Congressman Smith’s Letter to Secretary of State Kerry Urges Pressure on the Chinese Government to Improve Human Rights

China Aid Association                   Aug 6, 2013

The annual Human Rights Dialogue between China and the United States on July 30-31, 2013, has ended in Kunming, China. As recently as last year, the international community and human rights organizations had questioned past China-U.S. human rights talks that had borne no fruit. During the Obama administration, this dialogue has become completely ineffective, despite the hopes of many. Since the Democratic Party took power in 2008, human rights talks between China and the United States have been conducted in total secrecy. The content of these secret talks is unknown to the outside world. Therefore, is there any reason these talks should continue?

In truth, the human rights situation in China continues to worsen; here are examples: A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, reformer Liu Xiaobo, is still serving his sentence in prison, and his wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest for no known reason. House churches and other believers experience more and more serious persecution. Internet censorship has become stricter, and the opportunity for freedom of speech has been under constantly increasing repression. The policy of forced family planning is carried out more secretly, with countless, unimaginable horrors inflicted by “family planning authorities;” families with children exceeding the one-child quota and the children themselves do not get just treatment. To extinguish the voice of the people and “to build a more peace civil society,” authorities crack down severely on those who call for political reform. One example of this heavy-handedness was the arrest of Dr. Xu Zhiyong and netizens who asked officials simply to publish the values of their properties.

Governments at various levels treat with extra-legal means those petitioners and citizens who defend their rights in accordance with Chinese law; the policy against the Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other ethnic minorities are even more brutal. What the Chinese Communist government is doing deviates progressively further from the norm of universal human rights. Chinese society is filled with tyranny. On one side, China experiences economic growth, but socially it is a human rights disaster. This outcome is directly related to China’s “human rights appeasement” policy toward western democratic societies, headed by the United States. When dealing with the Chinese totalitarian government, the West appears to have lost its will to exercise the basic principles and traditions of respect for freedom and human rights.

The neglect of human rights in the Obama administration’s China policy has been fiercely criticized by many U.S. Congressmen. A senior U.S. Congressman, Frank Wolf, said that, according to the reports by human rights watch institutions, any dialogues between China and the United States “have been largely a rhetorical shell, lacking in accountability, transparency, and clear benchmarks for progress.” Wolf also questioned: This week in Kunming, have the names of specific individuals who have suffered human rights abuses been mentioned in the closed-door meetings, even in a whisper? As an outcome of human rights talks, has the real life of a Chinese citizen been improved?

Congressman Chris Smith, who has long been an advocate for human rights in China, also wrote a letter to Secretary of State Kerry on July 29, the day preceding the human rights talks in Kunming. He strongly recommended that the Secretary of State meet with or contact Chen Guangcheng to hear for himself the human rights situation in China. Congressman Smith has once again asked Secretary of State Kerry to add the names of the 44 Chinese Communist party officials who seriously violated Chen’s rights and the rights of his family (submitted by Mr. Chen at a recent congressional hearing) to the State Department’s list for careful interview should they apply for a visa to enter the United States in the future. Congressman Smith firmly urges Secretary of State Kerry to take a stand in which the United States and China put human rights as a “preferential issue” between the nations, for the purpose of improving human rights in China.

Letter to John Kerry as follows:


Name List of the 44 Persecutors of Mr. Chen Guangcheng and his family since 2005

1, Mr Zhou Yongkang

Former senior leader in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served on the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legislative Committee between 2007 and 2012. In that position Zhou oversaw China’s security forces and law enforcement institutions;

2, Mr Zhang Gaoli

current First-ranked Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China. He was previously CPC Tianjin Committee Secretary until November 2012 and was the Party Secretary of Shandong province until March 2007;

3, Mr Li Jianguo

Current Vice-Chairman of Standing Committee of NPC and former Party Secretary of Shandong province 2007-2008;

4, Mr Jiang Yikang

the current secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Shandong committee;

5, Mr Jiang Daming

the current governor of Shandong province;

6, Mr Wu Pengfei

Former Public Security Minister of Shandong province;

7, Mr Li Qun

Current Party Secretary of Qingdao City and Former Party Secretary of Linyi city, Shandong province;

8, Mr Liu Jie

Former Deputy Mayor and Director of Public Security Bureau of Linyi city, Shandong;

9, Mr Lian Chengmin

Former Party Secretary and Mayor of Linyi city;

10, Mr Zhang Shaojun

Current Party Secretary of Linyi city;

11, Mr Yang Rongsan

Former Party Secretary of Yinan county, Linyi city;

12, Mr Xu Feng

Former County Administrator of Yinan city, Linyi;

13, Mr Zhou Shaohua

former deputy Party Secretary of Yinan county who was responsible for legal and political affairs

14, Mr Zhu Maochen

former Director of Public Security Bureau if Yinan county, Linyi;

15, Ms Liu Shuxiu

Party Secretary of Yinan county;

16, Mr Liu Changjie

former Deputy Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county, Linyi;

17, Mr Yin Chuandong

Senior officer and former director of Criminal Police Division of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county of Linyi;

18, Mr Ma Kun

Current deputy Mayor of Linyi city and former Party Secretary of Yinan county;

19, Mr Yang Xigang

Director of Domestic Security Protection Squad of the Public Security Bureau of Linyi city;

20, Mr Xue Yunbo

former Deputy Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county and Director of “610 Office,” Linyi;

21, Mr Du Jiliang

former Deputy Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county, Linyi;

22, Mr Xue Kewei

former Director of “110 Divison “(in charge of emergency cases) of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan county, Linyi;

23, Mr Ma Chenglong

Former Director of Domestic Security Protection Squad of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan county;

24, Mr He Yong

Deputy Director of Criminal Police Division of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan city

25, Mr Hu Xiaofeng

Officer of The Office for Legal Affairs of Yinan county;

26, Mr Xie Liwei

Officer of The Office for Legal Affairs of Yinan county;

27, Mr Zhang Shengdong

Former Deputy Director of Criminal Police Division of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan city;

28, Mr Ma Chenglian

Current Party Secretary of Political and Legislative Affairs Committee and Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan County;

29, Mr He Zuohai

Former Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;

30, Mr Zhang Jian

Deputy Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;

31, Mr Zhang Changguo

Former Division director of the Shuanghou Town Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan county;

32, Mr Yu Mingjiang

Former Deputy Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county

33, Mr Li Xianqiang

Deputy Bureau Director of the Office for Legal Affairs (the leader of “Monitoring Chen Guangcheng Group”) of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;

34, Mr Li Xianli


Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county. One of the key leaders of “Monitoring Chen Guangcheng Group”;

35, Mr Xue Kewei

Secretary of the Office of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county. One of the key leaders of “Monitoring Chen Guangcheng Group”;

36, Mr Zhang Shenghe

Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;

37, Mr Zhao Wei

Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county.

38, Mr Xu Congshan 

Former Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;

39, Mr Zhang Jingbai

Current Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;

40, Mr Li Xiangan

Officer of Economic Management Station of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;

41, Mr Zhao Feng

Former Deputy Administrator of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;

42, Mr Xia Fatian

Former Deputy Party Secretary of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;

43, Mr Liu Guien

Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;

44, Mr Liu Cunli

Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;


China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Website: www.chinaaid.org
News
Read more ChinaAid stories
Click Here
Write
Send encouraging letters to prisoners
Click Here
Previous slide
Next slide

Send your support

Fight for religious freedom in China

Congressman Smith’s Letter to Secretary of State Kerry Urges Pressure on the Chinese Government to Improve Human Rights

News
Read more ChinaAid stories
Click Here
Write
Send encouraging letters to prisoners
Click Here
Previous slide
Next slide

Send your support

Fight for religious freedom in China

Scroll to Top