China has taken advantage of trade and human rights ‘delinking’ 20 years ago, say US lawmakers

Washington gave Beijing a ‘blank check’ that led to big business prospering at the expense of small companies and American workers, says Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Developments in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang are cited as examples of China’s suppression of human rights

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The US established two congressional panels in the early 2000s to strengthen scrutiny of Beijing’s governance after China was admitted to the WTO. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:24am, 14 Dec 2022Updated: 6:16am, 14 Dec 2022

Two decades of including China in international institutions and “delinking trade from human rights” has failed to improve the bilateral trade relationship or China’s suppression of rights, US lawmakers said on Tuesday.

“The hope some held on to that China’s inclusion in global institutions would be accompanied by improvements in human rights has met the harsh reality,” said Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).

Citing various developments in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang, Representative Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York and CECC commissioner, said Chinese human rights in 2022 “couldn’t be worse than they are”.

The CECC, which releases an annual report evaluating rule of law developments in China and the country’s compliance with international human rights standards, was set up a year before China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.

It is one of two US congressional panels set up in the early 2000s to strengthen scrutiny of Beijing’s governance after its accession to the trade organisation. The other, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, monitors the national security implications of the trade relationship.

The CECC currently comprises nine US senators and nine members of the House of Representatives, and – for the first time since 2014 – members of the presidential administration, for a total of 23 commissioners.