportunity to bring the world’s attention to China, and with that kind of attention, we might be able to do something to draw the world’s attention to the atrocities that are being committed against the Uighurs.”
It is unclear whether the Biden administration will answer the call of Congress to refuse to send government officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics in a diplomatic boycott.
Senator Kaine told VOA after the hearing that in addition to the executive branch, Congress will next simultaneously put further pressure on affiliated U.S. companies.
We want a diplomatic boycott,” Kaine said. We may also look further into the U.S. sponsoring companies and the U.S. (broadcast) media to see how they plan to avoid human rights issues and highlight human rights abuses. But I’m not sure what the administration’s plans are at this point.”
He went on to say, “I think China, and even U.S. companies, could benefit if the Uighur issue doesn’t get attention. But as long as this gets attention, human rights abuses are something that many U.S. companies don’t want to be associated with. So I think the way we deal with U.S. companies is to draw a lot of public attention to this issue and to discuss whether they are responsible for the situation in Xinjiang or for the actions of the Chinese government. So I think U.S. companies will be very cautious if they feel that they are connected to those issues. If they feel they can do whatever they want to do and no one will notice, then they’ll continue to do what they want to do.”
Sophie Richardson, director of Human Rights Watch’s China program, who was present at the testimony, told Voice of America that it is uncertain whether the U.S. executive branch has made any decision to boycott. “But I do think there is growing pressure for them [the U.S. government] not to send a diplomatic delegation and to find a way to celebrate the athletes in the U.S. before they leave.”
Richardson suggested at the hearing that Congress should listen to what U.S. businesses have to say about what actions they are taking regarding human rights protections.
Richardson said, “If you’re going to have hearings on how U.S. businesses are doing their part to protect human rights and the issues with China, I would certainly suggest inviting NBC and other U.S. businesses to come here and explain how they’re making sure that their participation in the Olympics is not contributing to those (human rights) abuses.”
Richardson told Voice of America after the meeting that she believes that Congress, for its part, should also require U.S. businesses to prove that they are not using cotton produced by forced labor to purchase and order uniforms for participation in the games. In addition, she believes encouraging athletes to focus on human rights issues in China is an important way to do so.
“They [Congress] could also encourage athletes to focus on those issues and let them discuss them themselves,” Richardson said, “We’re living in an era where athletes are also active, and I think hearing that kind of reassurance from members of Congress that this is a popular and protected right is also is a very important thing.”
Bipartisan Call for Speedy Passage of the Forced Labor Prevention for Uighurs Act
In addressing human rights issues in China’s Xinjiang, several lawmakers from both parties are concerned about the role of U.S. businesses in the process.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee’s Human Rights Subcommittee, was outspoken in a hearing criticizing major U.S. companies for turning a blind eye to China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang and for being complicit in the Communist Party’s repressive policies.
“For too long, companies like Nike, Apple, Amazon and Coca-Cola have used forced labor, and they have benefited from forced labor or sourced from suppliers who may have been forced labor,” Rubio said, “and sadly, these companies, have made us all complicit in these criminal activities. “
Rubio added that a major difference between past and present human rights persecution in China is motivation. “The motivation has evolved from simply chasing power to chasing power and profit,” Rubio said.
“Many Uighurs and other Muslims are forced to make products such as textiles, electronics and food, and they are shipped to other provinces where they are forced to labor. The Chinese government calls this a beautiful way to help the poor. But everyone knows what this is, it’s slavery.”
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, introduced by Rubio and Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), has not seen any progress since it was introduced in the Senate last April. The House version of the bill passed the Foreign Affairs Committee last month and is awaiting a vote in the full House.
The Forced Labor Prevention Act contains a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods produced in the XUAR are presumed to be manufactured by forced labor unless “clear and convincing” evidence is presented to rebut the presumption. Unless “clear and convincing” evidence is presented to rebut this presumption, all goods are prohibited from entering the United States.
The bill also authorizes the president to impose sanctions on anyone who imposes forced labor on the Uighur and other Muslim populations in Xinjiang, and requires listed U.S. companies to disclose financial information about their contacts with the Chinese companies and entities in question.
Rubio said he believes the bill is expected to pass the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee as soon as this month.
“This bill helps ensure that the products of Uighur forced labor do not reach the U.S. market, unknowingly enabling Americans,” Rubio said, adding that “the crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the Chinese Communist Party demand an urgent international response. I call on the Biden administration to use every tool at its disposal to put an end to these atrocities and to ensure that the Chinese Communist Party does not benefit from the crimes. But it is also important that Congress act. I hope this bill can be an important step in that direction.”
“A genocide without the slaughter”
During Thursday’s hearing, lawmakers also addressed a report recently released by German scholar Adrian Zenz, who was present to testify, on China’s control of ethnic births in the Xinjiang region.
The report cites studies and statements by Chinese scholars and officials on birth control policies in Xinjiang to analyze their motives and goals. The report also claims, based on official data, that fertility rates in Xinjiang plummeted by nearly 50 percent between 2017 and 2019.
The report finds that Beijing authorities’ Xinjiang fertility policy will reduce the growth rate of minority groups such as the local Uighurs by about 2.6 million to 4.5 million people over the next 20 years, or about one-third of the group’s total population.
In the report, Zheng described the Chinese Communist Party’s actions as “a genocide without slaughter.
He told the hearing that Chinese authorities are satisfied with their reproductive policies in Xinjiang and want to change the international understanding of their human rights abuses, hoping to reverse the understanding of those actions to the pursuit of “economic prosperity and development.
“The Chinese government is very complimentary of its policies,” Cheng told lawmakers, “and there’s no doubt that in 20 years they’ll look back and they’ll say we succeeded in making changes, everything was successful, everything was prosperous.”
Senator Kaine, who chaired the hearing, described the mindset and thoughts of Chinese officials as “chilling.”
“It’s a very chilling thing that this is not just a coordinated and designed operation, but that the Chinese officials who designed these policies appear to be happy with the success of this operation, and that should give us a sense of urgency that we have to move forward as soon as possible with a ban on forced labor and other related bills,” Senator Kane said. Senator Kaine said.
Zheng’s report is the first peer-reviewed report on how Chinese government policy in Xinjiang affects the local minority population.
Chinese authorities do not acknowledge human rights abuses in Xinjiang and refer to the detention camps where Uighurs are held as “re-education camps. At a press conference Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “No matter what anti-China farce the anti-China forces are trying to stage, China’s development, including in Xinjiang, is getting better and better, and there are more and more voices in the international community advocating an objective and fair view of Xinjiang.”
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