As China begins to ease its “zero-COVID” policy in response to a successful protest movement that swept the country — a protest quite literally sparked by a horrific apartment fire that left many dead and injured — we should celebrate the success of this movement while continuing to put pressure on China’s totalitarian regime. After all, the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses did not start during the pandemic, nor will they end with it.
For years, thousands of Uyghurs living in Xinjiang have been subjected to a horrifying genocidal sinicization project. Nury Turkel, the chairman of the United States International Religious Freedom Commission and a Uyghur activist himself, describes this in his recent book, No Escape.
Turkel reports that Uyghurs in Xinjiang are forced to attend a mandatory flag-raising ceremony every morning, rain or shine, where they will spend hours chanting slogans in support of the CCP or be made to join a call-and-response denunciation of their faith. Turkel writes that one of the questions Uyghurs are forced to answer is, “Is there a God?” The expected reply is “No!” The next question is, “Who is your God now?” The crowd responds, “Xi Jinping!” Failure to participate enthusiastically could land you in a concentration camp.
Uyghurs are also monitored constantly by the Chinese government. Their smartphones, often issued by the government, are mandatory reporting devices that contain an app called “Clean Internet Security Soldier,” which collects their data and sends it to authorities, flagging if they deviate from their normal routine. Any activity considered overly religious could land you in a concentration camp.
A web of security cameras also watches the Uyghurs at all times. The police force them to undergo extreme biometric data collection. Their faces are scanned, and high-tech facial recognition software can identify them in many public settings. Listening trucks spy on private conversations in Uyghurs’ homes to detect if a family spends time on religious practices.
The question for the U.S. is how it ought to respond to this humanitarian crisis. Thankfully, our government has not been passive in its response thus far. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for example, declared that the CCP’s actions meet the definition of genocide, and his successor, Secretary Antony Blinken, reiterated this finding.
Congress also passed The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in large part because of Turkel and a coalition of advocates, to strengthen the existing prohibition against the importation of goods made wholly or in part with forced labor.
Yet, enforcing this new law is proving to be difficult for the Biden administration. Turkel said that although the law is a “promising first step,” many goods “produced with slave labor are still entering the U.S.” He noted that “the climate lobby is creating obstacles to enforcement” of the law by pushing for the importation of solar panels developed in Xinjiang.
The U.S. can and should do more to encourage the fight for freedom and justice in China. The CCP’s willingness to commit mass atrocities against a population that it sees as a hindrance to its agenda cannot be ignored. Indeed, China’s power and ambition leave little doubt that it hopes to exert the same influence and control over the rest of the world.
The protests against China’s zero-COVID response are proof that change in the country is possible. With so many lives on the line, it’s a goal the U.S. must work toward.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICA
Peter Burns (@peterburns_1861) is executive director of the International Religious Freedom Summit.
