Human Rights in China and U.S. Policy: Issues for the 117Th Congress
Human Rights in China and U.S. Policy: Issues for the 117th Congress March 31, 2021 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R46750 SUMMARY R46750 Human Rights in China and U.S. Policy: Issues March 31, 2021 for the 117th Congress Thomas Lum U.S. concern over human rights in China has been a central issue in U.S.-China relations, Specialist in Asian Affairs particularly since the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989. In recent years, human rights conditions in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have deteriorated, while bilateral tensions related to trade Michael A. Weber and security have increased, possibly creating both constraints and opportunities for U.S. policy Analyst in Foreign Affairs on human rights. After consolidating power in 2013, Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and State President Xi Jinping intensified and expanded the reassertion of party control over society that began toward the end of the term of his predecessor, Hu Jintao. Since 2017, the government has enacted new laws that place further restrictions on civil society in the name of national security, authorize greater controls over minority and religious groups, and further constrain the freedoms of PRC citizens. Government methods of social and political control are evolving to include the widespread use of sophisticated surveillance and big data technologies. Arrests of human rights advocates and lawyers intensified in 2015, followed by party efforts to instill ideological conformity across various spheres of society. In 2016, President Xi launched a policy known as “Sinicization,” under which the government has taken additional measures to compel China’s religious practitioners and ethnic minorities to conform to Han Chinese culture, support China’s socialist system as defined by the Communist Party, abide by Communist Party policies, and reduce ethnic differences and foreign influences.
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