China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - November 2008
Message from the Chairman and Co-Chairman
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China adopted its 2008 Annual Report on October 31 by a vote of 22 to 1. The Commission also published a new compilation of case records providing details on 1,088 political prisoners detained or imprisoned in China as of the time of the Annual Report’s release.
The findings of this year’s Annual Report prompt us to consider not simply what the Chinese government and Communist Party may do in the months and years ahead, but what the United States must do differently in managing our relationship with China in light of developments over the last year. In spite of what the Chinese government has written into its laws and regulations, China’s leaders in practice have failed to keep their international commitments, including commitments to WTO norms and other international economic norms, to human rights, including worker rights, to the free flow of information and other safeguards of the rule of law.
We understand that China today is significantly changed from the China of several decades ago, and that the challenges facing its people and leaders are complex. But the Chinese government’s and Communist Party’s continuing crackdown on China’s ethnic minority citizens, ongoing manipulation of the media, and heightened repression of lawyers and human rights defenders reveal a level of state control over society that is incompatible with the development of the rule of law and the advancement of human rights. The Chinese government and Communist Party continue to equate citizen activism and public protest with "social instability" and "social unrest." China’s increasingly active and engaged citizens are its most valuable resource for addressing the myriad public policy problems China faces, including food and drug safety, forced labor, environmental degradation, and corruption. Engaging activist citizens, not repressing them, is the key to effective implementation of basic human rights, and to the ability of all people in China to live under the rule of law.
As this newsletter goes to press, new reports have emerged of child labor and other abuses, and heightened surveillance and censorship of individuals and NGOs. These developments underline how vital it is that the United States in its relationship with China pursue the issues that are the charge of this Commission: individual human rights, including worker rights, and the safeguards of the rule of law. This is not a matter of one country meddling in the affairs of another. All nations, including ours, have both the responsibility and a legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with international commitments.