Press Releases

Today, as President Obama meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, Congressmen Jim McGovern (D-MA), a senior House Democrat and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC), led a bipartisan “Stateless” Breakfast to honor the human rights defenders who have been imprisoned, intimidated, and silenced by the Chinese government and will not have a seat at the table for tonight’s White House dinner.

“As President Obama and President Xi meet at the White House today, we are sending a clear bipartisan message that human rights must be at the top of the agenda. America has a responsibility to stand up for human rights at home and abroad,” Congressman McGovern said. “We want to build a constructive relationship with China as a partner on the world stage, but the human rights abuses that continue there cannot be ignored. Today, we are giving a voice to all those who China has tried to silence. This is a moment for real leadership and the world is watching.”

Joining McGovern today in honoring the human rights activists (full list below) were Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA), McGovern’s fellow TLHRC co-chair, Senator Marco Rubio (FL), Co-Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, other members of Congress, and leaders from a wide range of international human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, China Aid, Initiatives for China, International Campaign for Tibet, Project 2049 Institute, Reporters Without Borders, and others.

“With President Xi’s state visit, we will see the pomp and might of the Chinese state. It is all the more important, then, that we show the conscience of the Chinese people,” Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA) said. “To stand up for the rights of any man is to stand up also for the rights of everyone. The voices of those who have so bravely stood for human rights in China, and endured the oppression of the regime must be heard. I urge everyone here to continue to speak the truth about what is taking place in China, and to keep working until the rights and dignity of every human being are upheld.”

“I am pleased to partner with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and many respected human rights organizations to host this breakfast to honor China’s human rights defenders, on the occasion of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington,” said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). “The United States must commit to embracing the struggle of China’s real heroes—the men and women who courageously lay claim, regardless of the cost, to their basic human rights. Together, we look forward to that day when the God-given rights of the Chinese people are finally realized.”

“We are proud to partner with Congressmen McGovern and Pitts and other members of Congress on both sides of the aisle as we continue our work to lift the voices of human rights activists who have been oppressed in China,” said Sophie Richardson, China Director of Human Rights Watch. “By praising these courageous human rights defenders today, we are honoring their sacrifice and continuing the fight for justice.”

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS HONORED

Chen Guangcheng, a civil rights lawyer and activist, spoke about freedom of expression. Chen Guangcheng advocated for the rights of disabled people in rural communities in China, and organized class-action litigation against the government’s violent enforcement of its one-child policy. Blind since his childhood, Chen is self-taught in the law, and is currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Catholic University’s Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. 

Lu Pin, a feminist activist, journalist and columnist who has worked for women’s rights in China for more than 20 years, spoke on women’s rights. She is director of Media Monitor Network for Women and chief editor of Feminist Voices, a leading alternative media outlet in China.

Rebiya Kadeer, the president of the World Uyghur Congress, spoke about those in China who have been the victims of arbitrary detention and torture. Before her arrest in 1999, she was one of the wealthiest and best-known Uyghur businesswomen in China. But that year, while en route to meet with a U.S. Congressional delegation, Ms. Kadeer was arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison for ‘stealing state secrets.’ On March 17, 2005, three days before an official visit to Beijing by the U.S. Secretary of State, she was released from prison on medical grounds. She was later granted political asylum here in the U.S.

Dr. Teng Biao, a lawyer and a human rights activist, spoke on the right to due process, legal representation and equal justice under the law. Since 2003, Teng has provided counsel in a wide variety of human rights cases and numerous death penalty cases. He co-founded “Open Constitution Initiative” and founded China Against the Death Penalty, Beijing. Formerly a lecturer in law at the University of Law and Politics in Beijing, he is currently a visiting scholar with the U.S. – Asia Law Institute at the NYU School of Law.

Tsering Kyi spoke on religious freedom. A Tibetan writer, blogger and poet, Tsering Kyi has been working since 2009 at Voice of America as a host of a program on the Tibetan Internet. In January 2013, her nephew, Tsering Tashi, committed self-immolation in Tibet to protest Chinese policies.

Yang Jianli of Initiatives for China spoke on behalf of Ti-Anna Wang about the basic right and a pillar of democracy, the freedom of association and assembly. Ti-Anna Wang is the daughter of Dr. Wang Bingzhang, a Chinese democracy activist currently serving a life sentence in China. Since his wrongful imprisonment, she has been a vocal advocate for his release.

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