About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (April 6, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govcnyv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: F., ' riE SE .r.- i p\w -- , gnom go mppm qq\ , q I aS 11LIANJILiN, Updated April 6, 2020 Human Rights in China Over thirty years after the June 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the Communist Party of China (CCP) remains firmly in power. People's Republic of China (PRC) leaders have maintained political control through a mix of repression and responsiveness to some public preferences, delivering economic prosperity to many citizens, co-opting the middle and educated classes, and stoking nationalism to bolster CCP legitimacy. The party is particularly wary of unsanctioned collective activity related to sensitive groups, such as religious and labor groups, ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and human rights activists. PRC authorities have implemented particularly harsh policies against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and followers of the Falun Gong spiritual exercise. Under the previous PRC leader, Hu Jintao (2002-2012), the CCP tolerated limited public criticism of state policies and some human rights advocacy around issues not seen as threatening to CCP control. During the final years of Hu's term, however, the party began to reassert its control over society, a trend that has intensified and expanded since 2013 under the leadership of CCP General Secretary and State President Xi Jinping. One of Xi's first targets was the budding network of Chinese rights activists, including the detention in July 2015 of more than 250 human rights lawyers and associates. Authorities charged and convicted more than a dozen of them of subversion, disturbing social order, and other crimes. The PRC government has enacted laws and policies that enhance the legal authority of the state to counter potential ideological, social, political, and security challenges, including three new major laws in 2017. A law regulating foreign non-governmental organizations places them under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security, tightens their registration requirements, and imposes greater controls on their activities, funding, and staffing. The Cybersecurity Law gives the government broad powers to control and restrict internet traffic, and places greater burdens upon private internet service providers to monitor online content and assist public security organs. The National Intelligence Law obliges individuals, organizations, and institutions to assist and cooperate with state intelligence efforts. Since 2013, China has dropped three places, from 173 to 177 (out of 180 countries), on Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. The government blocks access to 8 of the 25 busiest global sites. State authorities and private companies also monitor and regulate social media use in order to prevent sensitive topics and information from being discussed and disseminated. PRC methods of social and political control are evolving to include sophisticated technologies. The government seeks to develop a social credit system that aggregates data on individuals' credit scores, consumer behavior, internet use, and criminal records, and scores citizens' trustworthiness. China has deployed tens of millions of surveillance cameras, as well as facial, voice, iris, and gait recognition equipment, to reduce crime generally as well as to track the movements of ethnic Tibetans and Uyghurs and other sensitive groups. The government's response to the coronavirus outbreak that was centered in Wuhan, China, in January-March 2020 highlighted the PRC's expansive social control apparatus, and in particular its restrictions on freedom of expression. The case of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who was reprimanded by Wuhan authorities after he communicated on social media his concerns about the new virus, three weeks before government media acknowledged it, elicited online calls for free speech. Li contracted the coronavirus from a patient and died on February 7, 2020. The government then further censored unauthorized online discussion about the virus and the government's response, and detained independent reporters. Further Reading- CR5 Report R45956, Human Rig/its in China and U.S. Policy: Issues for the a6th Congress, by Th omas [uS and Michael A. Weber CRS Report R43781, The Tibetan Policy Act of 2002: Background and Implementation, by Susan V. Lawrence; CRS In Focus IF 10281, Uyghurs in China, by Thomas Lum; and oRS In Focus I 0803, Clobl Human Riglits: International Religious Freedom Policy, by Michael A. Weber. poliies fuhestrc reliiou travel K nt oeicoutries In 2016, President Xi launched a policy known as Sinicization, by which China's religious practitioners and ethnic minorities are required to conform to Chinese culture, the socialist system, and communist party policies. Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, make up about 9 100 of the country's population and dominate its culture. The party's Sinicization policy and the 2018 amendments to the government's Regulations on Religious Affairs have affected all religions to varying degrees. New policies further restrict religious travel to foreign countries and contacts with foreign religious organizations and tighten bans on religious practice among party members and religious education of children. All religious venues now are required to raise the national flag and teach traditional Chinese culture and core socialist values. China's Sinicization campaign has intensified government efforts to pressure Christian churches that are not formally approved by the government, and hundreds reportedly have been shut down in recent years. PRC authorities have

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most