China Primer: Human Rights (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Oct. 8, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF12265 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Thomas Lum; Michael A. Weber |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The nongovernmental human rights organization Freedom
House describes China’s party-state as an “authoritarian
regime” that “has become increasingly repressive in recent
years.” Some analysts argue China has moved in a
totalitarian direction. The party-state is dominated by one
person, Xi Jinping, who became Communist Party of China
(CPC) General Secretary in 2012. Xi has attempted to
enforce greater ideological and cultural conformity and ever
tighter control over society, aided by the use of digital
technologies. In October 2022, the 20th Central Committee
of the CPC selected Xi to serve a norm-breaking, third,
five-year term.
Amid the apparent deepening repression in the People’s
Republic of China (PRC or China)—and in the broader
context of an increasingly competitive bilateral
relationship—U.S. policymakers have imposed measures
intended to deter PRC human rights abuses, prevent U.S.
complicity in such abuses, and/or hold perpetrators
accountable. Since 2020, U.S. actions have focused in
particular on responding to reports of mass detentions and
forced labor of ethnic Uyghur and other Muslim minority
groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
(XUAR) and elsewhere in China. The U.S. State
Department has assessed that PRC policies and practices in
the XUAR constitute crimes against humanity and
genocide.
