Rubio's nomination to head US diplomacy bodes well for human rights in China

This article was also published by the Diplomat on November 26, 2024.

The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has raised concerns among those who care about human rights and democracy in China and around the world. Like Freedom House did documentedThe outgoing president has a history of anti-democratic and anti-human rights behavior and rhetoric, and his first administration featured a mix of gains and missteps in its China policy. During the election campaign, Trump took a hard line on Beijing on economic issues in particular, but often spoke of his very close relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, leaving observers unsure of how the events could unfold over the next four years.

Given this lack of clarity, Trump's recent selection of Florida Senator Marco Rubio as his nominee for US secretary of state has instilled some confidence in pro-democracy communities in China and the diaspora, with Rubio known for his strong objections to Beijing's human rights violations.

Rubio previously served as co-chair of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), an independent agency that monitors human rights and the rule of law in China, and has long been a leading critic the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Congress. His consistent advocacy for freedom in China stems from his belief that the global threat posed by the CCP regime is not only a matter of economic competition, but also a challenge to the survival of democratic norms.

In a 2022 speechRubio warned that the story of the 21st century would either be the story of how a rising authoritarian power replaced a free society as the most powerful country in the world, or the story of how the people of the United States -United, the freest, most prosperous and prosperous nation in the history of the world. . . rallied to the truth on which the country was founded and ushered in a century of freedom and justice. In 2020, Beijing sanctioned Rubio and five other lawmakers in retaliation for U.S. sanctions imposed on Hong Kong officials who had restricted basic rights in the territory.

In some ways, the Trump administration's early record on human rights in China was consistent with Rubio's views. For example, in response to what US officials determined Seen as genocide against Xinjiang's ethnic and religious minority groups, the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials and blacklisted major Chinese companies for their complicity in surveillance and forced labor in the region. Following the CCP's dramatic crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong, the Trump administration revoked Hong Kong's preferential economic status and sanctioned Hong Kong and mainland officials. President Trump also signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, both sponsored by Senator Rubio.

Other Trump-era policies were more problematic. The China Initiative, launched in 2018 by the Justice Department to pursue economic espionage and intellectual property theft, has been widely criticized for causing ruinous financial and reputational damage to unfairly targeted individuals, stoking suspicion against academics of Chinese origin and contributing to a climate of fear among academics with legitimate working ties to Chinese institutions. And despite its overall support for persecuted Uighurs in Xinjiang, the Trump administration has not accepted any Uighurs through its network. refugee resettlement program Or to prioritize the examination of their asylum cases, which exposes many of them to the risk of being repatriated to China or stuck in the cumbersome American asylum system.

Trump himself has made a series of deeply disturbing comments. In 2018, he said a gathering of Republican Party donors saying Xi is president for life seems like a good thing, adding perhaps it would be good to try that someday. During a meeting with Xi in 2019, he reportedly encouraged the construction of detention camps in Xinjiang. In a campaign interview this year, he rented Xi for being a brilliant guy, explaining that he controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. Trump has also repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the Chinese virus, studies show. contributed to the rise of anti-Asian racism online.

Rubio, if confirmed by the Senate, and others who serve in the new administration are expected to resume the first Trump administration's tough policy on human rights in China, while working to avoid the mistakes of the past. One of Rubio's first actions as secretary of state should be to push for the immediate release of political prisoners in China and Hong Kong, in part by imposing sanctions on officials responsible for human rights abuses. man in these two places. He should also ensure that the provisions of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act are fully implemented and that the U.S. government continues to support civil society groups and human rights defenders in China.

It will be equally important for Rubio to vigorously counter any harmful rhetoric that ridicules autocracy or conflates the CCP more broadly with the Chinese people. As the world's most influential democracy, the United States has a unique ability to appeal directly to Chinese citizens and advocate for their enduring desire for freedom. It should never squander this great competitive advantage over Beijing by neglecting democratic principles or blurring the distinction between a rigid authoritarian regime and the people it oppresses.