The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC): Xinjiang, its Uyghurs, and the Potential Expansion of Global Magnitsky Sanctions to Chinese Officials

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000 "with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President." (CECC About). The CECC FAQs provide useful information about the CECC. See CECC Frequently Asked Questions. They have developed positions on a number of issues (e.g., here).

CECC tends to serve as an excellent barometer of the thinking of political and academic elites in the United States about issues touching on China and the official American line developed in connection with those issues. CECC becomes an even more important barometer of coherence and fracture in policy approaches as the discipline of activities between the political parties and the President and Legislature fractures in new and dynamic ways. As such it is an important source of information about the way official and academic sectors think about China. As one can imagine many of the positions of the CECC are critical of current Chinese policies and institutions (see, e.g., (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

The CECC has recently turned its attention to a critical consideration of Chinese policies toward its autonomous regions, and its treatment of religion (in general) and religious minorities (specifically). That consideration is worthy in its own right, of course.  To that end, the CECC on July 7 published CECC ANALYSIS: Xinjiang Authorities Forcefully Suppress Demonstration, Restrict Free Flow of Information. In late July 2018, the CECC program-Surveillance, Suppression, and Mass Detention: Xinjiang’s Human Rights Crisis--looked specifically at Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.The trajectory of those events for U.S. policy is effectively summarized in the Written Statement of Ambassador Kelly Currie delivered during that program.

Now CECC has further augmented its focus on the issue of the Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in ways that may affect not just this issue but also indirectly the issue of the framework of U.S. China trade that is entering an important developmental stage. The reason for this is that as Congress moves more aggressively to abandon wholesale embargoes and trade sanctions as a means of statecraft in favor of quite targeted action against key figures in states through application of the Global Magnitsky Act, and its sanctions regimes.  The analysis was particularly useful to help understand the emerging state of U.S. Congressional politics. This is especially important in the context of the upcoming elections, as well as in the negotiations between the U.S. and China respecting trade and other matters. And, indeed, the most telling part of the discussion is the portion that targets China's Belt and Road Initiative ("We believe that targeted sanctions will have an impact.  At a time when the Chinese government is seeking to expand its influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, the last thing China’s leaders want is international condemnation of their poor and abusive treatment of ethnic and religious minorities." Letter to State and Treasury Secretaries). Here is the sort of pressure that, like several initiatives undertaken during the Obama administration, seeks to tie U.S. countermeasures against expanding Chinese trade networks to Chinese internal human rights. But under the Trump administration there is a difference. Where during the Obama administration these actions might have been coordinated, or at least undertaken in concert, during the Trump Administration, the President and Congress appear to play good cop /bad cop, a psychological negotiation tactic .

The CECC Press Release,  Chairs Lead Bipartisan Letter Urging Administration to Sanction Chinese Officials Complicit in Xinjiang Abuses, along with the letters to the Secretary's of State and Treasury follow below. The list of individuals and enterprises suggested for inclusion was omitted from the publicly available information. 

Recursos del constitucionalismo cubano/Cuban Constitutionalism Resources: Infografía del Comentario Popular/Infographic on Popular Commentary

The Coalition for Peace & Ethics has been looking at the data respecting public commentary on the draft Constitution since such comments were requested 13 August 2018 (e.g., Recursos del constitucionalismo cubano/Cuban Constitutionalism Resources: Primeros Commentarios del Pueblo/Initial Popular Commentaries). From that analysis we have prepared an Infographic that we thought might give readers a taste for the shape of constitutional discourse in Cuba in real time. Though these are not official comments they are useful to give a good sense of the scope of public debate and the subjects of most interest within those confines.

La CPE ha estado estudiando los datos respetando los comentarios públicos sobre el borrador de la Constitución, ya que dichos comentarios fueron solicitados el 13 de agosto de 2018. A partir de ese análisis, hemos preparado una Infografía que pensamos podría dar gusto a los lectores sobre la forma del discurso constitucional en Cuba en tiempo real. Aunque estos no son comentarios oficiales, son útiles para dar una buena idea del alcance del debate público y temas de mayor interés dentro de esos límites.

This is part of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics's Technical Assistance Project--Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018.

The  Infographic on Popular Commentary on Cuban Internet Official Site to date/ Infografía del Comentario Popular en el sitio oficial cubano de Internet hasta la fecha follows.

The Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack and its Perverse Consequences: Cuban Constitutionalism and U.S. Influence

It should come as no surprise that the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack has oscillated along a very narrow route between a specific form of politics (the politics of insinuation and bad behavior even when judged by the low standards expected of states in their relations with each other) and a specific form of scientific forensics (one that takes the discursive style the deconstructive hermeneutics of scholastic monks).  The former has seen use of the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack to justify a policy change in need of some form of public legitimacy.  The later has seen the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack as a marvelous terrain within which the forensic scientific community can engage in two of its favorite sports--disciplinary prestige and the attention of those with money and power--and usually for reasons of the highest morality and virtue, centering the search for truth.  

Claims that US diplomats suffered mysterious brain injuries after being targeted with a secret weapon in Cuba have been challenged by neurologists and other brain specialists. A medical report commissioned by the US government, published in March, found that staff at the US embassy in Havana suffered concussion-like brain damage after hearing strange noises in homes and hotels, but doctors from the US, the UK and Germany have contested the conclusions. In four separate letters to the Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the original medical study, groups of doctors specialising in neurology, neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology described what they believed were major flaws in the study. (Cuban 'acoustic attack' report on US diplomats flawed, say neurologists)

These contests become more complicated when they acquire an interdisciplinary character, as when scientists debate both the technical feasibility of the Sonic Attacks even as they argue about the way such injury might have been presented in victims (The Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack: A Sonic Cocktail with a Kick--(Kevin Fu, Wenyuan Xu, and Chen Yan, “On Cuba, Diplomats, Ultrasound, and Intermodulation Distortion,” IEEE Spectrum (March 2018).). This keeps both stakeholders, the media and the audience which is in part the object of all of this activity, quite engaged in a process that can be managed for a long term to suit the needs of the principal players. It also complicates the narrative in ways that may be necessary given the potential multiple objectives pursued by states (The Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack and the Weaponization of Noise; From the Front Lines in China, Cuba, the United States and Elsewhere).

By now, of course, these gyrations define the character of the "new normal" But they define not merely the state of relations between the two states but also the way in which each is now vulnerable and constrained in their internal and external choices at a point in time in which Cuba is to some extent vulnerable.

This post suggests that like every transition to new political equilibrium states (and especially during the period of such transition), the usually foreseen consequences of the courses of action that bring these changes eventually begin to emerge. It considers one of them--tied to the determination to substantially reduce U.S. diplomatic presence in Cuba at a very interesting point in Cuban history.More specially it considers the ways in which the current trajectory of Cuban constitutional reform can be understood within the context of the trajectories of the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack. The essay is  part of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics's Technical Assistance Project--Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018.

Recursos del constitucionalismo cubano/Cuban Constitutionalism Resources: Comentarios del Extranjero y de la Prensa Independiente/Commentaries from Abroad and the Independent Press

The leaders of the Cuban State, like many other leading groups around the world, have announced its commitment to encourage popular review and commentary of its project of constitutional revision for the Cuban Republic. Such review and commentary broadly encouraged not just from Cuban living within Cuba but also those resident abroad (e.g., here), will precede a general referendum the object of which is to obtain popular approval of the constitution as finalized.  

 (New Constitution to Strengthen Ties between Cuba and Emigration)

It is with that in mind that I am posting, from time to time, commentary submitted during the the time public commentary and debate is permitted in Cuba (and elsewhere among Cubans abroad) respecting the 2018 draft Constitution. This is part of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics's Technical Assistance Project--Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018.

I have already posted the first 359 informal comments published by Cubadebate (Descargue el Proyecto de Constitución de la República de Cuba (+ PDF)) and covering the period through August 12, 2018 (Recursos del constitucionalismo cubano/Cuban Constitutionalism Resources: Primeros Commentarios del Pueblo/Initial Popular Commentaries).

This post makes available two principal essay-commentaries.  The first, Jorge Sanguinetty, Oportunidades del debate constitucional en Cuba, was first published in Diario de Cuba on 9 August 2018, provides a window into thinking from high levels of the Cuban community abroad. The second, Rene Gómez Manzano, Una vez publicada la “nueva” Constitución castrista…, was first published in Cubanet 6 Augist 2018, and represents a view from the Cuban independent press. Both essays appear below (in the original Spanish). Links to related additional commentary are also provided after each commentary. This is part of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics's Technical Assistance Project--Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018.

孙晓义评许章润:我们当下的恐惧与期待/ Flora Sapio, Thoughts on Xu Zhangrun: Our current fears and expectations

        

Very recently, Professor Xu Zhangrun (许章润) Professor of Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law at Tsinghua University, posted an essay, "Our current fears and expectations" (我们当下的恐惧与期待).   The essay appeared on the website of the Unirule Institute of Economics (天则经济研究所), an independent think tank in Beijing (and below).  It was thereafter translated into English by Geremie R. Barmé, Editor, China Heritage  on 1 August 2018 and posted to its website with an elegant and thoughtful introduction by the translator (Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes — A Beijing Jeremiad).  The essay is important and worthy of reflection, even for those inclined to reject its claims, in whole or part.   

Flora Sapio (Naples) and I have  each written reflections on the many important ideas, and provocations, in Professor Xu's essay. My reflection,  白轲评许章润:我们当下的恐惧与期待/ Larry Catá Backer, Thoughts on Xu Zhangrun: Our current fears and expectations was recently posted. Professor Xu's essay may be accessed at the end of each of our reflections.

This post includes Flora Sapio's response to Professor Xu's Essay, 孙晓义评强 许章润:我们当下的恐惧与期待/ Flora Sapio, Thoughts on Xu Zhangrun: "Our current fears and expectations," appears below.  It may also be accessed at Professor Sapio's blog: The Forgotten Archipelago.

 The essay may be downloaded HERE.

白轲评 许章润:我们当下的恐惧与期待/ Larry Catá Backer, Thoughts on Xu Zhangrun: Our current fears and expectations

Very recently, Professor Xu Zhangrun (许章润) Professor of Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law at Tsinghua University, posted an essay, "Our current fears and expectations" (我们当下的恐惧与期待).   The essay appeared on the website of the Unirule Institute of Economics (天则经济研究所), an independent think tank in Beijing;(and below).  It was then translated into English by Geremie R. Barmé, Editor, China Heritage  on 1 August 2018 and posted to its website with an elegant and thoughtful introduction by the translator (Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes — A Beijing Jeremiad).  The essay is important and worthy of reflection, even for those inclined to reject its claims, in whole or part.   

Flora Sapio and I have  each written reflections on the many important ideas, and provocations, in Professor Xu's essay. Flora Sapio's reflection, 孙晓义评 许章润:我们当下的恐惧与期待/ Flora Sapio, Thoughts on Xu Zhangrun: Our current fears and expectations, appears here (and may also be accessed HERE).

My reflection,  白轲评 许章润:我们当下的恐惧与期待/ Larry Catá Backer, Thoughts on Xu Zhangrun: Our current fears and expectations appears below. Professor Xu's essay may be accessed at the end of each of our reflections.

The essay may be downloaded HERE.

Recursos del constitucionalismo cubano/Cuban Constitutionalism Resources: Primeros Commentarios del Pueblo/Initial Popular Commentaries

(Castro proposes changes to Cuban constitution, including term limits for leaders)

The leaders of the Cuban State, like many other leading groups around the world in comparable circumstances, have announced its commitment to encourage popular review and commentary of its project of constitutional revision for the Cuban Republic. Such review and commentary is to be broadly encouraged not just from Cubans living within Cuba but also those resident abroad (e.g., here), within the parameters set by the state under the leadership of the Communist Party. The relatively short period for comments will be organized through assemblies organized throughout the state culminating in a general referendum, the object of which is to obtain popular approval of the constitution as finalized. That referendum is currently scheduled for February 2019.

 (New Constitution to Strengthen Ties between Cuba and Emigration)

It is with that in mind that I will make available popular commentary submitted to the state organs or otherwise published during the course of the public commentary around the debates in Cuba (and elsewhere among Cubans abroad) to the 2018 draft Constitution.

This post makes available the first 361 comments with were allowed to be posted to Cubadebate (Descargue el Proyecto de Constitución de la República de Cuba (+ PDF)) and covering the period through August 12, 2018. These (in the aggregate long) set of comments follow below.

Please note that these are unofficial comments; they responses posted to the website of a state controlled entity has permitted publication. There will be other sites for such expression within officvial and unofficial spaces in Cuba. The process of commentary will be carefully vetted in specially called local assemblies during which the attendees may debate and forward suggestions to the National Assembly which will consider all comments when it meets again after November 2018 (#Cuba inicia proceso de consulta popular sobre proyecto de nueva Constitución (13 Aug. 2018) ("el proceso de asambleas populares comenzará oficialmente en la comunidad de Birán, donde nació el líder cubano, e involucrará a los ciudadanos en localidades y centros de trabajo de toda la nación. Las reuniones serán más de 135 mil en todo el país, y en ellas los participantes podrán discutir y presentar propuestas "))

Though these are not official comments they are useful to give a good sense of the scope of public debate and the subjects of most interest within those confines. We will be offering analysis and suggestions of implications for the popular project of constitution making in later posts. This is part of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics's Technical Assistance Project--Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018.

From the Independent Expert on foreign debt, international financial obligations and human rights: August Newsletter

Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, the Independent Expert on foreign debt, international financial obligations and human rights.  Mr. Bohoslavsky is the current Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights. The Independent Expert carries out analytical research and undertakes country missions, in an effort to work with Governments, the United Nations, non-governmental actors and other stakeholders on issues falling under his mandate. The terms of his mandate are contained in Human Rights Council resolution 25/16.

In his 2018 Report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/37/54), Mr.  Bohoslavsky

describes the evolution in structural adjustment responses to financial crises and the mitigation of adverse social impacts up to the 2007–2008 financial crisis and explains how structural adjustment programmes affect human rights. He argues that, for both economic and legal reasons, economic reform programmes must be inclusive and advance human rights. He identifies the main challenges of developing guiding principles for assessing human rights impacts, including their basis, scope, content, issues related to timing, and some reflections on how to proceed. He concludes with some preliminary recommendations for discussion on the content and format of the guiding principles and proposes the next steps towards developing them (Ibid., p. 5, ¶ 11).

He would "Draw on existing human rights standards relating to economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights at the international and regional levels, including core international human rights treaties, their authoritative interpretation in general comments, statements, decisions, guiding principles, concluding observations and recommendations issued by international human rights mechanisms" (Ibid., ¶78(b)). And he might more closely embed state actions within the leadership and guidance of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. "Recommend that human rights impact assessments be instituted and carried out regularly, before, during and after the implementation of economic reforms that may have the potential to cause significant adverse human rights impacts, and facilitate States’ reporting obligations to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" (Ibis., ¶ 78(p). 

It is in that context that much of the valuable work that follows might be appreciated and considered. One can better understand this work by its application.  To that end I am happy to pass along the Independent Expert's August 2108 Newsletter, which follows below.

Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy: Video Recording of Conference Presentations Posted

The recently concluded 2018 Conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuba Economy provided a rich diversity of views covering a wide range of topics. This year the program was particularly important for its insights into the legal and policy challenges facing the country at an important political moment--during quite public and encouraged national debates on constitutional reform. 

This year ASCE recorded a number of the panels and addresses by leading experts in their fields.  These are available at the ACSE Youtube Channel.  Links to the 2018 Program panels follows.

Recursos del constitucionalismo cubano; Tablas de comparación de lado a lado: Constitución de 1976 y Constitución propuesta de 2018/Cuban Constitutionalism Resources; Side by Side Comparison Tables: Constitution of 1976 and Proposed Constitution of 2018

(Pix credit: New Constitution to Boost Ties between Cuba and Diaspora)

The Coalition for Peace and Ethics undertakes technical assistance and education projects from time to time. CPE has undertaken to provide current materials that may be is use in the consideration of the substantial revisions to the constitution of Cuba that were just recently circulated by the state. La CPE emprende proyectos de asistencia técnica y educación. En estas últimas semanas CPE se ha comprometido a proporcionar materiales actuales que pueden ser utilizados en la consideración de las revisiones sustanciales a la constitución de Cuba que recientemente fueron distribuidas por el estado.

The project, Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018, is described as follows:

Durante el verano de 2018, el gobierno cubano, bajo la dirección de su Partido Comunista Cubano (PCC), distribuyó una constitución revisada provisional para el estudio y discusión de los ciudadanos cubanos en el país y también en el extranjero. El gobierno ha alentado comentarios y sugerencias para una mayor reforma antes de que la constitución sea finalizada y adoptada. Estos materiales han sido desarrollados para proporcionar recursos a las personas interesadas en participar en ese proceso nacional de reforma constitucional y aquellos que están interesados en el proceso constitucional cubano específicamente, o en cuestiones de constitucionalismo comparativo en general.

During the Summer of 2018, the Cuban government, under the leadership of its Communist Party (Partido Communista Cubano (PCC)) circulated a provisional revised constitution for study and discussion by Cuban citizens at home and as well those living abroad. The government has encouraged comments and suggestions for further reform before the constitution is finalized and adopted. These materials have been developed to provide resources for individuals interested in participating in that national process of constitutional reform and those who are interested either in the Cuban constitutional process specifically, or in issues of comparative constitutionalism more generally.

The site provides resources developed by CPE staff and others: Enlaces de recursos/Resource links: AQUI/HERE. CPE will post notices of additions to the resources created for this project.   

Esta publicación proporciona acceso a una comparación del texto de la constitución ahora propuesta con la de la constitución actual que CPE acaba de crear.  This post provides information about a side by side comparison of the proposed constitution with the current text that CPE has just created and made available for study. This is part of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics's Technical Assistance Project--Reforma de la Constitución del Estado cubano 2018/Reform of the Cuban State Constitution 2018.

Se puede acceder a los enlaces a continuación. Links to the side by side comparison may be accessed below.