Are American Liberals Selling Out Chinese Women by Turning 'Blind Eye' to One-Child Policy?
WASHINGTON – As the communist Chinese government boasts that it has "prevented" more than 400 million lives through forced abortions as a part of its one child per family policy, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, claims that not only has the Obama administration "turned a blind eye" to China's human rights abuses against women, but has also provided millions in funding to an organization that supports the policy.
Since the Chinese national government implemented its one child law in 1979 that prevents families from having more than one baby, there have been a reported 13 million forced abortions per year, with 35,000 per day and 1,485 per hour. To put things in perspective, New York City, the largest city in the United States, has a population of 8.4 million people. Since 1971, there have been 336 million abortions performed and 195 million sterilizations.
"I respectfully submit that not only is the Obama administration turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed under the one-child policy, but is even contributing financial support, contrary to U.S. law, to the United Nations Population Fund," Smith told attendees of Thursday's Heritage Foundation discussion on the policy.
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Even though the U.S. passed a law in 1984 that requires the federal government to deny funding to groups and organizations that support China's forced abortions and sterilization policies, Smith said that the Obama administration has provided over $227 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA has consistently lauded China's population policies.
"For over three decades, the UNFPA has consistently heaped praise on China's population control policies and repeatedly urged other countries to embrace similar policies," Smith said. "Unlike Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush, Mr. Obama thus far has provided $227 million in taxpayer funds to the UNFPA, an organization that supports, plans, implements, defends and white-washes the Chinese government's brutal program."
Smith added that a few years ago the UNFPA and the Chinese government hosted high-level diplomats from Africa to try and sell the idea of "child limitation" and said that "some African leaders seem to have taken the bait."
Smith continued by criticizing other prominent Democrats such as Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for their indifference on the matter in their past visits to China.
Smith said that when Biden visited China last December, he told an audience that he "fully understood" the one-child policy and that he was not "second guessing" the government for imposing the law. Although Smith claims that Biden has tried to backtrack from those comments, he recited Biden's Senate voting record. In September of 2000, Biden voted against an amendment that would have condemned the one-child policy.
"His voting record as a Senator shines a spotlight on his long-held disregard for the severity of this human rights violation," Smith said. "Then-Senator Biden reportedly [voted against the amendment] because he was concerned that condemning China on fundamental human rights would interfere with the normalization of trade relations."
Smith then referenced the the World Conference on Women in Beijing that was held in 1995, which he said Hillary Clinton wanted so desperately to attend. Smith, who was leading the Congressional delegation at the conference, said that Clinton could go if she would condemn the Chinese government for their human rights abuses. Smith claims she did not do that.
"She finally led the delegation and gave a very distant view of coercion but did it in a way that was very non-incriminating to China," Smith said. "I was there in the room and the Chinese delegate that was next to her, that was one of the architects of the one-child per couple policy, was clapping just like everybody else in the room because it had completely missed the mark by a mile."
Self-taught Chinese lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, who was imprisoned by the Chinese government for his work in supporting the rights of women, also spoke at the Heritage event and said that the policy is "demoralizing" the Chinese society and is still in fully enforced despite reports from the communist party that law is not as strict as it used to be.
Guangcheng said that pregnant women are still being ripped from the streets by policy officials and strapped down for forced abortions, while their husbands, in many cases, are heavily beaten.
"[China] seems like a war zone," he said. "I want to emphasize here that everybody should realize that the communist party does not represent China. It is just now, they are becoming a public enemy of the Chinese people. I believe that we have underestimated the threat from the communist regime like China. They are many, many times more dangerous than the terrorist group."
Smith went on to blame liberals for helping create and spreading the notion in America that the one child policy is not as big of an issue as it was in the mid 1980s. He said that around 1984-1985, Democrats had foreign service officers testify under oath to say that one-child policy enforcement had "crested" in 1983.
"They have gone and scoured the country and on the record they said 'this is all ancient history.'" Smith said. "That mentality has been persistent over the course of decades selling out the Chinese women."
