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Updated September 8, 2022
China Primer: Human Rights
Overvkew and U.S. Policy
The U.S. Department of State describes the People's
Republic of China (PRC) as an authoritarian state in which
the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] is the paramount
authority. Some analysts argue mainland China is heading
in a totalitarian direction, as it is characterized by leadership
that is dominated by one person, CCP General Secretary Xi
Jinping, increasing ideological conformity, and greater state
control over society enhanced by the use of digital
technologies. The CCP for decades has maintained power
through a mix of repression and responsiveness to some
public preferences, delivering prosperity to many citizens,
co-opting the middle and educated classes, and stoking
nationalism to bolster its legitimacy and squelch dissent.
(For information on the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region, see CRS In Focus IF12070, China Primer: Hong
Kong.)
The U.S. government employs various policy tools to
support human rights in China (see Selected U.S. Policy
Tools below). Since 2019, the United States has imposed
relevant visa, economic, and trade-related sanctions and
restrictions, particularly in response to reports of mass
detentions and forced labor of ethnic Uyghur Muslims in
the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Most
recently, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
(UFLPA; P.L. 117-78) restricts XUAR-related imports due
to concerns over forced labor. To date, the PRC
government appears to have generally resisted outside
pressure to change its policies in the XUAR and elsewhere
that observers contend violate human rights. As Congress
considers this challenge, Members may conduct oversight
of implementation of the UFLPA and other relevant laws,
assess the impact of these and other policy tools, and
evaluate the implications of any additional actions.
Considerations may include whether/how to strengthen
punitive measures against the PRC government; coordinate
greater international pressure on China to abide by
international human rights standards; modify relevant
democracy and human rights assistance programs; or
promote greater access to Xinjang and information about
the conditions facing ethnic minorities.
Selected Recent Developmnents
The Biden Administration did not send a U.S. official
delegation to the Winter Olympic Games held in February
2022 in Beijing, due to the PRC's ongoing genocide and
crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights
abuses, although U.S. athletes still competed. In August
2022, The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights released an assessment of human rights
conditions in Xinjiang. The report states that China's
counterterrorism and counter-extremism strategies have
led to interlocking patterns of severe and undue
restrictions on a wide range of human rights and may
constitute crimes against humanity. It calls on China to
release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty
and urgently repeal all discriminatory laws and policies
against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the XUAR,
among other recommendations. In 2022, China ratified two
International Labor Organization conventions on forced
labor, although it denies that forced labor exists in Xinjiang.
Selected H uman Rights Issues
Under Xi's leadership, China has further restricted and
suppressed civil society, religious groups, human rights
defenders, speech, and academic discourse. The
government has enacted laws and policies that enhance the
legal authority of the state to counter perceived ideological,
social, political, and security threats. It has closed much of
the space that had previously existed for limited social
activism, such as that relating to environmental issues,
women's rights, and gay rights. In 2021, the government
widened the tightening of freedoms to include some
relatively non-political entities, such as tech giants, private
education companies, and social media influencers.
The Department of State's annual report on human rights
practices states that in 2021, [PRC] authorities continued
to impose ever-tighter control of all print, broadcast,
electronic, and social media and regularly used them to
propagate government views and CCP ideology. The PRC
government oversees one of the most extensive and
stringent internet censorship systems in the world, which
includes blocking major U.S. news and social media sites
and censoring domestic social media platforms. In 2021,
PRC authorities blocked Signal, a U.S.-based messaging
app popular with Chinese social activists, dissidents, and
journalists. PRC internet platforms have censored online
criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and disseminated
pro-Russian views and misinformation about the war. An
online video (Voices of April) compiling audio
recordings of people describing the severe 2022
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown in
Shanghai circulated widely before authorities blocked it.
According to the Department ot State, °LVRJ law grants
public security officers broad administrative detention
powers and the ability to detain individuals for extended
periods without formal arrest or criminal charges and
police target lawyers, human rights activists, journalists,
religious leaders and adherents, and former political
prisoners and their family members for arbitrary detention](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveitg0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)