When talking about human rights issues in China, United States officials are often prone to hedge their language—to convey a sense of U.S. values, but not be perceived as threatening by the regime.
Not Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). On a recent trip to China, Rep. Smith gave a speech titled “A Duty to Defend Universally Recognized Rights,“ in which he referred to ”female gendercide” and a litany of other official abuses.
Predictably, he was ignored in the press—which is often given censorship and propaganda commands about what it can and cannot report—and flamed online by Internet users that seemed particularly supportive of the positions of the Chinese Communist Party.
Rep. Smith’s was nearing the end of his 5-day trip to China, visiting NYU-Shanghai China upon the invitation of the school’s Vice-Chancellor Jeffrey Lehman.
“Over the past several years, I’ve heard the same thing—human rights conditions have gotten worse,” said Rep. Smith, who had been in China four times before, but was back for the first time since 2008, when he was denied a visa.
“Human rights lawyers are ‘disappeared’ for simply trying to represent the poor and vulnerable. Labor rights advocates are targeted, academics and students muzzled, civil society and ethnic minorities increasingly are viewed as a security threat,” Rep. Smith said.
Since last July, over 300 lawyers, legal assistants, staff members of law firms, and social activists, have been detained and interrogated by Chinese security forces. One of the most prominent lawyers, Wang Yu, was formally charged on suspicion of “subversion of state power” in January of this year. If convicted, Wang faces a potential life sentence.
