The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000 "with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President." (CECC About). The CECC FAQs provide useful information about the CECC. See CECC Frequently Asked Questions. They have developed positions on a number of issues: Access to Justice; Civil Society;Commercial Rule of Law; Criminal Justice; Developments in Hong Kong and Macau ; The Environment ; Ethnic Minority Rights;Freedom of Expression; Freedom of Religion ; Freedom of Residence and Movement ; Human Trafficking ; Institutions of Democratic Governance ; North Korean Refugees in China; Population Planning ; Public Health ; Status of Women ; Tibet ; Worker Rights ; and Xinjiang.
CECC tends to serve as an excellent barometer of the thinking of political and academic elites in the United States about issues touching on China and the official American line developed in connection with those issues. As such it is an important source of information about the way official and academic sectors think about China.
On October 6, CECC delivered its 2016 Annual Report. The Report is an excellent mirror of the way American political elites think about themselves and the U.S. socio-political system, as well as the way those basic ideals are transposed to an analysis of the socio-political system of China. And, of course, this ideological-principles foundation is overlaid with is a quite valuable window on ,the approach to American policy towards China. This observation is both descriptive and critical. It is critical in three respects.
First the CECC approach to Chinese analysis ensures a blindness to the realities of the Chinese situation, masked by an obsession to transpose American perspectives outward. The consequence is the production of flawed analysis and a likely inability to accurately predict and project Chinese sensibilities and political decision making. More importantly it will fail to adequately gauge the nature and character of Chinese mass sentiment. This critically flawed analytical approach fails the United States and the advancement of its own interests and ought to be understood a a gross failure of competence by those charged with the protection of the United States, its interests and people.
Second, the CECC misses an important opportunity to engage China and Chinese policies and practices on its own terms. The real tragedy of reports like this one is the missed opportunity to analyze the extent to which the Chinese Party and State have failed in their own core obligations to advance the Chinese Communist Party Basic Line. It represents a lost opportunity to suggest the possibility of alternative courses of action grounded in the General Program of the CCP and its constitutional obligations under its own Basic Line. That failure is not merely a tactical failure but a failure of leadership. The CECC misses an opportunity to provide leadership for those who seek--within the parameters of Chinese socio-political ideology--to approach the issues highlighted in the Report, in an alternative way. That possibility is hardly conceded by the ideologues whose views infuse this Report. And as a consequence there will be less rather than more effective communication between elites on both sides of the Pacific.
Third, reports like this one provide a very bad example and model that other states, and particularly the Chinese state will be using more efficiently and often against the United States in coming years. There is little doubt but that the CECC Report will be mirrored by an equally flawed Chinese Report on the state of human rights in the United States, one that highlights everything from voter suppression, to corruption and the racially tinged police killings in many parts of the United States. That is in its own way as unhelpful as the CECC Report is for China. Yet that is the template that is being advanced. It is a template that may work well for short term internally driven political agendas but it hardly serves its stated purpose of rigorous and dispassionate analysis of realities quite aware of the ideological contexts in which analysis must be made. Another tragedy of the way in which U.S. Chinese relations are perverted.
This post includes CECC press release, the transmittal letter to President Obama, and the Executive Summary and Recommendations of the 2016 Report.
CECC Releases 2016 Annual Report
CECC Releases 2016 Annual Report
Despite the expectations of many that economic engagement with China would lead to political reform, fifteen years after China’s accession to the WTO, the human rights situation there is increasingly dire. The CECC’s latest report recommends Congress and the Administration press Beijing for greater transparency, adherence to universal standards, and development of the rule of law.
Media Contact: 202-226-3777
October 6, 2016
(WASHINGTON, DC)—Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Chairmen U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today issued the Commission’s bipartisan 2016 Annual Report, which provides detailed analysis of 19 issue areas regarding human rights and the rule of law, and offers specific recommendations on how progress can be made on these issues through the broader U.S.-China relationship. The full report can be accessed on the CECC’s website (www.cecc.gov).
“The Chinese government’s human rights record is utterly deplorable, continuing a downward trend over the past three years. It is a dark time for China’s reformers, dissidents, and rights defenders as they face escalating repression and conditions deteriorated again last year,” said Representative Smith. “The Chinese government took extraordinary steps to decimate the ranks of human rights lawyers, crush independent civil society, and expand control over the Internet and the press. Coercive population control policies continued to mandate the size of Chinese families and contribute to one of the world’s worst human trafficking problems. New regulations will likely expand repression for religious communities, as the “sinicization” campaign aims to further politicize religious life. Tibetans, Uyghurs, and North Koreans seeking asylum were less safe last year—facing detentions, torture, and deportations. Detained Falun Gong practitioners, and other prisoners, were reportedly victims of the horrible crime of organ harvesting. Hong Kong continued to experience erosions to the guaranteed freedoms and autonomy it was promised by Beijing. President Xi Jinping has run roughshod over human rights and the U.S. government has only responded tepidly. It is time to recognize that the economic engagement strategy has failed, and new policy approaches must be developed that link our values and interests. A new U.S. policy approach that champions individual liberties is owed to the thousands of suffering prisoners of conscience in China, as documented by the thousands of cases in the Commission’s Political Prisoner Database. And, we owe it to future generations of Americans, whose security and prosperity will depend on a stable U.S.-China relationship that is more open and transparent; free of censorship and coercion; based on adherence to universal standards; and, hopefully, increasingly democratic.”
“The Commission’s report paints an undeniably bleak situation of the deterioration of human rights and the rule of law in China, with especially grave consequences for civil society, religious believers, human rights lawyers, and labor activists,” said Senator Rubio. “Beijing has become increasingly brazen in exerting its extraterritorial reach in the past year, as evidenced by the outrageous abductions of the Hong Kong booksellers. Fifteen years after China gained entry to the World Trade Organization, it’s time we take stock of our approach and recognize that despite what proponents at the time believed would happen, China has in fact used the international rules-based system to fuel vast economic growth, while further restricting freedom and increasing repression. The stakes could not be higher for the Christian pastor unjustly imprisoned and devastated by the loss of his church, the rights lawyer languishing under house arrest and forced to confess to crimes she did not commit, and the Hong Kong student activists fighting for their city’s future. This report is dedicated to these people and their aspirations—it is vital that they know the United States, despite its economic relationship with China, will stand with that country’s reformers and dissidents and press the Chinese Government and Communist Party to respect basic human rights and uphold the rule of law, just as we expect of any responsible country.”
In a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders, the Chairs cited the unique bipartisan structure of the CECC, which has Commissioners from both parties in Congress and the Obama Administration, and identified areas for more focused legislative and executive action, including developing the rule of law; countering human trafficking; improving freedom of the press, religion, and the Internet; ensuring ethnic minority rights; respect for Hong Kong’s autonomy; and further reform of China’s population control policies.
Both Chairs commended the capable, professional, and meticulous work of the CECC’s research staff in this important, congressionally mandated undertaking, now in its 15th year.
The text of the letter accompanying the 2016 Annual Report can be found below:
October 6, 2016
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We transmit to you the 2016 Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (the Commission). The Commission was created by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000, which also extended Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China, and is mandated to monitor and report on human rights violations and the development of the rule of law in China, and to provide recommendations to address these issues in U.S.-China relations. The Commission’s structure, consisting of a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators, Representatives, and senior-level Administration officials, is intended to foster cooperation between the legislative and executive branches, and promote bipartisan attention to these critical issues in China. As the Commission’s 15th Annual Report demonstrates, it continues to be a vital source of accurate information about the Chinese government’s failure to comply with international standards and its ongoing repression of the Chinese people.
The Commission’s 2016 Annual Report coincides with the 15th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. The Chinese government has failed to implement the substantive legal reforms anticipated 15 years ago and persisted in violating international human rights standards and its own domestic laws, resulting in lasting harm to both U.S. interests and the Chinese people. Over the past year, human rights and rule of law conditions in China have further deteriorated in many areas as detailed by this report, continuing a trend that has seen the Chinese Communist Party and government expand efforts to crush independent civil society and religious activity, suppress the peaceful activities of human rights lawyers, ethnic minorities, and labor activists, and further implement the world’s most sophisticated system of Internet censorship and press restrictions. China has also become more brazen in exerting its extraterritorial reach as demonstrated by the shocking abductions of Hong Kong booksellers, efforts to impede the travel of young Hong Kong democracy activists, and enforced disappearances and the coerced return of Chinese dissidents seeking asylum in Thailand. As the 2016 Annual Report makes clear, China, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, is less free, more repressive, and increasingly dismissive of international norms.
Given the strategic and economic interdependencies of the U.S.-China relationship, and the importance of rights protections for advancing U.S. interests, the Annual Report recommends that the U.S. government lead efforts to press China toward greater transparency and adherence to universal standards. Promoting human rights and the rule of law must be a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, as concrete improvements in these areas are directly linked to the security and economic well-being of both the United States and of China.
Based on developments this past year, the report identifies the following key areas that we believe merit the focus of Congress and the Administration in the coming year:
Expansion of Rule by Law. The Chinese government continues to embrace rule by law, further entrenching a system where the Chinese Communist Party uses the law to strengthen its own power and crush dissent. The sweeping crackdown on lawyers and rights advocates in July 2015 was followed during this reporting year by a spate of detentions, enforced disappearances, and televised confessions of men and women engaged in work related to advancing human rights and public interest. At least 20 lawyers and legal activists were formally arrested on charges related to endangering state security, which carry the potential for lengthy prison terms, and 4 were sentenced on charges related to subversion. The government and party moved forward on a series of far-reaching new security laws that provided the basis for an even broader and more severe crackdown on ethnic minority groups, expanded government control over the Internet, and placed greater restrictions on international businesses that operate in or trade with China. The report recommends that U.S. government officials frequently and publicly raise political prisoner cases and work with like-minded allies on statements and resolutions at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and other multilateral forums where China and the United States are members. In addition, given the scope of the crackdown on human rights lawyers and rights defenders, the report recommends that the Administration consider more expansive use of existing law to deny U.S. entry visas to Chinese officials engaged in detentions, torture, disappearances, and other severe human rights violations.
Civil Society Seen as Security Threat. With the passage of the law governing overseas non-governmental organization (NGO) activity in China, the government codified an approach to civil society that treats many groups and individuals operating in this space as security threats. Entities and individuals working in areas previously deemed acceptable by the government were forcibly closed and criminally detained in this past reporting year. The full implementation of the law will likely have a chilling effect on innovation, exchanges, and cooperative projects. The report recommends creative expansion of funding for civil society development in China, particularly in areas where China has made some recent commitments, such as projects to promote women’s rights and efforts to curb torture and wrongful convictions. Furthermore, the report recommends that the Administration encourage a strong, unified, multi-lateral, and multi-stakeholder response to the NGO law.
Lasting Effects of Population Control. The Communist Party announced a decision last year to adopt a universal two-child policy, but maintained population control policies that continued the enforcement of birth-limitation targets and the vast infrastructure of government officials who implement coercive policies in violation of international standards. The new policy does little to address China’s sex ratio imbalance of reportedly 34 million more men than women and an estimated 62 million “missing women and girls” due to a cultural preference for sons exacerbated by decades of enforced birth limitations. The report recommends the Administration discuss problems linked to the Chinese government’s population control policies and dramatic sex ratio imbalance as part of security, legal, trafficking, human rights, medical, public health, and “People-to-People” dialogues. In addition, the report recommends the full implementation of the Girls Count Act (P.L. 114-24) in foreign assistance programs for China and urges the Administration to consider appointing a Special Advisor at the State Department to oversee technical assistance and capacity-building projects. The report also asks the Congress to continue to consider the prohibition on U.S. contributions to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) until all birth limitation and coercive population control policies are rescinded in China.
Violations of Religious Freedom. The report notes the Chinese government’s efforts to expand political influence over the activities and growth of religious communities through both a national-level “sinicization” campaign and the convening of the first National Conference on Religious Work in 15 years. The report also notes the detention of Catholic clergy and Falun Gong practitioners, the ongoing demolition campaign targeting church buildings in Zhejiang province, and continued efforts to control the leadership of Tibetan Buddhism and restrict the religious practices of Uyghur Muslims. The report recommends expanded U.S. leadership on international religious freedom, through coordinated multilateral efforts and bilateral interactions that stress the strategic and economic value of promoting this fundamental freedom. The report also recommends that the Administration use existing law to restrict entry visa access for individuals complicit in severe religious freedom violations.
Continuing Tragedy of Human Trafficking. China remains a country of origin and destination for the trafficking of men, women, and children. Women from Southeast Asia and Nepal were trafficked to China for forced marriages or sexual exploitation, and North Korean laborers worked under conditions described as forced or slave labor. A system of arbitrary detention continues to exist in China, with detainees required to perform forced labor. The report recommends that the Administration use existing laws and policies to prevent goods made with forced labor in China from entering the United States. The report also recommends cooperative efforts between the Congress and the Administration to ensure the U.S State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has sufficient resources and status to effectively counter modern-day slavery, and urges Congress to consider legislation to improve data collection and diplomatic action to address human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal in China.
Restrictions on Internet and Press Freedom. The Chinese government continues to implement the world’s most sophisticated system of Internet control and press censorship, affecting both domestic and foreign journalists. Authorities rein in media, commentators, and Internet and social media users critical of government policies by shutting down popular microblog sites; detaining media professionals and China-based family members of Chinese journalists and bloggers living overseas; and blocking services that allow Internet users to circumvent China’s “Great Firewall.” The report recommends that the Administration give greater priority to combating restrictions on the free flow of news and information. The report also recommends expanded Internet freedom programming to help Chinese citizens circumvent Internet censorship and recirculate content produced in China but deleted by government censors.
Failures to Abide by WTO Obligations. Against the backdrop of slowing economic growth and stalled economic liberalization efforts, the report notes little progress in China’s compliance with international trade obligations. During this reporting year, there was growing labor unrest inside China. U.S. and other foreign businesses faced significant difficulties due to the weak rule of law, lack of government transparency, Internet censorship, and preferential treatment for China’s state-owned enterprises. Additionally, foreign businesses faced discriminatory monopoly investigations, intellectual property theft, and draft laws that will require the transfer of technology and encryption keys for information technology firms seeking a share of the Chinese market. The report recommends that, barring significant improvements, the Administration continue to designate China as a “non-market economy,” and consider initiating additional WTO disputes seeking elimination of trade-restricting Internet censorship that unfairly penalizes American companies. The report also recommends that Congress consider legislation to require that market access for Chinese investors in U.S. news, media, and entertainment industries be conditioned on a reciprocal basis to ensure a level playing field for U.S. investors.
Repression of Ethnic Minorities. The Chinese government maintained harsh security measures that disregard the protection of human rights in ethnic minority areas, including Tibetan autonomous areas and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The Commission observed no sign of Chinese interest in resuming the long-stalled dialogue with the Dalai Lama’s representatives. To the contrary, the government expanded controls on religion and civil society in Tibetan areas and the XUAR. The report concludes that the Chinese government can best promote stability by respecting ethnic minorities’ right to maintain their language and culture and to practice their religion freely, and urges the Administration to address these issues at bilateral security dialogues and in exchanges with Chinese military or police officials. The report also recommends that the Administration press for unrestricted access to ethnic minority regions and instruct U.S. directors of international financial institutions to oppose financing projects that fail to respect the culture, religion, or traditions of ethnic minorities.
Challenges to Hong Kong’s ‘High Degree’ of Autonomy. The actions of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments during the past reporting year continue to raise concerns about the future of the guaranteed freedoms, autonomy, and rule of law that distinguish Hong Kong from mainland China and underpin Hong Kong’s financial reputation and prosperity. The disappearance, alleged abductions, and detention in mainland China of five Hong Kong-based booksellers is one of the most grave violations of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy since 1997. While recent LegCo elections saw some young activists associated with the “Umbrella Movement” protests of 2014 gain elective office, the process was marred before voting commenced, as the Hong Kong authorities disqualified candidates who refused to sign a loyalty pledge affirming Hong Kong as an “inalienable part of China.” Given the important economic interests the United States has in Hong Kong, and China’s international commitments to protect a “high degree of autonomy” in Hong Kong, the Commission’s report recommends that the administration continue to issue annually the report on Hong Kong outlined in Section 301 of the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992. In addition, the report recommends that the Administration and Congress work together to determine whether separate treatment for Hong Kong, which is allowed under the Act, is merited if Hong Kong’s autonomy and its guaranteed freedoms are further eroded.
U.S. Government Actions. Principled U.S. leadership seeking improvements in human rights and the rule of law in China is critical for advancing the security and economic interests that benefit both the American and Chinese people. The report recommends that the Administration and Congress work together to strengthen the “rebalance to Asia” and develop an interagency action plan that integrates human rights and rule of law interests across the full spectrum of bilateral relations. Developing a “whole of government” human rights diplomacy would prepare all agencies interacting with elements of the Chinese government to actively press for greater transparency and better adherence to universal standards, and advocate on behalf of Chinese prisoners of conscience and citizens who yearn for basic human rights and a government that reflects the will of the people. A freer and more democratic China is a critical U.S. interest, and it should be pursued in tandem with other U.S. diplomatic, economic, political, and security priorities.
The Commission’s Annual Report contains detailed information and reporting as well as numerous other recommendations for consideration by the Administration and Congress. The Commission also maintains an extensive Political Prisoner Database as an invaluable resource on individual prisoners or groups of prisoners—cases which should be raised, by name, during every interaction with the Chinese government. A government that holds its own people in such contempt cannot reasonably be viewed as a responsible global stakeholder. The Commission and its staff stand ready to assist in any way to carry out the report’s recommendations or further explain its findings.
Sincerely,
Chris Smith Marco Rubio
Chair Cochair
CECC 2016 Annual Report
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I. Executive Summary
INTRODUCTION
December 2016 will mark 15 years since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). At that time, the Chinese government made commitments that were important not only for China’s commercial development in the international marketplace, but also for its development of the rule of law domestically. China— now ranking as the world’s second largest economy—has benefited greatly from the international rules-based system in driving its economic transformation and growth, but the Chinese Communist Party has continued to reject the notion that the rule of law should supersede the Party’s role in guiding the functions of the state, impeding China’s ability to honor its WTO obligations. As such, China has largely failed to implement the substantive legal reforms anticipated 15 years ago and has persisted in violating international human rights standards and its own domestic laws with lasting harm to both U.S. interests and the Chinese people.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (Commission), established by the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000, which also extended Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China, is mandated to monitor human rights and rule of law developments in China. Since October 2002, the Commission has issued an Annual Report each year, providing a summary of key developments over a range of issues, identifying new trends, and highlighting cases of political prisoners and rights advocates. As the Commission’s 15th Annual Report demonstrates, it serves the need to monitor the Chinese government’s repression of the Chinese people and continues to be a vital source of accurate information.
During the Commission’s 2016 reporting year, the Chinese Communist Party and government further restricted the limited space for peaceful expression, religious activity, and assembly with harsh consequences for rights advocates, lawyers, and civil society, and continued to implement the world’s most sophisticated system of Internet control and press censorship, affecting both domestic and foreign journalists. For the first time since 2012, the Chinese government expelled a foreign journalist, in this case, for criticizing the government’s ethnic policies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The government routinely denied medical treatment to imprisoned activists, targeted family members and associates of rights advocates, including those overseas, with harassment and retribution, and became more brazen in exerting its extraterritorial reach. The government also continued harsh security measures that disregarded the protection of human rights in ethnic minority regions including Tibetan autonomous areas and the XUAR. Underscoring the severity of conditions in China, 12 countries, led by the United States, expressed serious concerns about human rights abuses in China at the March 2016 gathering of the UN Human Rights Council, the first such collective statement on China in the history of the Council. The group specifically noted ‘‘arrests and ongoing detention of rights activists, civil society leaders, and lawyers’’ as well as ‘‘unexplained recent disappearances and apparent coerced returns of Chinese and foreign citizens from outside mainland China.’’
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Legislative and policy developments during this past year included further reforms to the household registration (hukou) system and passage, after years of advocacy, of the PRC Anti-Domes-tic Violence Law and the PRC Charity Law. Yet these efforts were overshadowed by the apparent distrust and sometimes hostility with which the Chinese government continues to view its citizens and by the lackluster implementation and enforcement of laws and regulations meant to protect China’s most vulnerable citizens and stem the degradation of its polluted physical environment.
Faced with a rapidly aging population, a shrinking labor pool, and high levels of public dissatisfaction, central Party authorities announced in October 2015 a decision to adopt a universal two-child policy. Nevertheless, authorities maintained that population control policies will continue to be the long-term ‘‘basic national policy,’’ without any noticeable reduction to the vast infrastructure of government officials who implement coercive population control policies in violation of international standards. The revision of birth limits may never fully address China’s sex ratio imbalance. As of 2015, there were reportedly approximately 34 million more men than women in China. Furthermore, according to a 2010 estimate, there were 62 million ‘‘missing women and girls,’’ due in part to a cultural preference for sons exacerbated by decades of coercive population control policies. The sex ratio imbalance has led to a demand for marriageable women, which is a factor that may contribute to human trafficking for forced marriage and commercial sexual exploitation.
While official statements in 2012 at the start of Xi Jinping’s tenure as Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and in 2013 as President of China seemed to indicate that he was open to political reforms and limits on the power of public officials; in fact, Xi has overseen a deterioration in human rights and rule of law conditions in China marked by greater consolidation of his own power—leading some analysts to draw comparisons to Mao Zedong—through forced ideological conformity and the systematic persecution of human rights lawyers and defenders. Xi, referred to this year by several provincial and local Party leaders as the ‘‘core’’ (hexin) leader, continued to head at least six Party ‘‘leading small groups’’ (lingdao xiaozu) that guide policy in vital areas including the economy, domestic reform, and national defense. Xi’s leadership style has led some experts to question whether he will adhere to Party precedent whereby promotions to the most senior positions are based on inner Party negotiations and consensus, when the appointment of cadres to the Standing Committee of the Communist Party Central Committee Political Bureau (Politburo) occurs at the 19th Party Congress in 2017, at which time five of its seven members are expected to retire. The anticorruption campaign against Party officials, an ongoing feature of Xi’s domestic policy, has led to accusations of torture and coerced confessions and even a spate of suicides by those who reportedly were to undergo Party disciplinary investigations. A former energy administration official asserted during his trial in February 2016 that authorities had employed torture to force him to sign a confession. Moreover, some have argued that Xi has used the anticorruption campaign to eliminate political rivals, as demonstrated by life sentences imposed on
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former Chongqing municipality Party Secretary Bo Xilai in 2014, former Politburo Standing Committee member and Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang in 2015, and in 2016, to Ling Jihua, senior aide to former President and Party General Secretary Hu Jintao.
Under Xi’s leadership, both the Party and government continued to invoke nationalist rhetoric featuring a ‘‘Chinese dream’’ to spur ‘‘the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.’’ Central to that vision is the rejection of so-called Western or universal values that the current Party leadership has labeled as ‘‘foreign’’ or ‘‘hostile’’ forces. Such rhetoric is used to delegitimize calls for political reform and various forms of social organization viewed as threats to the Party. In April 2016, Xi addressed senior Communist Party and government leaders at a rare national conference on religious work, the highest level meeting on religious work since 2001, and warned that China must be vigilant in guarding ‘‘against overseas infiltration via religious means,’’ while underscoring the importance of the ‘sinicization’’ of religion. The Party increasingly promoted the notion that civil society, including religious groups, was especially susceptible to ‘‘foreign influence’’ and ‘‘infiltration’’ and promulgated legislation, such as the PRC Law on the Management of Overseas Non-Governmental Organizations’ Activities in Mainland China, to counter this perceived threat. Chinese authorities continued to impose controls on religion and civil society in ethnic minority areas. In March 2016, a senior Tibet Autonomous Region Party official highlighted deeply entrenched hostility toward the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s best known teacher, by declaring that he is ‘‘no longer a religious leader after he defected [from] his country and betrayed its people.’’ In a June 2016 white paper regarding religion in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where millions of Muslims live, Chinese authorities warned that they would ‘‘never allow any foreign organization or individual to interfere with China’s religious affairs.’’
In the face of increasing repression, well-known advocates like lawyer Gao Zhisheng, Mongol rights advocate Hada, and rights defender Guo Feixiong continued to speak out about the abuses they have suffered at the hands of their government. Although Gao and Hada are no longer physically imprisoned, authorities persist in monitoring their activities; in November 2015, authorities in Guangdong province sentenced Guo to a six-year prison term in connection with his advocacy of press freedom. As of August 2016, Guo reportedly had been on a hunger strike for three months to protest his treatment in prison. These cases and more than 1,300 other current political prisoner cases are documented in the Commission’s Political Prisoner Database. Family members of those unjustly imprisoned engaged in bold advocacy on behalf of their loved ones, including the wives of some of the lawyers and rights defenders detained during the crackdown that began in and around July 2015 (July 2015 crackdown) and later charged with crimes of ‘‘endangering state security.’’
Also noteworthy during this reporting year were the anger and discontent expressed by Chinese citizens calling for government accountability, transparency, and justice with respect to issues including food and drug safety, access to medical care, pollution, and
Executive Summary
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official misconduct. Public dismay was apparent in the uproar over tainted vaccines and in the public response to the suspicious death of Lei Yang, a 29-year-old environmentalist and new father, while in police custody in May 2016. An open letter by Lei’s fellow alumni of Renmin University described his death as ‘‘the random, willful killing of an ordinary, urban, middle-class person.’’ The letter concluded with a remarkable statement:
The death of Lei Yang is not an accident, but a structural tragedy . . .. We must have the most basic, dependable safety, civil rights, and urban order. Short of this, we, who are not too old to give up on </