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GUO FEIXIONG AND FREEDOM

OF EXPRESSION IN CHINA

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, 

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND 

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

OCTOBER 29, 2013

Serial No. 113–102

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

PAUL COOK, California 

GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

TREY RADEL, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

LUKE MESSER, Indiana 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

KAREN BASS, California 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

AMI BERA, California 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Ms. Zhang Qing, wife of Guo Feixiong ................................................................... 5

Ms. Yang Tianjiao, daughter of Guo Feixiong ....................................................... 14

Mr. Chen Guangcheng, Chinese human rights activist (appearing via videoconference) ............................................................................................................ 18

Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president, ChinaAid Association ............................. 24

Mr. T. Kumar, director of international advocacy, Amnesty International ........ 32

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Ms. Zhang Qing: Prepared statement .................................................................... 8

Ms. Yang Tianjiao: Prepared statement ................................................................ 16

Mr. Chen Guangcheng: Prepared statement ......................................................... 21

Pastor Bob Fu: Prepared statement ....................................................................... 27

Mr. T. Kumar: Prepared statement ....................................................................... 34

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 52

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 53

(1)

GUO FEIXIONG AND FREEDOM OF 

EXPRESSION IN CHINA 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., Room 

2255, Rayburn Building, Christopher Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. SMITH. Let me begin by expressing my apologies for the 

delay. We had a series of votes before the House. Thank you for 

being here and thank you to our very distinguished witnesses on 

behalf of Mr. Stockman and I and other members of the subcommittee. Thank you for your extraordinary sacrifice that you 

bear on behalf of human rights. We so deeply appreciate it and respect it. 

Today’s hearing will focus on China’s detention of writer, activist, 

and self-trained legal advocate Guo Feixiong. A veteran of China’s 

rights defense movement, Mr. Guo was criminally detained on August 8, 2013 which I would note parenthetically, it is Baba, or Chinese Father’s Day. I know Ms. Yang would love to be with her father and yet on that very day he was taken away by the security 

apparatus of the Chinese Government. We know that he wasn’t formally arrested until early September 2013. Mr. Guo’s detention appears to be a reprisal for his support of government transparency 

and calls for accountability. In recent months, Beijing has cracked 

down harshly on dozens of similarly minded advocates seeking political reforms. 

Mr. Guo is not a newcomer to public advocacy nor to suffering, 

punishments and sacrifice for his work. A former novelist and businessman, he first became widely known in 2005 for organizing protests of land seizures on the outskirts of Guangzhou. In 2007, a 

Chinese court sentenced the outspoken Mr. Guo to 5 years’ imprisonment on charges of illegal publishing. He and his supporters 

maintain the charges were fabricated to silence him and to silence 

the others. In late 2011, he was released. Since that time, he has 

continued to participate in China’s rights defense movement. He 

has continued to express himself freely in the hopes of advancing 

human rights. He has protested along reporters fighting the Southern Weekly’s heavy-handed censorship and vocally supported reVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:26 Feb 11, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\102913\85314 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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cent calls for greater government transparency and an end to corruption. 

Now, Mr. Guo is being held on charges of ‘‘assembling a crowd 

to disrupt order in a public place.’’ This alleged crime, along with 

many others, is all too often employed unjustly against the courageous men and women who want accountability or are pressing for 

change. For simply asking for transparency, he is suspected of disrupting the harsh order that Beijing enforces. Notwithstanding 

China’s own criminal procedure rules, authorities have denied Mr. 

Guo access to a lawyer and have failed to properly notify his family. Once again, China continues to enforce its legal protections 

haphazardly, if at all, when punishing or silencing those who advocate for reform and change. 

Today’s hearing is on the heroism and the sacrifices of Mr. Guo—

that’s what we are focusing on; this brave man needs to be lifted 

up. The United States Congress is focusing and expressing its profound respect as well as for his family. Sadly, Mr. Guo is one 

among many who are suffering in China today. In recent months. 

Chinese authorities have cracked down on dozens of human rights 

advocates participating in a so-called New Citizens’ Movement. The 

movement, which began forming last year, has been described as 

a loose network of like-minded academics and lawyers who hold informal gatherings and promote various issues, including transparency and anti-corruption efforts. 

These detentions signify Chinese citizens’ growing resolve and 

Beijing’s growing fears. Mr. Guo, and many others throughout 

China, want and deserve change. They want accountability, they 

want transparency, and they want basic human rights and respect 

for those rights and they want justice. And, increasingly, they are 

willing to endure even greater risks and willing to sacrifice their 

own personal security to speak freely. 

We are fortunate today to be joined by Ms. Zhang Qing, Mr. 

Guo’s courageous wife, and Ms. Yang Tianjiao, his wonderful 

daughter. We look forward to their testimony, their insights, and 

their defense of a beloved husband and father. We are also blessed 

to have with us two giants in the human rights field, Pastor Bob 

Fu and Mr. Chen Guangcheng, who will be speaking to us via 

Skype. He was supposed to be here personally, but was not feeling 

well enough to be here. We are also joined by Mr. Kumar, himself 

a political prisoner who suffered for his beliefs so many years ago 

and has been a frequent, very significant contributor to our efforts 

on the committee and for the Congress itself. 

With this current crackdown on Chinese human rights activists, 

it is important to understand the brave and bold people challenging 

the Chinese state. And they are doing it in a nonviolent and in a 

benign way, and yet they are harshly retaliated against. Inspiring 

figures like Mr. Guo put another heroic face on these detentions. 

His face, however, does more than just contextualize the current 

crackdown or add details to a prisoner file. It causes us to wonder 

about ourselves, about our commitment to human rights, and the 

risks we are willing to take for those around us and in persecuted 

countries like the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Guo now faces 

an uncertain punishment, and we must determine our own human 

rights commitment to him and others. 

3

In July 2013, Mr. Guo wrote about a 1989 Tiananmen activist 

now facing the possibility of more prison time. He wrote that ‘‘Zhao 

Changqing is an important symbol of the 1989 generation, who, in 

the face of danger, takes action, bears responsibility, persists, 

pushes forward, and becomes more involved. This is how one 

should behave and shoulder his fate.’’

Despite the hardships and the odds, Mr. Guo reminds us that 

we, Members of Congress living in the safe harbors of the West, 

must shoulder our responsibilities and our burdens. Far too often, 

we don’t. We are here today to accept our responsibility to Mr. Guo 

and other courageous Chinese human rights advocates. We hope 

that we also in his words will ‘‘take action, bear responsibility, persist, push forward, and evolve’’ like these heroes. He reminds us 

that this is how we all should behave. 

We hope that the Chinese Government is listening. We hope the 

Chinese citizens seeking change are listening. And we hope Mr. 

Guo is listening. We hope President Obama and our administration 

are listening as well and will everything in their power to help free 

Mr. Guo and others fighting for human rights. We hope the U.S. 

Congress is listening, so that he will be freed and be out of that 

terrible, terrible gulag state. 

I would now like to go to Mr. Stockman for any opening comments you may have. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. I want to thank the chairman for putting this together and as I said to the television cameras, the Chinese Government would have greater respect from the people if they respected 

the people. And the fact that they are continually suppressing their 

own people—severely, according to independent reports—and are 

increasing the persecution of their own citizens. This is the wrong 

direction to go. 

I think that prior to the Olympics, they were trying to be more 

open and more receiving of people’s inputs. But since the Olympics, 

it seems like there is an increase of persecution in China and we, 

as congressmen, need to speak out and support those that are 

being persecuted. I thank the chairman again for offering this 

hearing for us to put a highlight on exactly what is going on in 

China. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Stockman, thank you very much. Mr. Meadows. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, it is good to have you 

here, good to see many of you again. And as we look at this particular case, highlighting this case, I think what the American people need to hear, and quite frankly, what the world needs to hear 

is the injustice that we see, not only in the case of Mr. Guo, but 

really in terms of human rights in general in China. 

I was part of a briefing just the other day as we started to look 

at the freedom of expression and how the story is not getting told 

and it is being subtly and at times not so subtly hidden from the 

citizens of China and from the rest of the world. According to 

World Press Freedom Index, China ranks 173rd about of 179 countries in terms of free press. That is a statistic that is unacceptable 

for a world leader and for a member of the U.N. Security Council. 

And as we see the great reforms that have been promised as part 

of the 2012 elections, yet we hear today and we will hear today 

how those reforms have yet to take place. And so while these matVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:26 Feb 11, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\102913\85314 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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ters may be inherently an internal issue for China, as members of 

the United States Congress, it is our duty to expose the challenges 

that the Chinese citizens face and urge the government to implement the necessary reforms. 

I want to thank the chairman for his unrelenting effort on behalf 

of people that perhaps have no voice other than his to stand up for 

human rights and I am proud to join him arm in arm to fight that 

battle. And with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Meadows, thank you very much. We are joined 

by a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 

and distinguished member of the House of Representatives, Mr. 

Pittenger, who is here because of his deep concern for human 

rights in China, as well as the rest of the world, and religious freedom in particular. 

Mr. Pittenger. 

Mr. PITTENGER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for 

your dedication as I have observed you the last 30 years. You have 

been a remarkable leader for the cause of human rights and religious liberties. 

We gave up a lot in the late 1990s when we gave up Most Favored Nation trading status and we no longer have leverage on 

human rights and religious liberties. I regret we did that. There 

was a lot of business pressure and response to that. But nonetheless, you all have fought a valiant war. I have been over there a 

number of times and I am back there in January. We will do everything to support your efforts of very dedicated people who want to 

present the gospel in a fearless way. So God bless you for your 

service. I know that there are many here who pray for you and 

support you in your work. And only eternity will know the life that 

you have lived and what you have fought for and what you commit 

yourself to. Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Pittenger, thank you so very much for you eloquence and to all of my colleagues for their steadfast support for 

fundamental human rights and for being so consistent. It is just so 

admirable and so encouraging. 

I would like now to introduce our distinguished witnesses beginning first with the wife of Mr. Guo, Zhang Qing. She is a political 

asylee from China. In 2006, after her husband was arrested and 

badly tortured, she wrote open letters to the President of China 

and to President Bush to expose the brutality and torture that was 

happening to her husband. She also called for human rights organizations and the media to recognize and consider Chen 

Guangcheng’s case while he was in jail. She and her husband’s activities caused her to endure sustained pressure so she came to the 

United States. She now lives in Mr. Stockman’s state, the great 

State of Texas and is a full-time university student there. And 

thank you for being here. I look forward, along with my colleagues, 

to your testimony. 

We will then hear from Ms. Yang Tianjiao who is the daughter 

of Guo Feixiong. She came to the U.S. 4 years ago and is now a 

high school student in Texas where she won the President’s Education Award for outstanding academic excellence in 2010. She 

loves music and art. She has drawn pictures of her father and composed a piano piece to express her hope that he can gain freedom 

5

in China. And we thank her for coming forward to speak out in defense of her dad. 

We will then hear from Mr. Chen Guangcheng via Skype who 

would have been here, but was not well enough to travel. As we 

all know he is a valiant Chinese human rights activist who worked 

on a variety of human rights issues especially the forced abortion 

issue. Blind from an early age and self taught in the law, Mr. Chen 

is frequently described as a barefoot lawyer who advocated for victims of forced abortion and sterilization and the welfare of the 

women and the poor and the disabled. He is best known for exposing massive abuses in official family planning policy, often involving violence and forced abortions. Imprisoned unjustly and tortured, first in prison and then under house arrest, he finally escaped house arrest in his rural town in east China, Shandong Province, and made it to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, a legendary escape, the kind of stuff that super heroes are made of. The world 

watched and after negotiations, he was allowed to come to the U.S. 

and began a law fellowship at New York University. He recently 

became a distinguished senior fellow in human rights at the 

Witherspoon Institute in Princeton as well as distinguished visiting 

fellow at the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at 

the Catholic University of America and also a distinguished senior 

advisor at the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. 

We will then hear from Pastor Bob Fu who was a leader in the 

1989 democracy movement in Tiananmen Square and later became 

a house church pastor and founder along with his wife. In 1996, 

authorities arrested Pastor Fu and imprisoned them for their work. 

After their release, they escaped to the United States in 2002, 

founded the ChinaAid Association. ChinaAid monitors and reports 

on religious freedom in China and provides a forum for discussion 

among experts on religion law and human rights in China. Pastor 

Fu is frequently interviewed by media outlets around the world. He 

has an incredible understanding of the Chinese dictatorship, but he 

also, amazingly, prays for not just the victims, but also for the tormentors and loves them both. Absolutely an amazing man. 

We will then hear from T. Kumar who is the Amnesty International Director for International Advocacy and a very good friend 

of this subcommittee. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on 

numerous occasions to discuss human rights abuses around the 

world. He has served as a human rights monitor in many Asian 

countries as well as in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Sudan, 

and South Africa. He also served as director of several refugee 

ships and camps. T. Kumar was a political prisoner for over 5 years 

in Sri Lanka for his peaceful human rights activities. Amnesty 

International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience and now he 

does that for others and he does it so well. He started his legal 

studies in prison and eventually became an attorney at law and devoted his entire practice to defending political prisoners. 

Ms. Zhang, if you would proceed. 

STATEMENT OF MS. ZHANG QING, WIFE OF GUO FEIXIONG 

[The following testimony was delivered through an interpreter.] 

Ms. ZHANG. Honorable Chairman, Vice Chairman, Congressmen, 

and everyone here, I am the wife of Guo Feixiong. My name is 

6

Zhang Qing. I am very thankful to every one of you to have this 

opportunity to introduce my husband’s case to you, and also I am 

glad to tell you about my husband’s activities in defending human 

rights, his ideals and personality, and his character. 

In today’s China, actually human rights continues to deteriorate. 

In the new round of government crackdowns on human rights 

movements, my husband has been detained for the fourth time. 

The charges were for motivating people for illegal gathering. In 

2009, he publicly made a speech demanding for the freedom of expression in China. He believes that, in the West or in the East, the 

freedom of expression is the basic human right. There has never 

been any legal due process for my husband’s case after he got arrested. 

His lawyers and family members have been denied access to visit 

him, and it has been 83 days now. And we cannot see the end of 

this case. We don’t know how long this will last. We don’t know 

what will happen to him if the international community will not 

show their concern to this case. My husband, Guo Feixiong, was involved in the pro-democracy movement in 2003 and got arrested for 

the first time in 2005. In 2005, he was speaking out for the farmers 

who were losing their land because of government illegal seizure. 

In 2006, he came to the States to attend a law conference. Many 

people actually advised him to stay in the United States, but when 

he looked at the democracy and freedom in this country, he made 

a commitment to bring back the ideals for freedom of expression 

and democracy back to the Chinese people. So he went back. 

He was clearly aware of the possibility that he would be arrested 

again if he would return, but he still made the decision to return. 

It has been 10 years since the year, 2003, he got involved in prodemocracy movements. He has spent 51⁄2 years in jail. He has always been the most frontier fighting for democracy movements. He 

does not only promote the theory of democracy movements, but actually he is a doer for these movements. 

He has made a huge impact upon the pro-democracy movement 

in China. He has composed more than 40 articles summarizing and 

thinking about the pro-democracy movement in China. And it is because of all his activities that the government now is torturing him 

in jail. He has been in jail four times and has been tortured physically severely. Even other family members have been tortured as 

well. 

One of the horrible tortures is that the policemen used electric 

rod to torture his genitals. They appealed to this torture to crack 

down, to crush his will for democracy and for freedom. But he will 

never change his commitment. So he will never surrender to such 

pressure and he is really, truly a model fighting for democracy and 

freedom. 

He has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days. He is 

regarded highly as a hero by the Chinese society as defending 

human rights. 

In 2011, after 5 years being tortured in jail, but he continued his 

human rights activities asking Chinese Government to give back 

the freedom of expression to the Chinese people. And he organized 

a series of activities for the human rights cases. He asked the Chinese Government to approve the covenant of the human rights, 

7

that is the covenant of the United Nations and asking Chinese officials to publicly tell public their properties. 

In 2006 and this year, in both crackdowns of the Chinese Government upon the human rights movement, and my husband Guo 

was the one that has been tortured mostly and has been treated 

illegally all the time. So I am here today to ask the Obama administration to speak on my husband’s case. I ask the Obama administration and American officials to speak openly for my husband and 

ask the Chinese Government to release my husband without any 

condition. 

I also appeal to American Congress that it is within your power 

and you can do something for my husband and to talk to the Chinese Government and to express your concern. And then to ask the 

Chinese Government to release my husband. 

I also ask American Embassy to China to meet my husband because both lawyers and family members are denied the right to 

visit him. 

America is the leading country for the human rights in this 

world. It serves as a lighthouse for the whole world. So the American administration and Congress have the obligation to support 

those who fight for human rights in China. So I also ask American 

administration and American Congress to talk and put pressure 

upon Chinese Government to release all those who are prisoners of 

conscience. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Zhang follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Thank you so very much for that extraordinarily 

powerful testimony and we will follow up. We will do a letter. We 

will include the entirety of this hearing record to President Obama, 

to Secretary Kerry, and to Ambassador Gary Locke, our Ambassador to People’s Republic of China and other interested parties 

within the administration and we will contact the Chinese ourselves as a committee. So thank you for those very tangible followup things for us to do. I do have questions for later, but now we’ll 

go to Ms. Yang. 

STATEMENT OF MS. YANG TIANJIAO, DAUGHTER OF GUO 

FEIXIONG 

Ms. YANG. Dear Honorable Chairman, Members of Congress, and 

friends, my name is Yang Tianjiao and my American name is Sara. 

My dad is Guo Feixiong. I am here to thank the Congress and Congressman Smith for giving me this opportunity to speak here. 

The last time I saw my dad was about 7 years ago. It was in 

2006, and I was only 10. I remember that he brought me this video 

game, and we played it almost every day during that summer. 

However, on September 14th, when I came back from school, he 

was gone, and I have not seen him since that day. I did not even 

have a chance to say ‘‘Bye’’ or ‘‘I love you’’ to him. 

Over the past 7 years, I have dreamed about him a lot. I 

dreamed that he would play that video game with me again so we 

could pass level 5 together. But they were only dreams. The next 

day I always found myself in tears. 

I got to know about my dad’s condition from my mom’s conversation with friends. My mom would not talk about my dad’s news in 

front of me because she thought it was too heavy for a 10-year-old 

girl to accept. But I still listened to them anyway, and to be honest, 

they were extremely heavy, sad, and shocking. I heard that he was 

incarcerated for 5 years. During those 5 years, the government 

transferred him to many different places and used numerous different tortures against him. I was always so deeply hurt when I 

heard about them. 

In 2009, we moved to the United States of America. In 2011, my 

dad got out of jail. The day he was out, we talked on the phone. 

I literally cried when I heard his voice. I had been longing to hear 

this voice for 5 years, and I could finally do that. 

Over the past 2 years, I talked to my dad through Skype. He 

gave me advice for life, and I showed him my artwork. A few years 

ago, I drew my dad in a miniature cartoon form, and he immediately complained about the one short leg and one long leg when 

he saw it. Recently, my art skills have improved so much that he 

applauded my artwork. However, he still pushes me to move forward; he still wants me to draw like some of the most famous and 

brilliant artists like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, et cetera. 

But the good times did not last long. He was captured, again, on 

August 8th, 2013. That hurt. That day was Father’s Day in China. 

Again, I do not remember our last conversation. Again, I did not 

get to say a formal goodbye to him. Again, I have not heard his 

voice for about 70 days. Again, I miss him so much. 

Right now, I have a watercolor painting of my dad that I finished 

in September. I am sorry I did not bring it today. I hang it on my 

15

wall so that I can see his face every day. In this painting, he is 

smiling. In my memory that is what he looked like every day when 

we were together. Also, I composed a piano piece called ‘‘The Cosmos.’’ This is a piece for my dad. I would always laugh at my dad 

when he joked that he fell asleep to my piano playing. 

However, words, drawings, and music cannot express how much 

I miss him. My dad is a great man; he is my hero. He has helped 

so many people. He, a man who pursues democracy, works so hard 

to improve the law of China. I, his daughter, always want my dad 

to have the freedom that he works so hard to achieve for others. 

I always want him to be safe and free. 

President Obama, you also have two daughters; you are also a 

human rights lawyer. I wish that President Obama can send a request to China to free my father. I do not know what has happened 

to him in jail for the past 2 months. I am so worried about his 

health, so I hope that the Congress will talk to the Chinese Government and secure my father’s freedom. 

Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Yang follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Ms. Yang, thank you so very much for that testimony. Tears, deep hurt, and the watercolor painting of him smiling 

on your wall. Those are so touching and I hope that the President, 

the Vice President, our own leadership here in the House and Senate will act. We certainly will as a subcommittee. We will do everything we can to secure your father’s release and your testimony is 

so moving. No one can hear that and not be moved. So thank you, 

and to your mom as well. 

We do have some difficulties still, but we are going to have to 

switch to audio only although we will keep the visual as long as 

we can to hear the great Chen Guangcheng testify. So I would like 

now to yield to Mr. Chen. Hearing no objection, we will just go to 

audio and we will proceed. 

Bob Fu will now use a cell phone in a way that he did twice 

when Mr. Chen was in a hospital under arrest. He couldn’t leave 

obviously. The hospital room was filled with Chinese police. Bob Fu 

got through to him and that is where he made his famous appeal 

to come to the United States, and within hours he was given approval. 

STATEMENT OF MR. CHEN GUANGCHENG, CHINESE HUMAN 

RIGHTS ACTIVIST (APPEARING VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE) 

[The following testimony was delivered through an interpreter 

via cell phone.] 

Mr. CHEN. Dear Honorable Chairman, honorable members of the 

human rights subcommittee and friends, greetings to all of you. 

Human rights fighter Mr. Guo Feixiong has been detained for 83 

days now. It has been eight times that the Chinese Government 

has denied his basic rights to see a lawyer. This is a clear violation 

of Chinese own laws and citizens’ basic civil rights. We have no 

idea whether he is alive or he is dead. 

In 2005, Guo Feixiong, Gao Zhisheng, and I were persecuted by 

the Chinese Government almost at the same time. And today, Gao 

Zhisheng is still in jail and his family members are forbidden to 

visit him. Guo Feixiong was arrested again only after he was released less than 2 years ago from his last imprisonment. So today, 

the communist party is showing the whole world it has no idea to 

change and will continue to fight against human rights. So we 

shouldn’t have any illusions toward the Chinese Communist Party 

any more. 

The trial of Ms. Liu Ping, Mr. Wei Zhongping and Li Sihua in 

Jiangxi yesterday is deemed by the citizens in China as the evil 

trials against the good. In the name of social stability maintenance, 

a number of citizens, petitioners, and activists were kidnapped, tortured, and arrested. The lawyers who were supposed to represent 

the three activists on trial were forced to cancel their legal contract 

with their clients because they couldn’t meet up with their clients. 

A report released by the Freedom House last week shows the 

crackdown against freedom of speech, Internet freedom, and media 

censorship in China has already extended beyond China’s borders. 

This crackdown actually started this spring and since then more 

than 150 people got arrested. The communist regime is really only 

using this trial against these three activists in Jiangxi as a test to 

the international community to see how we will respond, and then 

19

I believe it will get worse and worse if we don’t respond to take 

the proper actions. In his first arrest, Guo Feixiong was tortured 

severely. So this should really concern and worry everyone this 

time because he has been arrested for so long without any legal 

rights, and his lawyers and family members cannot visit him. 

And the freedom belongs to the brave people. And this illegal 

trial against these three innocent Chinese citizens really occasioned 

the strongest protest among the Chinese people. Nobody’s rights 

will be guaranteed without a sound system. It is my hope that the 

United States of America and the international community will 

help assist the Chinese people in getting onto the path of freedom, 

democracy, and constitutionalism as soon as possible. 

The most urgent task before us is to achieve Internet freedom in 

China. The communist regime right now is undermining Internet 

freedom and restricts the free access of information. Internet censorship is overwhelming and a large number of Internet policemen 

are hired to censor, block, and delete postings online which is a blatant violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights according to Article 19. This article states that everyone has the right 

to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any 

media and regardless of frontiers. 

Hillary Clinton once stated clearly that the policy of the United 

States is to support an Internet that allows every human being 

equal access to knowledge, to thoughts, and dedicating itself to the 

promotion of Internet freedom. If this policy of the United States 

can truly be implemented, that will be a great contribution to the 

freedom in China as well as to the whole world. So right now it 

is high time we provide assistance to the freedom-loving people in 

totalitarian countries and tear down the Internet version of the 

Berlin Wall. 

Therefore, I suggest to all Congress and administration for every 

free nation to increase their funding to help develop some software 

so that we can break through firewalls such as FOE, Freegate, or 

Ultrasurf, which are all very effective. I learned that the U.S. Congress has a $700 million budget for this purpose, but only less than 

3 percent is spent on breaking through China’s firewalls. Therefore, 

it is very urgent for Congress to increase the budget for the Internet freedom in China. 

Secondly, it is my suggestion that the judicial and administrative 

organs must join hands in establishing a mechanism for human 

rights violators and it is hoped that we can stop them, set up a 

global database of human rights violators, including the ‘‘610 Office’’ of the Chinese Communist Party and the Family Planning 

Commission at all levels of government. Expand, establish, and 

strictly implement current laws similar to the Magnitsky Act, 

which prohibits the entrance of Russian human rights violators 

into the United States. And we need to freeze their assets in the 

United States and abroad, putting an end to the history of those 

vicious officials when they can enjoy the freedom overseas, like in 

America, while exercising their tyranny in their home country. 

So we need to set up a trans-congressional human rights alliance 

of free countries and convene regularly and invite civilians, human 

rights defenders, victims, their family members, and authorized 

agents to share their stories. 

20

So the people in the free world, we need to speak up and stand 

up for all those human rights fighters and to show our concern and 

to invite them to join hands and fight together. 

Fourthly, we need to demand the Chinese Communist Party to 

stop persecuting religious believers and respect religious freedom. 

One hundred and twenty Tibetan monks have immolated themselves. People in Xinjiang fighting against tyranny have been shot 

one after another. And we all know the persecution of Falun Gong 

practitioners as well as those underground house church Christians. They are all suffering from persecution. All the groups mentioned above, they all can get along with other Asians, Europeans, 

and Americans and earn their respect, yet why can’t the Chinese 

Communist regime tolerate them? 

Fifthly, I call on lawyers and legal experts of the United States 

and the American Bar Association to advocate for human rights 

lawyers of China and make joint efforts to provide them with some 

specific legal support and assistance. 

Sixthly, I hope the annual U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue 

will be practical in advancing human rights and dare to be open 

and honest. Human rights dialogues should not become a matter 

of formality and empty talk. 

And last, I also want to appeal to American people—and you 

voted all those officials and congressmen into office, so I appeal to 

you that you will talk to your congressmen and officials and apply 

all resources and means to help terminate China’s evil one-child 

policy and forced abortion. Because to force women to abort their 

babies is a violation of universal human rights. It tramples on 

women’s rights, the right of free choice, and also the sacred right 

of life. This wicked policy results in a severe imbalance in gender 

ratio and a rapidly aging population. So I plead earnestly with you 

kind-hearted American people to take actions right away. Contact 

your representatives and officials and ask them to show their concern to all the issues that is discussed above. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, all the members of the human rights subcommittee, and thank you, everyone present at this hearing. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Chen follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chen, thank you very much for your eloquent 

testimony and for your very detailed list of actionable items. I wonder will you be able to stay with us or do you have to go? 

Mr. CHEN. Yes, I can stay. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. We will have questions after our final 

two witnesses. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Fu, the floor is yours. 

STATEMENT OF PASTOR BOB FU, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, 

CHINAAID ASSOCIATION 

Mr. FU. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your years 

of leadership and support for this very important cause for freedom 

not only in China, but also globally as a voice for this voiceless and 

for this oppressed people. 

Today, when I entered into this room I felt both gladly and sadly. 

I am glad that we still have congressional leaders like you, like 

other members, who are still concerned and support this cause, although it is not a popular cause anymore, with the decline of economic prosperity and economic stake in the global forum. 

I am sad because 4 years after Guo Feixiong’s wife and two children were able to come to the United States and we’re still talking 

about Guo Feixiong’s freedom. I still remember in 2009 in a small 

hotel in Bangkok, I flew there because I heard Ms. Zhang Qing 

with her two kids had to escape from China because they could not 

live a normal life anymore when Guo Feixiong was in prison, was 

tortured and the kids could not even find opportunity to get their 

education. The wife could not even find a right job for her. Increasing incredible obstacles including the denial of refugee status from 

the United Nations, including refusal to help by the U.S. Government officials, and I already booked my return flight to the United 

States. I was waiting to continue to file petition or appeal to the 

U.N., but seeing and looking in the eyes of these two kids, including Ms. Yang, Sara, who is sitting next to me, full of reluctance 

and fear, and seeing, watching that little boy, was playing with me 

and really begging me to stay with him to play with him. I just 

could not leave them behind. 

Of course, as a friend and fellow freedom fighter, I would not 

leave his family members behind by coming back alone even if that 

means I have to take what some people call radical procedures, between the letter of the law and my own conscience. So I took them 

to the United States with some extraordinary procedures, which is 

written in my memoir, ‘‘God’s Double Agent.’’

I was happy to see the family finally need not worry about what 

would happen in the middle of the night, what would happen to the 

two kids when they walk in the darkness on the road to do shopping, what would happen to their dad in the middle of the night 

when they woke up. 

Of course, I want to thank many leaders of this country, especially many citizens in the great State of Texas, where I have been 

residing since 2004, and even today several members of the business community, religious community, flew all the way from Texas 

to come here to show their solidarity and their support for the freedom of Guo Feixiong. I want to recognize them. They are in the 

midst of this hearing. I want to especially thank Mr. Joe Torres, 

25

who is here as the chairman of the board of ChinaAid, as business 

leader, CPA. Of course, now the tax season is approaching and we 

all know this sacrifice he has encountered for engaging the ministry of ChinaAid by helping these families like Mr. Guo’s family. 

I want to thank Pastor Chad Bullard, who was a former official 

of Homeland Security Department, now a pastor of 6,000-member 

church who came here also to support the family where the Guo 

family are members of that church, Stonegate Fellowship. 

I also want to thank Pastor Daniel Stevens, on my left, who is 

my pastor and my fellow co-worker at Mid-Cities Community 

Church. I still remember that very day when I heard mother and 

children were wandering on the street. It was Guo Feixiong’s family. I wanted to fly there immediately to Bangkok to comfort them, 

to find a place to stay, but we don’t have a budget. So I just 

emailed Pastor Daniel. I said, could you help. Without hesitation, 

not a single question even was asked. The next day I was able to 

buy the most expensive air tickets, $5,000 to get to Bangkok, that 

enabled me to meet with these family members and comfort them 

and situate them in a hotel room. 

Mr. Chairman and members of this subcommittee, since the beginning of this year, the environment for freedom of speech in 

China has rapidly worsened. The Chinese Communist authorities 

have launched a campaign across China to strictly purge opinions 

voiced on the Internet and other peaceful public forums. 

Mr. Guo Feixiong’s arrest was just one of the cases of arbitrary 

arrest. The official propaganda of the Chinese Communists severely 

criticized the democratic constitutional trains of thought. Besides, 

the Communist Party also severely suppressed the new civil citizen 

movement. According to incomplete statistics, from the protest incident to other peaceful petitioning, at least over 100 people across 

China, some even respected writers, estimated it may be thousands 

of Chinese citizens have been arrested for simply expressing themselves or for peaceful petitioning in front of the government. 

There has been a huge increase in the number of cyber police officers in China. The Golden Shield Project, the so-called Great Firewall of China, strictly shield overseas Web sites that the Chinese 

Communists think are sensitive, and many netizens have been 

summoned or detained just because they talked about civil society, 

the constitutionalism, and they gathered in the same city and talk 

about the word democracy in their QQ chatting forums. The Chinese Government has trained 2 million Web moderators or censors 

to delete posted messages and to ‘‘guide public opinion.’’

In the past 4 months, the Chinese Communist Government has 

arrested public intellectuals, influential, even business leaders such 

as Yang Xiuyu, Zhou Lubao, Fu Xuesheng, and Dong Liangje, who 

is an environmentalist. So the purpose of this operation by the Chinese Communists is to warn and punish those influential public intellectuals so that the ordinary netizens will not dare to voice their 

opinions on political and social issues. 

And furthermore, it seems the Chinese Government tries to legalize and legitimize by the court system and the prosecution system all these crackdowns. And there is a joint document issued socalled ‘‘Interpretation on Several Questions on the Applicable Law 

on Criminal Cases of Utilizing the Internet for Slandering.’’ So 

26

nowadays, if the government or any police deemed a citizen who 

just used the Chinese version of Twitter to forward a message for 

public knowledge or raising the public awareness, if the forwarding 

has hit over 5,000 hits, it is called a case of ‘‘serious circumstances 

that constitutes the crime of slandering.’’ It is a crime for prosecution. 

Of course, there are a number of other arrests in suppressing 

those people who freely express themselves and peacefully fight for 

civil rights and those public intellectuals such as Dr. Xu Zhiyong, 

such as a billionaire who supports the freedom of expression, Mr. 

Wang Gongquan, such as Yuan Dong, such as Zhang Baocheng, 

such as Hou Xin, such as Ma Xinli. They were all arrested for simply making their opinion known without even taking much action 

on the street. 

Of course, the end of April, Ms. Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, and 

Li Sihua of Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province whose trial was abruptly 

finished yesterday because of the arbitrary trial and basically the 

government assigned all these illegal procedures. And the lawyers 

had to withdraw themselves. 

So we have seen this since President Xi Jinping took power, the 

Chinese Government has become more severe in suppressing the 

rights defenders, restricting the freedom of speech, and in controlling the society. 

Of course, in other areas like the rule of law, like the religious 

freedom have also been worsened. So every day in China, there are 

thousands of incidents of forced demolition of houses and every 

year thousands or millions of people’s properties are violated. As a 

result, there are dozens of millions of petitioners in China, many 

of them were forced into the ‘‘Black jails’’ which resulted in numerous occasions of torture and rape of women. 

The Chinese Communist Government continues to severely suppress the house churches. Of course, since April of this year, there 

are more Christians who have faced prosecution and received 

criminal sentence than the combination of the whole year last year. 

That has been happening from Henan Province to Inner Mongolia. 

And the house church Christians were sentenced from 2 years’ to 

7 years’ imprisonment for simply organizing a peaceful worship 

service in their own homes. 

What has aroused the most concern recently is the incident in 

which Peking University dismissed Associate Professor Xia 

Yeliang, which shows the position of the Chinese Government in 

strictly controlling the freedom of speech. Professor Xia promoted 

China’s reform toward democratic constitutionalism on the Internet. So the Peking University simply dismissed him. 

It is sad for us that the status of human rights and rule of law 

in China is seriously disconcerting. Without human dignity or basic 

human rights, the modernization of China is worthless. On the contrary, when China is headed toward the opposite direction of universal values, this doubtlessly poses a greater and greater threat 

to America and to the civilized world. 

I think China, instead of suppressing these brave soldiers for 

freedom, civil society, and democracy, should embrace them, these 

individuals like my friend Guo Feixiong, like my friend, Gao 

Zhisheng, like many others for still sitting in the dark prison such 

27

for simply hoping and advancing the very freedom that every 

human being are cherishing. I think they should be awarded. I 

think they should be embraced by the Chinese Government, certainly the Chinese people. That will make the 21st century a safer 

and better and much greater place for us to stay. Thank you, Mr. 

Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Fu follows:]


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Mr. SMITH. Thank you so much, Pastor Fu. I can say that I remember when you first brought Mr. Guo’s family to our attention 

on the subcommittee and how earnest you were that you would not 

cease until they were free. It has to be a source of at least some 

comfort, despite his horrific circumstances that he faces now, that 

his wife and children are safe and that attributable is to you. 

STATEMENT OF MR. T. KUMAR, DIRECTOR OF 

INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 

Mr. KUMAR. Thank you very much, Chairman and members of 

the subcommittee. Amnesty International is extremely pleased to 

be here to testify on this important issue. 

There are two issues that we are to consider in this. First, there 

is an individual who has been arrested for his peaceful nonviolent 

political activism. And the bigger picture, U.S. policies with China, 

the human rights policy with China, whether it is moving in the 

right direction or not. 

First of all, I would like to urge that my full testimony will be 

part of the record. 

Mr. SMITH. Without objection, so ordered. 

Mr. KUMAR. Thank you very much. Why is Guo Feixiong singled 

out and in prison? There are thousands who have been imprisoned, 

but in his case a couple of issues stand out. He fought against corruption. He fought for transparency. He was part of a major new 

citizens movement that was fighting for justice and equality in 

China. He was fighting for media freedom by supporting media 

workers, press workers, against interference in the editorial policy. 

He also went to the other step of urging China to sign on to the 

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratify it, they 

have signed on, but did not ratify it yet. So we are seeing an individual here who has been fighting the fight for the needy and for 

justice. The results he received were that he was arrested, tortured, electric shocks were used, and he was earlier sentenced to 

5 years in prison. Now he has been arrested again, again when he 

stood up against corruption. This time, for 2 months, for more than 

2 months, no lawyers or the family members were allowed to see 

him. So it is basically an arbitrary detention that is taking place 

there. 

Despite all these things, what we are seeing from our administration is the pressure that is not up to the standard that we have 

seen earlier. As previously, one of the Members of Congress, the 

Commissioner, mentioned that after Most Favored Nation was 

given to China the leverage for U.S. has gone. We can see that is 

one of the major reasons China is not worried about U.S. making 

statements or speaking up. 

On this issue, we would like to bring to your attention an opportunity by which the U.S. can bring up the pressure in a meaningful 

way. As you are aware U.S. and China have two different dialogues 

going on. One is the annual U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue 

which from our perspective, the Chinese don’t take seriously. It is 

like a pro forma. Every year let’s talk, okay, that is it. Nothing 

happens. 

There is a serious nature of the other dialogue that takes place, 

that is the economic and security dialogue. The Secretary of State 

33

attends. That is when Chen was imprisoned, Secretary Clinton was 

there for the dialogue. That is why I meant the timing was so good 

that a lot of attention. 

So what we are urging is that Congress should put pressure on 

the administration to make sure that economic and security dialogue, also include human rights. Until and otherwise, human 

rights become part and parcel of economic and security dialogue, 

whatever the U.S. says, it is not going to have any impact on Chinese. 

So let us see in a practical sense to add this and some actual policy. Secretary of State will be there when human rights is being 

discussed. They say when we raised the issue with the administration, they say we discussed the issue on human rights during the 

economic and security dialogue. So why are you so hesitant to call 

it economic, security and human rights dialogue. So we urge 

strongly that Congress take this as a serious issue and exert pressure and pass resolution so that next dialogue that takes place, the 

dialogue is economic, security, and human rights dialogue. That is 

when Chinese will feel the pinch because the economy and business 

is tied to human rights, security is tied to human rights there. 

Hopefully your action, the committee’s action, and other actions 

will bring results, to Guo Feixiong’s case, but we hope that the bigger picture of having a meaningful way so that U.S. can put pressure to fight for equal justice and for human rights in China also 

have an impact in China. 

Thank you very much for inviting us. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Kumar follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Mr. Kumar thank you very much for that very practical incisive recommendation. I, too, have noted that human rights 

dialogue has almost been a cordoned-off exercise that they, the Chinese side, does not take seriously, even if the intentions on the U.S. 

side are very well intentioned. We are seeing the same thing replicated in Vietnam and elsewhere. It kind of puts it on the sidelines 

and it is not integrated with the security and economic issues so 

your point, I think, is extraordinarily well taken. 

As far as noting that the 18th U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue took place on July 30th through the 31st and just a few days 

later, Mr. Guo was arrested again. So if there was any kind of impact, it certainly was not manifested toward him as a result of the 

human rights dialogue. I think your point is extraordinarily well 

taken. 

We are joined by Chairman Dana Rohrabacher. Chairman Rohrabacher, would you like to ask questions? 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Let me just make a note. I am sorry, I had 

three hearings at one time. I just came from a hearing on Afghanistan and if there is anything that should indicate to us that we 

should try to have a high standard on human rights, it’s the situation we get caught in quagmires in different parts of the world. If 

the United States stands for human rights, and when we have individuals, brave, heroic individuals, like Guo Feixiong that what we 

are doing by supporting them is letting them struggle for freedom. 

It takes a burden off of our shoulders that we have to send our 

troops everywhere in the world to try to promote the cause of freedom. The fact is that by we supporting local people and their struggles for whatever tyrannical government they are under that is a 

way that it helps the people in the United States because then we 

no longer have to bear the burden of having to deal with that challenge. And with dictatorships, especially like China, a dictatorship 

the size of China that abuses its own people obviously has no respect for the rights of other people as well. 

If China does not respect the rights of its own people to the point 

that it won’t murder them or torture them or as we have seen with 

the Falun Gong where they pick them up by the thousands and 

throw them into prison and actually murder them for their organs, 

if you have a government like that or—that that is a threat to all 

the decent people in the world. Because if they do that to their own 

people, what will they do to foreigners? So we who are foreigners 

to them, know that here is a threat of a ghoulish group of people 

who are willing to commit horrendous crimes against their own 

people and our first line of defense is to support those of you who 

are struggling against that tyranny. 

And Mr. Chairman, I am very honored always to sit with you, 

and to stand with you and the leadership you have provided on 

human rights issues. And especially with concern China in which 

as we say if China, if we can bring to a liberalization in China and 

support those people who are struggling, to have decent humane 

values in China, it will mean a great deal to the security of the 

United States and the rest of the world. 

So thank you and I thank those of you who are struggling to help 

these people in China and we just want to express unity with you, 

42

Mr. Chairman, and to these brave souls who are struggling for a 

better world. 

Mr. SMITH. Chairman Rohrabacher, thank you so very much. I 

think our distinguished witnesses know that Chairman Rohrabacher, before he became a member of the House from California 

was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and was one of those who 

put into those speeches some of the most memorable and very enduring concepts concerning fundamental human rights and the 

freedom agenda so—and he has continued that ever since as an individual. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Actually, the President was a great writer. I 

was just sort of helping out. 

Mr. SMITH. But you wrote it too. Thank you so much. Let me ask 

a couple of questions and then we will go to Mr. Meadows. 

Mr. Chen Guangcheng made seven very specific recommendations and observations in his testimony, of course, focusing on Mr. 

Guo on his fight and his deep empathy and concern which we all 

share. 

But on one of those he talked about the importance of the Internet. And I will just note parenthetically that I have introduced and 

reintroduced several times legislation which is regrettably opposed 

by the Obama administration and that is a bill called the Global 

Online Freedom Act of 2013, H.R. 491, and Mr. Kumar, and Amnesty, and Reporters Without Borders, and many other organizations and NGOs have endorsed it and supported it over these many 

years. Part of the requirements of that legislation are to require 

Internet communication providers that are listed on the U.S. stock 

exchanges to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission 

their human rights due diligence and that means Chinese companies like Baidu and others would have to tell us what they are 

doing vis-a`-vis human rights and if they are, as we know they are, 

censoring ad nauseam. That, too, would have to be disclosed. 

It prohibits the export of hardware or software that could be 

used for surveillance, tracking, and blocking by governments of 

end-users in an ‘‘Internet-restricting country,’’ a new term that we 

invent in the bill based on a preponderance of the evidence that 

they are restricting the Internet and surveilling their own people. 

And there are other provisions as well. 

Mr. Chen mentioned Hillary Clinton’s statement about the Internet and allowing all members of the human race equal access to 

knowledge and thoughts, but this administration opposes the Global Online Freedom Act. And it would give real substance, I believe, 

to an effort to say we mean it when we say we want the Internet 

to be free, that students in China and elsewhere, but especially in 

China and the general public, will have access to—unfettered access to knowledge and information. 

Secondly, Mr. Chen also mentioned a number of very important 

points, but one of them was about a Magnitsky type of piece of legislation. I think is an idea whose time has come, but we already 

have on the books a law that I wrote in 2000 as part of the larger 

piece of legislation that I was the author of called the Admiral 

James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Authorization Act. And that is to say that anyone who is complicit in the barbaric one-child-per-couple policy and Chen Cuangcheng talks about 

43

it as being evil and wicked, which it is. It abuses women. There is 

no greater abuse of women’s rights occurring the world and the legislation which is law on the books right now, it is not being enforced by the Obama administration and wasn’t even enforced well 

by the Bush administration. It says that anybody who is complicit 

in those crimes is denied a visa to come to the United States. 

We asked the Congressional Research Service to look into this 

last year and found that less than 30 people were penalized by visa 

denial and we know that there are hundreds of thousands throughout China who are visiting this unbelievable agony upon women 

and destroying children and young babies, especially the girl child 

through sex selection abortion. So that is a law that has gone 

unimplemented by the Obama administration. 

We will redouble our efforts as we have done over and over. I 

asked the administration, ‘‘What are you doing?’’ ‘‘Why aren’t you 

implementing it?’’ We get a big blank stare, but we will continue 

to try. But I thank you for raising the Magnitsky Act and I think 

as Mr. Kumar and so many others know, it does work when you 

hold individuals responsible for crimes in a regime that is called a 

dictatorship. It has a profound impact. 

I wrote a law back in 2004, the Belarus Democracy Act. The 

mainstay of that law was to hold Lukashenka and his other fellow 

repressors accountable in Belarus through visa denial and well 

over 200 people, it’s a small country, have been denied visas to 

come to the United States and the Europeans have followed suit. 

So it a model and Magnitsky is working roughly, but it is working 

vis-a`-vis Russia today. 

So I thank you for those very specific recommendations, Mr. 

Chen. If there are any further comments, and then I will go to Mr. 

Meadows, that any of our distinguished witnesses would like to 

make, you certainly laid out the case. We will follow this up with 

a letter to President Obama. We will include all of your testimony. 

We will ask him—he is a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He has 

gravitas the likes of which very few people have in the world to 

raise these issues and certainly now with President Xi Jinping 

moving aggressively in the other direction. It was already bad 

under his predecessor, President Hu, it has gotten worse as we all 

know. So there needs to be, I think, a revisiting of these issues by 

the administration. 

And again, Ms. Yang, your comments, everyone should read, as 

well as your mom’s, should read those comments and see a mother 

and daughter testifying on behalf of their husband and dad with 

such eloquence and such class is so moving. There is so much love 

coming from you toward your father and your husband. And my 

hope is that that will further motivate all of us who often fall 

asleep and don’t do enough to really make a difference. Our President needs to step up. Our Congress needs to step up and we need 

to do much more. 

And again Mr. Kumar, I love your idea of the human rights dialogues, well meaning, they don’t work. We need to integrate it into 

the security and economic dialogues—and you are right, Secretary 

of State is there, and hopefully, Secretary Kerry will take these 

cases and take them seriously. 

44

So I would like to yield to any of you and then go to Mr. Meadows for any questions he might have. If you want to comment on 

any of that or I will go right to Mr. Meadows. 

[The following testimony was delivered through an interpreter.] 

Ms. ZHANG. I have one question. On September 30th, I paid a 

visit to the Department of State and visited some officials there. So 

I made a request to the Department of State asking them to make 

a public announcement to ask the Chinese Government to release 

Guo Feixiong. But we have not seen anything that has happened. 

I really hope that the American Government can make an announcement. 

Mr. SMITH. Could you reveal who it was that you spoke to or 

would you rather not do that, at Department of State? 

Mr. FU. Zeya, Zeya. The Assistant Secretary, Zeya. 

Mr. SMITH. Acting. Thank you. So you have reached out to the 

State Department and so far there has not been a response? 

Ms. ZHANG. Yes. 

Mr. SMITH. We will follow up as well. And I will say one statement does make for an intervention. My hope is that as we do on 

the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, because I am 

the co-chairman of that as well. We have a prisoners list. We advocate for those continuously for the release of political and religious 

prisoners, but we don’t see a corresponding—I mean, our Ambassador Gary Locke, should be raising this. This should be a mainstay of our dialogue with China, not what is the next deal to sell 

more of our bombs or some other self-interest. So thank you for 

that. Pastor Fu. 

Mr. FU. I have a quick comment about a follow up about improving the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue, the mechanism. Although within our human rights communities we basically concluded with the same conclusion. As Chen Guangcheng put it nicely that the human rights dialogue has become a human rights 

empty talk. But you know, I remembered this May when I traveled 

with Chen Guangcheng to the European Parliament and we met 

with EU’s highest human rights officer, the former Foreign Minister for Greece. And he, in a private setting, but he wants our secretary to know that when Chen Guangcheng was still under house 

arrest and when a diplomat tried to visit, and was beaten up, right 

outside his Dongzhou village. And instead of making public, obviously, diplomatic protest is warranted. The EU has waited until 

the next round of human rights dialogue next year and talk to the 

Chinese Government and said, ‘‘Why do you beat up our diplomat 

over there?’’

So we are sort of very, very concerned on that very incident that 

Chinese sort of guards could beat up an EU, sort of the one of the 

most powerful sovereign country block could be—could keep silence 

for a fellow diplomat who was beaten. So after talking with Mr. 

Chen Guangcheng, of course, we were making suggestions to them, 

and I think it complied with the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue. One way to avoid becoming a show of empty talk is to make 

the human rights dialogue live streaming, to make it live broadcast. If they want to talk lies, actually the Chinese talk back to the 

EU and said, ‘‘No Chen Guangcheng is free. We didn’t beat up your 

diplomat. He is all right.’’

45

So I think the reason the Chinese regime can pronounce these 

blind—just lies so unshamefully is a closed door, under the table 

dialogue. If it is broadcast live, even part of the session when the 

people around the same table, when the Chinese people and the 

American people and the world know what they are talking about, 

then it is truly—it is a true dialogue. I think you will produce some 

truth, some result, so that is my comment. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much. Mr. Meadows. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank each of you 

for your testimony. I know it is very easy to get discouraged. The 

chairman has been fighting this fight for many, many years. But 

I can speak to his character and to his perseverance and I can tell 

you he is unyielding truly in his efforts to make sure that justice 

and fairness and compassion is something that we all revere not 

only here in the United States, but in China and other nations 

abroad. So I want to give you that encouragement. 

I am a little concerned because we continue to have hearings 

over and over again and we ask for action items and we try to take 

those action items and then not much happens with them. 

So Pastor Fu, let me make sure I understand you. You are saying that once we have these hearings, if we were to televise those 

live, that they might have some impact in terms of the human 

rights violations? 

Mr. FU. That is right. 

Mr. MEADOWS. All right. We were in a hearing just the other day 

where we talked about some of the media and how the truth is just 

not getting out, not only in China, but it is really not getting out 

to us as well in terms of what is happening there with regards of 

media personnel within China, if they report negatively. Many 

times their visas do not get renewed or they get delayed for long 

periods of time. Wouldn’t you agree that that is an accurate reflection of what is happening in China? 

Mr. FU. I do not necessarily agree that that happens every time 

or all the time. And actually, as Chairman Smith and also Congressman Frank Wolf recalled, remember before the Beijing Olympics, I remember of course they are known critics of China’s human 

rights record and when they applied for visas, yes, they slow down 

a little bit, but still give you visas. Yes, you still were able to get 

to China, right? 

I think these are peripheral concerns. I think the main concern, 

and as a former teacher who used to teach in the Chinese Communist Party school, I know the Communist Party’s mentality is 

actually the weaker, or the more you yield, the weaker you show 

to them, actually, the more they feel they are empowered or more 

aggressive. 

Mr. MEADOWS. So what you are saying is we need to take a more 

forceful hand in terms of the penalties of not complying, that we 

need to set laws and the State Department needs to be more forceful in terms of the potential consequences? 

Mr. FU. Absolutely. It is, after all, this is two the great powers 

and it is not—nobody wants to have a mutual destruction. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Right. 

Mr. FU. But at the same time, you cannot forget our very fundamental values that form this country by just ignoring or just silencVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:26 Feb 11, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\102913\85314 HFA PsN: SHIRL
46

ing or put human rights under the table to modernizing this very 

important fundamental issue. 

Mr. MEADOWS. All right. Let me ask you perhaps a more difficult 

question. Do the Chinese people as a whole see us as being critical 

of human rights, being synonymous with us being critical of them 

as the national country or their economic—do they see those as 

when we are critical of human rights, being critical of them as a 

people? 

Mr. FU. Although the Chinese Communist Party propaganda 

mission wants to make the Chinese regime, the Chinese Communist Party 

Mr. MEADOWS. One and the same. 

Mr. FU. Yes, with the Chinese people, try to mess up the idea, 

I think the Chinese people can make that distinction. It is really 

the Chinese regime who carry out this repressive policies. It is the 

brutal policies that is used by the torturists who tortured Mr. Guo 

Feixiong and Mr. Chen Guangcheng. So I think the Chinese people 

commit with distinction. Like even with today’s hearing, with the 

social media and the Chinese Internet, there will be meetings with 

Chinese people who will know and who will even many will find 

the video. 

Mr. MEADOWS. So what you are saying is the Chinese people 

would know that the Members of Congress have a warm feeling toward them. We just condemn the actions of these human rights 

violations? 

Mr. FU. There are not only, of course, not only warm feelings, but 

they know that they are not fighting for freedom alone. They know 

you are in solidarity, their American friends——

Mr. MEADOWS. Okay. 

Mr. FU [continuing]. A thousand miles away who are concerned 

about their prisoners, about their fellow relatives who are arbitrarily arrested. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Okay. Mr. Kumar, let me go to you. Because in 

previous testimony and then I heard it again as a recurring theme 

today, you talked about the need for the State Department primarily to tie human rights and the economic viability, those together. Obviously, we haven’t done a very good job of that to date. 

And we have had a lot of rhetoric, although I do believe the State 

Department has a sincere desire to affect human rights. It is a balancing act. Many times, they look at the economic impact versus 

human rights in trying to evaluate those two. 

How do we do a better job of tying those two together in terms 

of—would it be to look at denying visas? How can we do that in 

terms of making a real impact? 

Mr. KUMAR. I would anticipate that the Chinese Government 

take economic and security dialogue very, very seriously. It’s the 

highest level. Secretary of State from our side, and the Foreign 

Minister of Chinese come together and discuss issues. They discuss 

economic issues and security issues together. They are tying those 

together. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Okay. 

Mr. KUMAR. But they are not tying human rights into that mix. 

They are having the human rights dialogue separate from that. 

That’s why we are urging that human rights be part and parcel of 

47

this economic and security dialogue, not stand alone. When you do 

it stand alone, they will come, they will talk, but the pinch is not 

there. They are not getting the pressure. The only way they will 

take human rights seriously. 

Mr. MEADOWS. So how do we do that? How do we take human 

rights and make a penalty for not complying? Because the chairman and I have been in meetings with groups from China, part of 

Chinese Government and their comment to the chairman and to 

me was, ‘‘We are making great progress and that you are just misinformed,’’ is essentially what they told Chairman Smith, that he 

was misinformed, that they were making great strides. 

So how do we tie those two together? 

Mr. KUMAR. You know, the point is if they have made any 

strides, of course, there are certain areas like death penalty, they 

have made some improvements. Earlier it was 80% of the world’s 

executions were taking place in China. Until China changed due to 

lot of pressure from outside and also inside to make sure that there 

is another review before someone is getting executed by the Supreme Court. Because that reason, the death penalty drops to 50%, 

even though it is still the highest in the world. All the countries 

put together, it is the highest. 

The issue of how to make change from U.S. in this case. The only 

country, by the way Congressman, that China will take seriously 

is the U.S. The only superpower left and they want to have good 

relations with the U.S. They don’t want to burn bridges for something they can’t do. Which is for their own interest, that’s the U.S. 

So our suggestion is that human rights issues should be tied to 

these two issues, economic and security issues. Sanctioned issues 

are slightly different. When you—every year when they have a dialogue like with the Most Favored Nations, every year they will 

have to debate in Congress and at that time all kinds of human 

rights issues are debated. Then Congress authorizes it. 

If the human rights situation goes down, Chinese fears they may 

not get the Most Favored Nation status renewed. That’s, you know, 

the liberty that was dropped, actually under the Clinton administration that was dropped. 

So the other alternative we are seeing is there is another dialogue taking place even though there is no sanction related, the 

mere fact the highest levels of U.S. administration in the foreign 

ministry, that’s the Secretary of State. In this case, Secretary 

Kerry will be there raising the issues, not a human rights bureau 

or another human rights bureau. There is one good example we 

have to see. Qing’s case, Qing who testified. Secretary Clinton was 

there for the economic and security dialogue, so when the whole 

issue blew up there and, you know, your hearings, Mr. Chairman, 

I also testified when he was making his appearance by phone from 

his hospital bed, that put pressure on Secretary Clinton to have 

some decision. And in turn they exert pressure and we have seen 

him released. 

So what it shows is if the pressures goes in a meaningful way 

in the highest levels that it will have some impact. 

Mr. MEADOWS. So you are saying that at the Secretary level or 

the Under Secretary level and just make sure that they are at 

those high levels? 

48

Mr. KUMAR. High level, but the way you tie is you tie human 

rights with economic and security dialogue. That’s when they will 

take it seriously. That’s me saying we raised it, the administration 

is reluctant, they know the Chinese will not like it. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Chairman, if you will indulge me for one 

more question, if that would be all right? I assume that it is. 

One of the understandings that I have is when we have events, 

whether it be arrests or whether it be rebellion, whether it be a 

protest, that social media and everything lights up, it flickers up. 

And then at that particular time that there is, you know, just an 

oppressive—on the Internet freedom it gets—really, there has to be 

a desire to jump the firewalls, so to speak, to allow that message 

to continue to get out. 

We heard the other day, or I heard in a briefing the other day, 

that once we jump the firewall that many times they are subject 

to cyberattacks, almost instantaneously at the same time. Again, to 

suppress the freedom of the press or the freedom of speech from 

sharing that. 

Would you agree that that is a significant problem, and if we 

could address that with additional server capacity would that help 

the Chinese people share the story? Either one of you, Pastor Fu 

or? 

Mr. FU. Yes, I think the public meeting and also a statement 

mentioning specific names, I think that will really demonstrate to 

leadership, you know, like the case of Chen Guangcheng, like the 

Guo Feixiong. You know, I remember months ago with Jared 

Genser, the president of Freedom Now, who actually yesterday had 

an op-ed in The Washington Post. We together met with President 

Obama’s top human rights officer near the White House, and basically our key demand our or key point is President Obama, you 

know, he can just basically use his presidential leverage to tell—

or even privately communicate with the Chinese, even face-saving 

matters, say, look, this is a concern, not only to me but to the 

American people, you know, the torture, the arbitrary arrests, you 

know, with Guo Feixiong and the Nobel Peace winner, Liu Xiaobo, 

and of course, Mr. Guo Feixiong. I mean, all these cases, and their 

family members are here. They are at the door of the White House 

and if you don’t release them I will meet with them. 

And in fact, the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and the 

Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, twice already, I know for a fact, 

that along with several committee chairmen, including Chairman 

Smith, wrote letters to President Obama, asking him to meet with 

Guo’s wife, asking him to meet with Chen Guangcheng. And so far 

not even a Cabinet-level member has ever even met with the family members. I think the Chinese are watching. The Chinese, of 

course, are observing whether that is the priority within the administration. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Perhaps we can call on the President’s compassion for people and encourage that even today. But I thank you. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. I appreciate your indulgence. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Meadows, thank you. Yes, Mr. Fu? 

Mr. FU. I just want to correct on record, I think I got to know 

the Acting Assistant Secretary, Ms. Zeya. She did mention Yang 

Maodung’s name last week at China’s U.N. UPR review in Geneva. 

49

So that is the only name mentioned by any other country. Of 

course, the Chinese Ambassador rejected that immediately. So I 

wanted to keep that record straight. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. I think we do have votes—yes, Ms. 

Zhang? 

[The following testimony was delivered through an interpreter.] 

Ms. ZHANG. I am very thankful to Chairman Smith. You gave us 

this opportunity on my husband, Guo Feixiong’s behalf. I hope that 

this hearing can produce some positive result to help my husband. 

And I hope that Congress and the administration can work together for the earlier release of my husband. 

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Zhang, thank you so much. Again, your bravery 

and that of your daughter just mirrors that of your husband and 

it’s an inspiration to all of us. 

You know, we begin every single session of Congress with a prayer. I think it would be most fitting, especially now since the cruelty 

in China has escalated, and it has already been bad for so long and 

many of you have suffered from it, Pastor Fu, but it would be very 

appropriate if Pastor Fu, if you could just lead us in a very brief 

prayer for the freedom of this wonderful husband and father, Guo 

Feixiong, and others who are suffering the barbarity of this regime 

in Beijing. If you could just lead us in that, and that will be the 

close of this hearing. 

Mr. FU. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for this wonderful 

opportunity to testify for the truth about freedom, about democracy, about all these brave spirits, that we know that every human 

being is created with your image which gives us the true source of 

dignity and equality and justice. So as we are created equal, we 

can seek justice and justice for all. Lord, we thank you for this 

great country, a country that has been founded by the Founding 

Fathers with this great Constitution, with the guarantee of freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. Lord, we 

cannot take this for granted, because, as your servant, Martin Luther King said, ‘‘Injustice anywhere is the threat to justice everywhere.’’ Lord, may you lead us to be a voice for the voiceless, because in the end those victims, those who are silenced, will remember not the words of enemies, but the silence of their friends. Lord, 

may you use this panel, use the Members of Congress, use the 

leadership of the great United States of America and use the leadership of President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to 

be a vehicle to not only advance the business, trade interests of 

America, but more importantly advance the freedom, democracy, 

and the human dignity, the value of these universal imperatives 

throughout the world. At the end of the day, we do not live by food 

and water and worldly entertainment only, but more importantly, 

we live to glorify you and to love our neighbor and to love each 

other. May you grant freedom for Guo Feixiong sooner. May you 

grant freedom of Gao Zhisheng sooner. May you grant freedom of 

many others sooner using us. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. 

Amen. 

Mr. SMITH. The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:31 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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