Surveillance, Suppression, and Mass Detention : Xinjiang's Human Rights
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SURVEILLANCE, SUPPRESSION, AND MASS DETENTION: XINJIANG’S HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS HEARING BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 26, 2018 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available at www.cecc.gov or www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 30–993 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:20 Mar 31, 2019 Jkt 081003 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\USERS\DSHERMAN1\DESKTOP\30933.TXT DAVID CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS Senate House MARCO RUBIO, Florida, Chairman CHRIS SMITH, New Jersey, Cochairman TOM COTTON, Arkansas ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina STEVE DAINES, Montana RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio TODD YOUNG, Indiana TIM WALZ, Minnesota DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California TED LIEU, California JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon GARY PETERS, Michigan ANGUS KING, Maine EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS Not yet appointed ELYSE B. ANDERSON, Staff Director PAUL B. PROTIC, Deputy Staff Director (ii) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:20 Mar 31, 2019 Jkt 081003 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 C:\USERS\DSHERMAN1\DESKTOP\30933.TXT DAVID C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS Page Opening Statement of Hon. Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida; Chair- man, Congressional-Executive Commission on China ...................................... 1 Christino III, Anthony, Director of the Foreign Policy Division, Office of Nonproliferation and Treaty Compliance, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce ........................................................................... 4 Currie, Ambassador Kelley E., Representative of the United States on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, United States Mission to the United Nations .......................................................................................... 6 Smith, Hon. Christopher, a U.S. Representative from New Jersey; Cochair- man, Congressional-Executive Commission on China ...................................... 11 Hoja, Gulchehra, Uyghur Service journalist, Radio Free Asia ............................ 25 Thum, Rian, Associate Professor, Loyola University New Orleans ..................... 26 Batke, Jessica, Senior Editor, ChinaFile and former research analyst at the Department of State ............................................................................................ 27 APPENDIX PREPARED STATEMENTS Christino III, Anthony ............................................................................................. 43 Currie, Kelley E. ...................................................................................................... 44 Hoja, Gulchehra ....................................................................................................... 48 Thum, Rian .............................................................................................................. 50 Batke, Jessica ........................................................................................................... 56 Rubio, Hon. Marco ................................................................................................... 64 Smith, Hon. Christopher ......................................................................................... 65 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Article entitled ‘‘New Evidence for China’s Political Re-education Campaign in Xinjiang,’’ submitted by Senator Rubio ......................................................... 68 Article entitled ‘‘Apartheid with Chinese Characteristics,’’ submitted by Sen- ator King ............................................................................................................... 74 Article entitled ‘‘What Really Happens in China’s Re-education Camps,’’ sub- mitted by Rian Thum ........................................................................................... 80 Letter to Secretary Pompeo, submitted by Senator Rubio ................................... 82 Witness Biographies ................................................................................................ 84 (iii) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:20 Mar 31, 2019 Jkt 081003 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\USERS\DSHERMAN1\DESKTOP\30933.TXT DAVID VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:20 Mar 31, 2019 Jkt 081003 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\USERS\DSHERMAN1\DESKTOP\30933.TXT DAVID SURVEILLANCE, SUPPRESSION, AND MASS DETENTION: XINJIANG’S HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA, Washington, DC. The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., in room 124, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Marco Rubio, Chairman, presiding. Present: Representative Smith, Cochairman, Senator King, Rep- resentative Lieu, Senator Cotton, and Senator Daines. Also Present: Ambassador Kelley E. Currie, Representative of the United States on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, United States Mission to the United Nations; An- thony Christino III, Director of the Foreign Policy Division, Office of Nonproliferation and Treaty Compliance, Bureau of Industry and Security, United States Department of Commerce; Gulchehra Hoja, Uyghur Service journalist, Radio Free Asia; Rian Thum, Associate Professor, Loyola University New Orleans; and Jessica Batke, Sen- ior Editor, ChinaFile and former research analyst at the Depart- ment of State. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARCO RUBIO, A U.S. SEN- ATOR FROM FLORIDA; CHAIRMAN, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECU- TIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA Chairman RUBIO. Good morning. This hearing of the Congres- sional-Executive Commission on China will come to order. The title of this hearing is ‘‘Surveillance, Suppression, and Mass Detention: Xinjiang’s Human Rights Crisis.’’ We have two panels testifying today. The first panel will feature Ambassador Kelley Currie, the Representative of the United States on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, United States Mission to the United Nations; and Anthony Christino III who is the Director of the Foreign Policy Division, Office of Non- proliferation and Treaty Compliance, Bureau of Industry and Secu- rity at the U.S. Department of Commerce. We’ll have a second panel—Gulchehra Hoja, Uyghur Service journalist, Radio Free Asia; Rian Thum, an associate professor at Loyola University New Orleans; and Jessica Batke, Senior Editor at ChinaFile and a former research analyst at the U.S. Department of State. I want to thank you for being here. I know one of our initial panel witnesses is delayed, as happens in this great city that we (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:20 Mar 31, 2019 Jkt 081003 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\DSHERMAN1\DESKTOP\30933.TXT DAVID 2 call our nation’s capital. But we are going to begin, and we will ac- commodate that accordingly. I want to begin by noting that this hearing is set against the backdrop this week of Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador for Inter- national Religious Freedom Sam Brownback convening the first- ever State Department Ministerial to Advance International Reli- gious Freedom, an event which has brought together senior rep- resentatives from more than 70 governments around the world to discuss areas of collaboration and partnership in the cause of reli- gious freedom globally. Secretary Pompeo penned an opinion piece in USA Today earlier this week highlighting the Ministerial and the importance of ad- vancing religious freedom globally. Of note, he specifically men- tioned Ms. Gulchehra and family. While the Chinese government and the Communist Party are equal opportunity oppressors targeting unregistered and registered Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and oth- ers with harassment, detention, imprisonment and more, the cur- rent human rights crisis unfolding in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono- mous Region targeting Muslim minority groups is arguably among the worst, if not the most severe, instances in the world today of an authoritarian government brutally and systematically targeting a minority faith community. This is an issue that the Commission has been dealing with for some time. In April, we wrote U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad urging him to prioritize this crackdown in his interactions with the Chinese government and to begin collecting information to make the case for possible application of Global Magnitsky sanctions against senior government and Party officials in the region, includ- ing Chen Quanguo, the current Xinjiang Communist Party Sec- retary. The Commission’s forthcoming Annual Report, set to be released this October, will prominently feature the grave and deteriorating situation we will cover here today. While our expert witnesses will discuss the situation in greater detail, I want to take a few minutes to paint a picture of life in Xinjiang. For months now, there have been credible estimates of between 800,000 and 1 million people from this region being held at political reeducation centers or camps which are fortified with barbed wire, bombproof surfaces, reinforced doors, and guard rooms. Security personnel at these facilities, at these camps, have subjected detain- ees to torture, to medical neglect and maltreatment, to solitary con- finement, to sleep deprivation, to lack of adequate clothing in cold temperatures, and other forms of abuse resulting in the death of some of these detainees. According to one news source, ‘‘The internment program aims to rewire the political thinking of detainees, erase their Islamic beliefs and reshape