Sec. 2. Findings and statement of policy
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Congress finds the following: The continued commitment of the United States to the international promotion of fundamental rights and freedoms is critical to global stability and the security and prosperity of the American people. The relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China is of immense geopolitical and economic importance, and it is imperative that bilateral engagement encompass the full spectrum of contested issues, including human rights matters such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has cited estimates that approximately 1,000,000 ethnic or religious minorities within the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China are currently being arbitrarily detained in political re-education camps , including members of the Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tartar communities, among others. The mass arbitrary detention of persons on the basis of their religious or ethnic background, without due process of law or individualized credible allegations of wrongdoing against each detained individual, is not a credible or effective counterterrorism strategy and constitutes a severe violation of international norms and standards.
Turkic Muslims within the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and elsewhere within the People’s Republic of China and globally, have further been subjected to discriminatory policies and practices that seek to limit or otherwise restrict their exercise of universal rights. It is the policy of the United States to— oppose the mass arbitrary detention of Turkic Muslims within the People’s Republic of China on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, or actual or perceived political views and without due process protections; support efforts to combat governmental discrimination against ethnic minorities within the People’s Republic of China, including against policies which seek to suppress or otherwise constrain the religious, cultural, or linguistic practices of Turkic Muslim communities or to limit the ability of members of such communities to travel domestically or internationally; hold senior regional officials in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China accountable for gross human rights violations within the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, including through the application of United States sanctions authorities, and voice concerns regarding such violations in interactions with the Government of the People’s Republic of China; seek the immediate cessation of all efforts by the Government of the People’s Republic of China to intimidate, harass, or intrusively surveil members of the Chinese diaspora community, including Turkic Muslims, present within the United States; pursue a lifting of all improper restrictions upon journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and American officials operating within, or seeking to operate within, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region; recognize that the actions of the Government of the People’s Republic of China in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region are inherently linked with its One Belt One Road Initiative, as well as its Strike Hard Campaign; and engage all appropriate instruments of United States influence to combat gross violations of human rights in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, penalize entities and persons that facilitate such violations within the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, including the mass arbitrary detention of Turkic Muslims, and deter policies or activities of the People’s Republic of China, or agents thereof, that seek to constrain the freedom of speech or religion of members of Turkic Muslim communities globally.