With as many as 300 Americans detained in China, where some are subjected to sexual abuse and torture, Rep. Chris Smith is demanding that President Trump make their release a centerpiece of his upcoming summit with China’s President Xi Jinping.
The New Jersey Republican, who co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, warned that quiet, piecemeal diplomacy has only emboldened Beijing to keep taking American hostages.
Mr. Smith, who has been chairing hearings with witnesses testifying about people imprisoned and persecuted by the Chinese government, told The Washington Times that China “only recognizes strength.”
He cited his 1994 meeting with Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, who warned that Western pleading is held in contempt by the Chinese Communist Party.
“They only recognize one thing, and that is strength. I met with [Wei Jingsheng] in 1994 when he was released briefly in Beijing,” Mr. Smith said.
“They rearrested him. … We worked really hard to make sure he got out, because they were going to kill him. When we, the West, and especially the United States, in any way kowtow … they hold that in contempt.”
Mr. Smith said, “That’s why we have to be firm. Very civil, but very firm. Our hope is that the president will have a very well-defined list … to effectuate the release of these individuals.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been advocating for all American citizens unlawfully or wrongfully detained in China.
Among the people detained or imprisoned by China, the most well-known include Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai; Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti; American think tank scholar Min Zin; American businessman Kai Li; Americans Dawn Michelle Hunt, Nelson Wells Jr., and John Chen; Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu; and the Zion 8 — eight pastors and co-workers of Beijing Zion Church.
A senior official told The Washington Times that Mr. Trump raises the issue of Americans and others detained in China every time he has met with Mr. Xi. “If I had to guess, he will be consistent again this time,” the official said.
Mr. Smith is also calling on the Trump administration to elevate China’s travel advisory to Level 4, the most severe, saying the current rating of Level 2 dangerously understates the risk, which includes exit bans and arbitrary criminal charges, to American businesspeople and travelers.
“If you go there even as a businessman or woman, and your interlocutors and your business associates over there don’t like what you’re doing, good luck,” Mr. Smith said. “They bring charges, you’re in prison, and you won’t get out anytime soon. … Once accused, you’re convicted. There’s no due process.”
“If you’re in a Chinese prison camp, you’re going to be tortured,” Mr. Smith said. “Some of the most horrific tortures on the face of the earth against women — many of them are sexual. I chaired the hearing on [Dawn] Hunt and with [Nelson] Wells [Jr.], with the family members. And I have to tell you, it was heartbreaking,” Mr. Smith said.
“The sexual abuse that is being visited upon them, the racial prejudice that is being further exacerbating their situation in prison,” he said.
Mr. Smith co-authored legislation known as the Nelson Wells/Dawn Michelle Hunt bill, introduced after a congressional hearing held two years ago, which would establish a formal “cases of concern” framework, require State Department engagement with families, and create an action plan for detained Americans.
However, the Foreign Affairs Committee pulled the bill from markup early last year, stalling legislative progress.
The legislation requires the Secretary of State to develop a diplomatic plan of action within 60 days of enactment to secure detainees’ release, including “a determination on expanded use of the International Prison Transfer Program.
The bill also calls for an explanation of why allied nations without a prisoner transfer treaty with China have nonetheless used China’s own Law of International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters to get their citizens transferred/released.
The State Department has so far declined, and Mr. Smith says the agency’s legal interpretation holds that humanitarian prisoner transfers cannot occur without an extradition treaty with China, a position the New Jersey Republican disputes, noting France and other countries have achieved such transfers.
The Washington Times reached out to the State Department for comment.
Mr. Smith said the Trump administration has several legislative tools to deploy to gain leverage over China when the country engages in what has been called hostage diplomacy against the U.S.
This includes the Global Magnitsky Act sanctions, visa bans, and relinking Most Favored Nation trade status to human rights progress.
Mr. Smith criticized previous administrations, particularly the Clinton administration, for delinking human rights from trade in May 1994, calling it a damaging precedent of capitulation.
“When Bill Clinton delinked human rights on May 26, 1994 — human rights from most favored nation status from trade, he sold out the Chinese people like nobody else has ever sold out a group of people.”
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Clinton’s office for comment.
Republican Rep. Chris Smith urges Trump to confront Xi about Americans jailed in China
