Sen. Cruz: Chinese Officials Responsible for the Ongoing Genocide in Xinjiang ‘Will No Longer Enjoy Either Anonymity or Immunity’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced two of his initiatives in the Strategic Competition Act to hold accountable Chinese officials who are responsible for the genocide of the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang:

"The United States will not remain silent as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues its ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and the CCP officials responsible for these atrocities will no longer enjoy either anonymity or immunity. I am grateful for the shared urgency of my colleagues for confronting these atrocities, including the CCP's brutal and criminal campaign of forced abortions and sterilizations."

The final bill, passed by the Committee, included language requiring sanctions against Chinese officials who have committed systematic rape or forced abortions, sterilizations, or contraceptive implantation as part of the genocide. The language incorporates Sen. Cruz's Sanctioning and Highlighting Authoritarian Medicine and Eugenics (SHAME) Act. The bill also included an amendment authored by Sen. Cruz that states, unambiguously, which Congress has determined that the Chinese Communist Party and the government of China are engaged in an ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang, and that their tactics include imprisonment, torture, rape, and coercive birth prevention policies.

According to a recent report featuring an exiled Chinese physician, the Chinese Communist Party is carrying out widespread forced sterilizations on Uyghur women in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), with up to 80 surgeries a day. Sen. Cruz has long fought to shine a light on the CCP's human rights atrocities against the Uyghurs. In 2019, Sen. Cruz led a successful push to secure the blacklisting of companies that the CCP uses in its oppression of minorities such as the Uyghurs, including by introducing the TIANANMEN Act.

Other amendments and language advancing Sen. Cruz's policy initiatives that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced today:

• An amendment requiring the Secretary of State to rescind prohibitions that limit our Taiwanese allies from displaying symbols of their sovereignty, such as the Taiwanese flag or military insignia, when they conduct business with the United States. This amendment incorporates language from Sen. Cruz's Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty (Taiwan SOS) Act and his Reassurance for Official Contacts (Taiwan ROC) Act. It was cosponsored by Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.).
• An amendment requiring a report that identifies the individuals who control Chinese state-owned entities that benefit from intellectual property theft of American companies. This amendment incorporates language from Sen. Cruz's Sanction Entities in China for Undermining Rules, Exploiting Intellectual Property (SECURE IP) Act.
• An amendment requiring a report describing the extent to which the U.S. originally entering and potentially reentering the nuclear deal with Iran would facilitate malign cooperation between China and Iran. This amendment is part of a years-long effort by Sen. Cruz to highlight the catastrophic dangers of the deal.
• An amendment offered by Sen. Merkley that includes a requirement for a report on how China limits freedom of expression in the private sector, including in film. The language developed as a result of engagement and an amendment process with Sen. Cruz on the issue of Hollywood self-censorship. Sen. Cruz is the author of the Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies (SCRIPT) Act, which bans U.S. government funding or assistance to Hollywood studios that self-censor at the behest of the Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party.
• An amendment that names 20 companies and ships that may be involved in constructing Putin's Nord Stream 2 pipeline and requires a determination within 15 days whether they are subject to sanctions mandated by Sen. Cruz's Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act (PEESA) as amended by his Protecting Europe's Energy Security Clarification Act (PEESCA). This amendment was passed unanimously as an unmistakable signal of bipartisan commitment to blocking Nord Stream 2.

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