June 4, 2019
Human Rights in China
Thirty years after the June 1989 Tiananmen Square
monitor and regulate social media use in order to prevent
crackdown, the Communist Party of China (CCP) remains
sensitive topics and information from being discussed and
firmly in power. People’s Republic of China (PRC) leaders
disseminated.
have maintained political control through a mix of
repression and responsiveness to some public preferences,
PRC methods of social and political control are evolving to
delivering economic prosperity to many citizens, co-opting
include sophisticated technologies. The government seeks
the middle and educated classes, and stoking nationalism to
to develop a “social credit system” that aggregates data on
bolster CCP legitimacy. The party is particularly wary of
individuals’ credit scores, consumer behavior, internet use,
unsanctioned collective activity related to sensitive groups,
and criminal records, and scores citizens’ “trustworthiness.”
such as religious and labor groups, ethnic minorities,
China has deployed tens of millions of surveillance
political dissidents, and human rights activists. PRC
cameras, as well as facial, voice, iris, and gait recognition
authorities have implemented particularly harsh policies
equipment, to reduce crime generally as well as to track the
against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and followers of the Falun Gong
movements of ethnic Tibetans and Uyghurs and other
spiritual exercise.
sensitive groups.
Trends
Since August 2018, public security agents in Beijing have
Under the previous PRC leader, Hu Jintao (2002-2012), the
attempted to silence student labor activists at Peking
CCP tolerated limited public criticism of state policies,
University, one of the country’s most prestigious
relatively unfettered dissemination of news and exchange of
institutions of higher learning. The party appears to fear that
opinion on social media on some topics, and some human
the student movement could help workers to independently
rights advocacy around issues not seen as threatening to
organize and stage protests at a time when labor
CCP control. During the final years of Hu’s term, however,
demonstrations are rising across the country, or encourage
the party began to reassert its control over society, a trend
other forms of social activism.
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
Further Reading: CRS Report R43781, The Tibetan Policy
of Chinese rights activists. In July 2015, the government
Act of 2002: Background and Implementation, by Susan V.
launched a crackdown on more than 250 human rights
Lawrence; CRS In Focus IF10281, Uyghurs in China, by
lawyers and associates, detaining many of them and
Thomas Lum; CRS In Focus IF10803, Global Human Rights:
charging and convicting more than a dozen of them of
International Religious Freedom Policy, by Michael A. Weber;
subversion, “disturbing social order,” and other crimes.
and CRS Report R44605, China: Economic Sanctions, by
Dianne E. Rennack.
The PRC government has enacted laws and policies that
enhance the legal authority of the state to counter potential
Religious and Ethnic Minority Policies
ideological, social, political, and security challenges,
In 2016, President Xi launched a policy known as
including three new major laws in 2017. A law regulating
“Sinicization,” by which China’s religious practitioners and
foreign non-governmental organizations places them under
ethnic minorities are required to conform to Chinese
the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security, tightens
culture, the socialist system, and communist party policies.
their registration requirements, and imposes greater controls
Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, make up
on their activities, funding, and staffing. The Cybersecurity
about 91% of the country’s population and dominate its
Law gives the government broad powers to control and
culture. The party’s Sinicization policy and the 2018
restrict internet traffic, and places greater burdens upon
amendments to the government’s Regulations on Religious
private internet service providers to monitor online content
Affairs have affected all religions to varying degrees. New
and assist public security organs. The National Intelligence
policies further restrict religious travel to foreign countries
Law obliges individuals, organizations, and institutions to
and contacts with foreign religious organizations and
assist and cooperate with state intelligence efforts.
tighten bans on religious practice among party members
and religious education of children. All religious venues
Since 2013, China has dropped three places, from 173 to
now are required to raise the national flag and teach
177 (out of 180 countries), on Reporters Without Borders’
traditional Chinese culture and “core socialist values.”
World Press Freedom Index. More than 60 PRC journalists
and bloggers are in detention. The PRC government, which
China’s Sinicization campaign has intensified government
oversees one of the most extensive internet censorship
efforts to pressure Christian churches that are not formally
systems in the world, blocks access to 8 of the 25 busiest
approved by the government, and hundreds reportedly have
global sites. State authorities and private companies also
been shut down in recent years. PRC authorities have
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Human Rights in China
ordered mosques throughout China to be “Sinicized”—
National Endowment for Democracy (NED): Funded
minarets have been taken down, onion domes have been
primarily by an annual congressional appropriation,
replaced by traditional Chinese roofs, and Islamic motifs
NED has sponsored programs that promote human
and Arabic writings have been removed.
rights and democracy in China since the mid-1980s.
International Media: U.S. government-funded Voice
Tibetans
of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) provide
Following anti-government protests during the spring of
external sources of independent or alternative news and
2008, authorities in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)
opinion to audiences in China. Both media outlets
and other Tibetan areas in China imposed more intrusive
broadcast in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tibetan. RFA
controls on Tibetan religious life and culture. These include
Uyghur is the only Uyghur language news service
the curtailment of rights and freedoms to a greater degree
outside of China.
than elsewhere in China, arbitrary detention and
The Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 (P.L.
imprisonment of Tibetans, and ideological re-education of
115-330): The act requires the Department of State to
Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns. The PRC government
report to Congress annually regarding the level of
insists that Chinese laws, and not Tibetan Buddhist
access PRC authorities grant U.S. diplomats,
religious traditions, govern the process by which lineages of
journalists, and tourists to Tibetan areas in China, and
Tibetan lamas are reincarnated, and that the state has the
bars entry into the United States or revokes U.S. visas
right to choose the successor to the Tibetan spiritual leader,
of PRC individuals involved in policies that restrict
the 83-year-old 14th Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.
U.S. access to Tibet.
Since 2009, 154 Tibetans within China are known to have
The Global Magnitsky Human Rights
self-immolated, many apparently to protest PRC policies in
Accountability Act: Enacted as part of the National
the TAR and other Tibetan areas. Talks between PRC
Defense Authorization Act for FY2017 (P.L. 114-328),
officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama have been
the act authorizes the President to impose economic
stalled since 2010.
sanctions and visa denials or revocations against
foreign individuals responsible for “gross violations of
Uyghurs
internationally recognized human rights.” The
In the past decade, PRC authorities have imposed severe
Administration thus far has sanctioned one Chinese
restrictions on the religious and cultural activities of
security official, Gao Yan, in 2017 pursuant to the act.
Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group who practice a moderate
The Administration is believed to be considering
form of Sunni Islam and live primarily in the Xinjiang
sanctions against officials in Xinjiang, but these actions
Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Ethnic unrest
reportedly have been delayed or set aside in the midst
erupted in 2009, involving Uyghur violence against non-
of the U.S.-China bilateral trade negotiations.
Uyghurs and government reprisals. Subsequent periodic
Export Restrictions: Originally imposed under the
clashes between Uyghurs and Xinjiang security personnel
Tiananmen sanctions (Foreign Relations Authorization
spiked between 2013 and 2015, and PRC leaders have
of 1990-1991, P.L. 101-246), the U.S. government also
sought to “stabilize” the XUAR through more intensive
continues to restrict exports of crime control and
security measures. Measures include extensive electronic
detection equipment to China due to China’s
surveillance and monitoring of internet use and collecting
designation as a “country of particular concern” for
biometric data of Uyghurs for identification purposes.
religious freedom, pursuant to the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA, P.L. 105-292).
Xinjiang authorities have undertaken the mass internment
The Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (Foreign Relations
of ethnic Uyghurs; many of whom had engaged in
Authorization Act, FY2003, P.L. 107-228) supports
traditional religious and ethnic cultural practices that the
“the aspirations of the Tibetan people to safeguard their
government now perceives as manifesting “strong religious
distinct identity.” The act established in the
views” that may constitute or lead to separatism,
Department of State the position of Special
extremism, or terrorism. Since 2017, the XUAR
Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, which has been vacant
government has detained an estimated over one million
since 2017.
Uyghurs, out of a population of about 10.5 million, and a
International Financial Institutions: The Tibetan
smaller number of ethnic Kazakhs in ideological re-
Policy Act of 2002 and annual foreign operations
education centers. Of this total, nearly 400 Uyghur
appropriations legislation permit U.S. representatives
intellectuals reportedly have been detained or their
to international financial institutions to support projects
whereabouts are unknown. PRC officials describe the
in Tibet only if they do not encourage the migration
centers as “vocational education institutions” in which
and settlement of non-Tibetans into Tibet or the
“trainees” learn job skills and undergo “de-
transfer of Tibetan-owned properties to non-Tibetans.
extremification.”
Selected Recent Legislation
Selected Policy Tools
Bills introduced in the 116th Congress related to human
rights in China include S. 178; H.R. 649; H.R. 1025; H.Res.
Democracy Programs: Since 2001, the Department of
393; and S.Res. 221.
State has administered human rights, democracy, rule
of law, civil society, internet freedom, and
environmental programs in China and promoted
Thomas Lum, Specialist in Asian Affairs
sustainable development, environmental conservation,
Michael A. Weber, Analyst in Foreign Affairs
and preservation of indigenous culture in Tibetan areas.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Human Rights in China
IF11240
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