House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing Reveals More Chinese Human Rights Abuses

By Annalee Seath, J.D. | May 16, 2012

Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Karen Bass (D-CA), and Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) speak with Chen Guangcheng on the phone.

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), conducted a hearing yesterday to discuss Chinese human rights abuses brought into the international spotlight by activist Chen Guangcheng. Committee members and testifying activists spoke with Chen for the second time in recent weeks via telephone through translator and friend, Pastor Bob Fu.

This time, Chen expressed fear for the safety of his extended family. Chen reported that on the night of April 26, unidentified government officials broke into and raided his family’s house, beating his brother and nephew in retaliation for Chen’s escape from house arrest.

“My elder brother was taken away by these thugs without any reasoning, and then they came back and started beating up my nephew…[T]hey used stakes and violently beat him up,” Chen explained from his hospital room in Beijing.

Chen’s nephew, Chen Kegui, was arrested after the raid and accused of intent to murder after using a kitchen knife against his attackers, charges the Chen calls “trumped up.”

“For three hours, the bleeding on his head and face did not stop. It was so violent he had to defend himself.”

Pastor Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid Association, testified that Chinese authorities have threatened to revoke law licenses and kidnap lawyers attempting to represent Mr. Kegui, making it extremely difficult for him to secure legal representation.

After enduring 18 months of house arrest, Chen, who is blind, escaped to the U.S. Embassy seeking sanctuary. He remained at the Embassy for six days before being admitted to the hospital. The family is currently waiting for Chinese officials to issue them passports so they can travel to the U.S. where Chen will study at New York University.

Chen Guangcheng has long served as a vocal dissident against the tactics of China’s Family Planning Commission, protesting widespread forced sterilizations and abortions used to enforce its notorious One Child Policy. However, some testifying activists believe that the U.S. finds Chen’s situation more of an economic inconvenience that a human rights crisis.

Ms. Chai Ling, former Tiananmen Square organizer and founder of All Girls Allowed, testified to the Foreign Affairs Committee, criticizing U.S. hesitance to take a strong stance against China for fear of trade repercussions.

“Seeking genuine protections for Chen and his family should hardly have ‘blown up the relationship.’ But more to the point, it grieves me to hear Chen dismissively referred to as ‘a single guy,’” referring to a New York Times article explaining the tepid U.S. response to Chen’s plight.

“He is one man; it is true,” Ms. Ling explained, “But he is a symbol—a hero—in the eyes of women, children, and the poor in China.

One such woman is Ms. Mei Shunping. Testifying through a translator to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Shunping told her heart-wrenching story as a worker at a state-owned textile factory and as a victim of China’s Family Planning Commission.

“My factory’s Family Planning Commission used three levels of control: at the factory level, in the factory clinic and on the factory floor. If one worker violated the rules, all would be punished. Workers monitored each other.”

Because of kidney disease, Chinese officials initially allowed Ms. Shunping to forego the standard IUD procedure after the birth of her first child. Instead, she became “the prime target for surveillance” by Family Planning Commission.

From 1983 to 1990, Ms. Shunping endured five forced abortions.

“We had no dignity as potential child-bearers. By order of the factory’s Family Planning Commission, every month during their menstrual period, women had to undress in front of the birth planning doctor for examination.

“If anyone skipped the examination, she would be forced to take a pregnancy test at the hospital. We were allowed to collect a salary only after it was confirmed that we were not pregnant.”

After her fifth forced abortion, Chinese officials implanted an IUD without Ms. Shunping’s consent, causing complications because of her kidney disease. They then imprisoned her husband for 15 days and fined her six-months’ wages for violating the One Child Policy.

Ms. Shunping escaped with her family to the U.S. in 1999 where she and her husband converted to Christianity, but she emphasized that she is “only one” of the “many women whose lives were destroyed by the policy.”

Chen Guangcheng intends to do something about these many women. He stressed that the Family Planning Commission’s actions violate China’s own laws and that they need to be held accountable for their human rights abuses.

“I’m not a hero. I just do what my conscience asks me to do. I cannot stay silent when facing this evil against women and children.”

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