Message: never put faith “in a ruthless communist regime.”
Bitter Winter notes that the United States Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF), created by Congress in 1998, “rarely criticizes American citizens.”
On November 17, 2023, however, the USCIRF released a statement to condemn U.S. corporations
for continuing to conduct business in China while ignoring the country’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang—including mass extralegal detention, forced labor, and sexual violence—and egregious religious freedom violations against Uyghur and other Muslims, underground Catholics, house church protestants, Falun Gong practitioners, and many others.
“The U.S. business community must never put its faith in a ruthless communist regime which violates international law and its own law, while actively engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations and other atrocious human rights abuses,” said USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel. “Instead of [giving] a standing ovation for a dictator, U.S. companies should comply with U.S. laws—including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act—and work with the U.S. government to carry out human rights due diligence and to ensure their operations in China and here in the United States do not contribute to more human rights abuses.”
USCIRF also strongly condemns U.S. lobbyist firms—including former members of Congress—for working on behalf of their Chinese clients like Hikvision and Huawei, which have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for their complicity in human rights abuses.
“The Biden administration and Congress must ban unscrupulous lobbying by U.S. firms that represent the interests of the Chinese government and its state-owned companies, the very entities responsible for the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and religious freedom violations throughout China,” said USCIRF Commissioner Frank Wolf. “Furthermore, the U.S. government must work closely with international partners to ensure critical technologies do not get exported to China to be used for human rights abuses.”
Following a summit meeting held on November 15, 2023 between Xi and President Biden during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Dictator Xi Jinping received a standing ovation from the U.S. businessmen and political dignitaries attending a dinner with Xi.
According to the Commission’s 2023 Annual Report, religious freedom continues to crumble in China as the Chinese state continues to “vigorously implement its ‘sinicization of religion’ policy and demand that religious groups” support the rule and ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.
Although China officially recognizes Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and Taoism, groups with perceived foreign connections—such as Uyghurs and other Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, underground Catholics, and house church Protestants—are especially vulnerable to persecution….
The government continued its persecution of Falun Gong and the Church of Almighty God (CAG), often using “anti-cult” provisions under Article 300 of China’s Criminal Law. In 2022, Falun Gong sources documented 7,331 cases of harassment and arrest, 633 prison sentences, and 172 deaths because of persecution. Reports also documented detention, imprisonment, and torture of CAG members, some of whom reportedly died due to abuses.
USCIRF describes China as a “ruthless communist regime.” But as StopTheChinazis argues, it is more accurate to describe the Chinese regime in its contemporary form as a “ruthless fascist regime.” Neither form of totalitarianism should be sanctioned and enabled by foreign businessmen or anybody else.
