118th Congress
(Washington)--Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), issued the following statement on the trial of entrepreneur and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong—who is being accused under the draconian National Security Law for colluding with “foreign forces” to endanger national security. The charges could carry a life sentence.
(Washington, D.C.)— Members of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) will conduct a press conference with advocates for human rights in China, who will talk about the violence and harassment by pro-CCP groups during the APEC Leaders’ Summit in San Francisco. Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ), the CECC Chair, will be joined by Fengsuo Zhou of Human Rights in China, Anna Kwok of Hong Kong Democracy Council, Pema Doma of Students for a Free Tibet, Elfidar Iltebir of the Uyghur-American Association and other victims of violence and intimidation.
(Washington)--Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission (CECC), issued the following statement with regard to videos showing China human rights advocates being beaten by pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) counter-protestors during San Francisco’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit last week:
(Washington)— Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair respectively of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), held a hearing this week looking at the dominance of Chinese companies in the cobalt mining industry of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and how the exploitation of child and forced labor in this sector in the DRC impacts a global supply chain dependent on cobalt for a range of modern products.
Child and forced labor taint the supply chain of cobalt, a metal that is a critical component in the lithium-ion batteries and other products important for modern technologies, including electric vehicles.
(Washington)—The Chairs of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Representative Christoper Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), today released a letter asking President Biden to submit a list of Chinese political prisoners and unjustly detained American citizens to Communist Party General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping and to “demand an immediate end” to transnational repression efforts targeting American citizens and legal residents.
(Washington)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) today released letters to the chief executives of Costco and ADI , asking questions about the ongoing sales of security equipment made by Hikvision and Dahua, PRC-based brands whose products are banned for use by the U.S. Government and implicated in assisting with genocide and other horrific human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
(Washington)—The bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) held a hearing today looking at the rampant use of forced labor in China’s seafood industry and how seafood caught and processed with forced labor ends up in the U.S. supply chains. The CECC’s Chairs, Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) were joined at the hearing by Commissioner Thea Lee, the Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Department of Labor. The CECC includes five Executive Branch members and bipartisan Congressional members from the House and Senate.
Forced labor in China taints the world’s seafood supply chain. PRC-based companies that use the forced labor of Uyghurs and North Koreans process a large amount of seafood for the U.S. market. From fish sticks to calamari—these products end up in the supply chains of major restaurants and wholesalers and in the lunches served at American schools and military bases. Recently published reports by The Outlaw Ocean Project detail how forced labor is rampant in China’s seafood industry, including modern slavery on China’s illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing fleet, and in processing plants located in Shandong province of China—where Uyghurs are employed in labor transfer projects.
(WASHINGTON)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released today a letter urging the Secretaries of Commerce, State and Treasury to impose export controls on technology used by People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s Public Security Bureaus and other entities in Tibet to collect biometric data which is used by PRC police for political identification and racial profiling.