46 civil society organisations urge Secretary Blinken to raise human rights concerns during China visit

Today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will start his four-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai to meet with senior Chinese officials. The US Department of State reported on Friday that the meeting will build on the US’s “intensive diplomacy over the past year to responsibly manage the U.S.-China relationship by strengthening lines of communication to reduce the risk of miscalculation and conflict”.

The US Department of State also just published their 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which detailed human rights violations in China, including the drastic deteriorations in Hong Kong. 

Ahead of Secretary Blinken’s visit to China, 46 civil society organisations from around the world have published a joint statement urging the United States to place human rights at the centre of these high-level meetings, and consider imposing real consequences on Beijing as it violates human rights and its obligations under international law. 

Specifically, the organisations urge Secretary Blinken to:

  • Call for the release of all political prisoners in Mainland China, Hong Kong, the Uyghur Region, and Tibet, particularly those prisoners who are US citizens and those whose family members are US citizens; 

  • Issue targeted sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations of international law, including the recent enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in Hong Kong, also known as “Article 23”; 

  • Reiterate that no Hong Kong or Chinese laws have jurisdiction on US soil and condemn officials for engaging in transnational repression, including by issuing arrest warrants and bounties against five pro-democracy Hong Kong activists in the United States.

Secretary Blinken’s visit follows his visit to Beijing in June 2023 where he met with the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang. In these meetings, Secretary Blinken focused on the bilateral relationship between the US and China among other regional issues. He “raised concerns about PRC human rights violations in the Uyghur region in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as individual cases of concern. He emphasized that the United States will always stand up for our values.”

The full joint statement and list of signatories is available here.

美國國務卿布林肯再度訪華 香港監察及45個民間組織聯署促請提出中國侵犯人權問題

美國國務卿布林肯（Antony Blinken）今天啟程前往北京和上海，展開為期四天的訪問，期間將會見中國高級官員。美國國務院上週五（19日）表示，今次訪問將在美國「過去一年密集外交的基礎上，透過加強溝通渠道，減少誤算和衝突的風險，負責任地管理美中關係」。

另外，美國國務院剛發表《2023年國家人權實踐報告》（2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices），詳述中國侵犯人權行為，包括香港局勢急劇惡化。

布林肯訪華前，來自世界各地的46個民間組織發表聯合聲明，促請美國在這些高官會談中着重關注人權，並考慮因應北京侵犯人權及國際法下的義務，向其施加實質後果。

聯合聲明全文及聯署組織名單請見此處。

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