U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Dist. 14), a commissioner on the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), said the 2015 Annual Report details 19 human-rights and legal abuses, as well as specific areas where progress can be made in U.S.-China relations.
“It has been another punishing year for human rights in China, as this report documents so well," U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the CECC, said. "President Xi (Jinping) has presided over an extraordinary assault on the rule of law and civil society, using repressive and retrograde policies that threaten freedom advocates in China and challenge both U.S. interests and U.S.-China cooperation and goodwill. U.S. leadership on human rights is needed now more than ever. We must not compromise on the need for fundamental freedoms or shy away from those who seek them. Clearly, our long-term strategic interests depend on the advance of human rights and the rule of law in China."
"This report also details the brutality and human costs of China’s coercive population-control policies, a failed social experiment entering its 35th year," Smith said. "The ’One-Child Policy’ is hated by Chinese families, condemned by the international community, and the potential economic, security and societal consequences are dire. The U.S. could play an important role in helping to end this horrific policy—once and for all.”
Smith and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), co-chairman of the CECC, wrote a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders describing the bipartisan structure of the CECC and identified 10 specific areas that legislators and the executive office need to focus on in the China-U.S. relationship. These 10 areas included human trafficking, press freedoms, religious freedoms and ethnic-minority rights. The letter goes into specifics with each of the 10 problems and highlights the recommendations from the report.
Born and raised in Illinois, and having spent more than 15 years serving Illinois and its citizens at multiple levels of government, Hultgren serves McHenry, Lake, Kendall, Kane, DuPage, DeKalb and Will counties, which make up the 14th Congressional District.
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