Updated January 6, 2023
China Primer: Human Rights
Overview
on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,”
The U.S. Department of State describes the People’s
while abandoning strict COVID-19 control measures.
Republic of China (PRC, or China) as an “authoritarian
state in which the Communist Party of China [CPC] is the
Selected Human Rights Issues
paramount authority.” Some analysts argue China has been
Under Xi’s leadership, China has further restricted and
moving in a totalitarian direction, as it is characterized by a
suppressed civil society, religious groups, human rights
leadership that is dominated by one person, CPC General
defenders, speech, the press, and academic discourse. The
Secretary Xi Jinping, increasing enforcement of ideological
party-state has closed much of the space that had previously
conformity, and greater party-state control over society
existed for limited social activism. The PRC oversees one
enhanced by the use of digital technologies. In October
of the most extensive and stringent internet censorship
2022, the 20th Central Committee of the CPC selected Xi to
systems in the world, which includes blocking major
serve a norm-breaking, third, five-year term.
foreign news and social media sites, censoring domestic
social media platforms, and banning foreign messaging
The U.S. government employs various policy tools to
apps. A locally-produced online video (“Voices of April”)
support human rights in China, and has increasingly
depicting the 2022 COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai
imposed relevant visa, economic, and trade-related
circulated widely before authorities blocked it.
sanctions and restrictions, particularly in response to reports
of mass detentions and forced labor of ethnic Uyghur and
Further Reading: CRS Report R46750, Human Rights in
other Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
China and U.S. Policy: Issues for the 117th Congress; CRS In
(XUAR). Recent legislation includes the Uyghur Forced
Focus IF10281, China Primer: Uyghurs; CRS Report R43781, The
Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA; P.L. 117-78), which
Tibetan Policy Act of 2002: Background and Implementation; and
restricts XUAR-related imports. The United States and
CRS In Focus IF10803, Global Human Rights: International
some other countries have condemned China’s policies and
Religious Freedom Policy. For information on Hong Kong, see
actions in Xinjiang, stating that they constitute crimes
CRS In Focus IF12070, China Primer: Hong Kong.
against humanity and genocide.
According to the Department of State, “[PRC] law grants
Anti-Government Protests
public security officers broad administrative detention
powers and the ability to detain individuals for extended
Sporadic protests related to Xi Jinping’s stringent
periods without formal arrest or criminal charges” and
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) policies emerged in
police target religious leaders, rights lawyers and activists,
spring 2022. For several days beginning on November 26,
independent journalists, and former political prisoners and
2022, Chinese university students and others participated in
their family members for arbitrary detention or arrest. The
demonstrations in Shanghai, Beijing, and over a dozen
nonprofit Dui Hua Foundation compiled a list of over 7,600
other cities in China. The gatherings apparently were
cases of political and religious prisoners in China in 2022.
triggered by a deadly apartment fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang
PRC leaders long have asserted that human rights standards
that demonstrators blamed on “zero-COVID” measures,
vary by country, that economic development is a key
including the blocking of entrances and exits of residential
human right, and that a country’s human rights policies are
buildings. Many participants demanded the government
an “internal affair.”
loosen COVID-19 controls. Some articulated broader
Religious and Ethnic Minority Policies
political demands around issues such as free expression and
democracy.
In 2016, Xi Jinping launched a policy known as
“Sinicization,” by which China’s religious and ethnic
The demonstrations were highly unusual in China for being
minorities are required to “assimilate” or conform to
national in character and scope, directly challenging the
majority Han Chinese culture as defined by the CPC and
CPC and Xi Jinping, and galvanizing a relatively broad
adhere to “core socialist values.” The PRC government has
swath of society. Some observers compared them to the
implemented policies in Tibetan areas, Xinjiang, and Inner
1989 democracy movement, which ended in a violent
Mongolia requiring that nearly all primary school courses
military crackdown. The government deployed police
be taught in Mandarin rather than in minority languages.
patrols, detained and interrogated some protesters (possibly
Since 2018, new regulations require religious organizations
with the aid of cell phone location data and facial
to obtain government permission for nearly every aspect of
recognition cameras), spot-checked people’s phones for
their operations, submit to greater state supervision, and
politically-related content and unapproved apps, and
register all clergy in a national database. The government
censored social media except for commentary critical of the
has continued to pressure unofficial Christian congregations
demonstrations. The CPC vowed to “resolutely crack down
to register with the state and to persecute practitioners of
the Falun Gong spiritual exercise. The State Department
has consistently designated China as a “Country of
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China Primer: Human Rights
Particular Concern” for “particularly severe violations of
authorities have often sought to delegitimize expressions of
religious freedom” under the International Religious
discontent as being the product of foreign meddling.
Freedom Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-292).
Selected U.S. Policy Tools
Authorities have weakened the role of monasteries in
Democracy and Human Rights Programs: Since
Tibetan society, resettled Tibetan nomads and farmers in
2001, congressional appropriations have funded efforts
towns, and employed many in factories, according to the
to promote human rights, democracy, the rule of law,
State Department and other sources. The CPC insists that
civil society, and internet freedom in China, as well as
PRC laws, and not Tibetan Buddhist religious traditions,
programs to promote sustainable development,
govern the process by which lineages of Tibetan lamas are
environmental conservation, and preservation of
reincarnated, and that the state has the right to choose the
indigenous culture in Tibetan areas. These include
successor to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the 87-year-old
programs administered by relevant agencies as well as
14th Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.
by the National Endowment for Democracy, a
Uyghurs
nongovernmental foundation funded primarily by
congressional appropriations.
Between 2017 and 2019, XUAR authorities arbitrarily
detained over 1 million ethnic Uyghur and other Muslims in
International Media: U.S. government-funded Voice
reeducation centers. Detainees generally were not accused
of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) provide
of crimes, but rather were held on the basis of past
external sources of independent or alternative news and
religious, cultural, scholarly, social, and online activities, as
well as travel, that the government later deemed “extremist”
opinion to audiences in China. Both media outlets
broadcast in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tibetan, and
or potentially terrorist. Detainees were compelled to
RFA provides a Uyghur language service.
renounce many of their Islamic beliefs and customs as a
condition for their release. Treatment in the centers
Targeted Legislation: Congress has enacted numerous
reportedly included food deprivation, psychological
laws to respond to human rights developments and
pressure, sexual abuse, medical neglect, torture, and forced
related issues in Tibet and Xinjiang specifically. U.S.
labor. Since 2019, the XUAR government appears to have
policy toward Tibet is largely guided by the Tibetan
released some detainees, prosecuted many as criminals, and
Policy Act of 2002 (Foreign Relations Authorization
sent others to factory labor. In 2022, the Xinjiang
Act, FY2003, P.L. 107-228). Recent Tibet-related
government reported it had prosecuted 540,826 people
legislation includes the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act
since 2017; human rights groups presume many were
of 2018 (P.L. 115-330) and the Tibetan Policy and
convicted on political charges. Tens of thousands of
Support Act of 2020 (Division FF, Title III, Subtitle E
Uyghurs have been coercively employed as agricultural or
of P.L. 116-260). Recent Xinjiang-focused legislation
factory labor in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China.
includes the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020
(P.L. 116-145) and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention
In August 2022, the United Nations Office of the High
Act (UFLPA, P.L. 117-78).
Commissioner for Human Rights determined that China’s
counterterrorism and counter-“extremism” strategies have
Targeted Sanctions: The Global Magnitsky Human
led to “interlocking patterns of severe and undue
restrictions on a wide range of human rights”
Rights Accountability Act (Title XII, Subtitle F of P.L.
and may
114-328), as implemented under Executive Order
constitute crimes against humanity. It called on China to
“release all individuals
13818, authorizes the President to impose economic
arbitrarily deprived of their liberty”
and “urgently repeal” all discriminatory laws and policies
sanctions and visa denials or revocations against foreign
individuals responsible for human rights abuses or
against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the XUAR.
corruption. Other authorities also provide for visa
Congressional Considerations
sanctions, including against the immediate family
members of human rights violators.
The PRC appears to have generally resisted outside
pressure to change policies that many observers say violate
Export Restrictions: The United States may impose
human rights. At the same time, some policy experts argue
restrictions on the sale or transfer of certain U.S. goods
that forceful responses, including targeted sanctions, can
and services to PRC entities on the basis of national
moderate PRC behavior. Members may conduct oversight
security or foreign policy interests, including human
of implementation of the UFLPA and other relevant laws,
rights, under the Export Administration Regulations.
assess the impact of these and other policy tools, and
evaluate the implications of any additional actions.
Forced Labor Import Restrictions: Section 307 of
Considerations may include whether/how to bolster
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. §1307) forbids the
punitive measures against the PRC government; coordinate
importation of “goods, wares, articles, and
greater international pressure on China to abide by
merchandise” into the United States that were produced
international human rights standards; promote greater
with forced labor. UFLPA in part creates a rebuttable
access to Tibet and Xinjiang; or strengthen support for civil
presumption that Xinjiang-related imports are made
society and censorship circumvention efforts. In light of
with forced labor.
events of November 2022, U.S. government officials may
consider ways to support the rights of people in China to
Thomas Lum, Specialist in Asian Affairs
demonstrate peacefully, while being cognizant that PRC
Michael A. Weber, Analyst in Foreign Affairs
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China Primer: Human Rights
IF12265
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