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Yaqiu Wang, the Research Director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Freedom House, a non-profit organisation based in Washington on Saturday gave a statement testifying on the Chinese government's tactics to suppress political dissent.
In a statement presented before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by US Senator Ben Cardin, Wang said that China's authoritarian regime poses one of the biggest threats to American democracy and security. In her statement, Wang said "China's authoritarian regime poses one of the biggest threats to American democracy and security. It is in the fundamental interest of the United States to support the Chinese people's fight for democracy". Wang claimed China, which ranks among the least free countries in the world, has declined significantly since Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012. President Xi has consolidated personal power to a degree not seen in the country for decades. Following a multiyear crackdown on all aspects of life and governance, China's civil society now has been largely decimated. Increasingly, the government is deploying laws--including National Security Law (2015), Foreign NGO Law (2017), Counterterrorism Law (2018), and Counterespionage Law (2023)-- to criminalize independent human rights activism and journalism. Referring to several incidents of imprisonment of activists and pro-democracy leaders, she added, "Numerous human rights activists are languishing in jail on bogus national security-related charges as we speak, such as pro-democracy movement pioneer Wang Bingzhang, who has been serving a life sentence for espionage since 2002; human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who is serving a 14-year sentence for subversion of state power; and journalist Huang Xueqin, who is serving a five-year sentence for inciting subversion of state power. Others have been forcibly disappeared on unclear charges. Respected human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has not been heard from in seven years." Wang in her statement also highlighted the tactics used by China's regime for altering and suppressing the individualistic identities of the ethnic minorities of the country. She in her statement claimed that China's ethnic minorities are facing the worst conditions. Wang gave examples of Rahile Dawut, an Uyghur scholar, who has been serving a life sentence since 2018 for separatism. Another Uyghur scholar, Ilham Tohti served a life sentence under the same charge where the activist's family has not heard from him since 2017. Similarly, Sherab Gyatso, a Tibetan monk and writer, is also serving a 10-year sentence for 'inciting separatism'. She further highlighted that in Hong Kong, over a thousand people have been imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of assembly and expression, many on national security grounds. In 2020, Beijing imposed the National Security Law (NSL) on the city, with broad provisions that criminalize an enormous range of activity both inside and outside Hong Kong. "Prominent political prisoners in Hong Kong include journalist and publisher Jimmy Lai, who is facing up to life imprisonment for sedition and collusion with foreign forces; human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, arrested for inciting subversion; and activist Joshua Wong, convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion. These courageous individuals and many others in mainland China and Hong Kong have made extraordinary sacrifices for standing up to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)", she added. (ANI)
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