HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY AND RULE OF LAW IN CHINA:

SUGGESTIONS FOR COVERING XI’S VISIT BY THE DEMOCRACY & HUMAN RIGHTS WORKING GROUP*

Chinese citizens today face one of the world’s most oppressive regimes, and yet U.S. policy has tended to relegate human rights far down the list of U.S. policy priorities with Beijing. Left unchallenged by the U.S., Chinese authorities will see no incentive to change their behavior, making it likely that the current crackdown will get worse. President Xi’s scheduled visit to the U.S. in September, amid economic and financial turmoil in China and globally, as well as public calls in the U.S. to cancel the visit, is an opportunity for President Obama to highlight these concerns. As you report on the visit, assuming it stays on track, we have identified a number of measures/actions that would be worth looking out for and that would help signal to China that the U.S. is serious about its concerns over human rights problems in that country.

• A high level (preferably by POTUS) speech in advance of Xi’s visit expressing the USG’s concern about China’s human rights record.

• Raising concerns regarding human rights abuses with President Xi directly in meetings.

• A meeting with Chinese dissidents and their families in the Oval Office ahead of the visit.

• Sharing a list of political prisoners with Xi with a request that they be released (attached).

• Inviting democracy and human rights activists to the White House State Dinner. • Publishing op-eds from USG officials regarding human rights abuses in China. • Giving interviews (ideally in Chinese) on USG concerns with human rights in China. • Writing public letters to families of dissidents/political prisoners. • Publicly supporting China’s inclusion in Global Magnitsky legislation, which would

impose sanctions on foreign individuals who have committed gross human rights abuses.

Background: Despite rapid economic growth and episodic improvements in the rule of law, China under President Xi remains a one-party state and is undergoing a serious deterioration in human rights and civil liberties. Evidence includes:

• Activists and their lawyers under increasing threat of detention, harassment, and, if imprisoned, torture and the withholding of medical treatment. During a 2-week period in July 2015, over 200 lawyers and their associates were detained. Activists also face more serious sentences than in previous years.

• Growing restrictions on the Internet and press. Journalists are required to pass political ideology exams, and a new national security law could grant the government unprecedented authority over Internet usage.

• Inability to criticize the government without fear of reprisal. • Denial of voting in elections. Only the Communist Party, which Xi heads, is allowed. • Rising restrictions on funding from foreign NGOs. • Persecution of minorities, especially Tibetans and Uighurs. • Increasing restrictions on religious freedom.

* The Democracy & Human Rights Working Group is a nonpartisan initiative bringing together academic and think tank experts and practitioners from NGOs and previous Democratic and Republican administrations, seeking to elevate the importance of democracy and human rights issues in U.S. foreign policy. It is convened by Arizona State University's McCain Institute for International Leadership. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the positions of individual members of the group or of their organizations.

Chinese and Tibetan political prisoners Gao Yu Pu Zhiqiang Ilham Tohti Liu Ping Liu Xiaobo Liu Xia Gao Zhisheng Tie Liu Wang Yu Li Heping Zhou Shifeng Gendun Choekyi Nyama