With New Report, Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi Calls on Trump To Hold Chinese Communist Party To Account For Its Escalating Assault on Human Rights
WASHINGTON — Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, today called on the Trump administration to hold the CCP to account for its expanding crackdown on democracy and human rights. Released today, a new Minority Report titled “The CCP’s Escalating Assault on Democracy and Human Rights” outlines how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is intensifying repression at home, exporting authoritarianism abroad, and leveraging emerging technologies to entrench control— while the current administration has deprioritized democracy and human rights as an element of U.S. foreign policy.
“At a moment when President Trump is praising Xi Jinping without even mentioning human rights, this report reminds us of what is truly at stake,” said Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi. “Our competition with the CCP is not only about markets or technology—it is about whether the future will be governed by fear or by freedom, by control or by conscience. If America fails to stand for these values, we risk ceding to the CCP a world increasingly defined by authoritarian control and coercive influence. To prevail in the competition with the CCP, it is in America’s core interest to stand firmly on the side of democracy.”
The report finds that the CCP’s repression has intensified on three fronts:
At home: The CCP “continues to systematically deny its citizens fundamental civil and political rights,” jailing more journalists than any other nation and enforcing “sweeping censorship and surveillance that criminalize dissent.” It has dismantled Hong Kong’s autonomy, subjugated women and LGBTQ+ citizens, and waged a “brutal campaign of cultural repression” against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians—policies amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity.
Abroad: Beijing is “exporting authoritarianism and reshaping global norms,” supporting autocratic regimes from Russia to Iran, expanding police outposts in over 50 nations to track dissidents, and capitalizing on U.S. disengagement from international institutions to entrench autocratic influence.
Through technology: The CCP is investing heavily in AI-driven surveillance, quantum computing, and neurotechnology to build what the report calls a “system of pre-emptive repression,” enabling Beijing to identify and suppress dissent “before it even emerges.”
The report warns that the CCP’s human-rights abuses are not internal matters but a direct threat to global stability and American security: “What the CCP is doing will not stay confined within its borders. Its authoritarian practices are spreading outward, shaping a world increasingly hostile to America’s values and strategic interests.” It argues that the competition with the CCP is ultimately “a contest of ideas—between freedom and coercion, self-government and surveillance”—and that defending democracy is both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity.
To confront these challenges, the report calls for a renewed bipartisan commitment to human rights as a pillar of U.S. strategy and outlines seven core recommendations:
Reaffirm human rights and democracy as a core foreign-policy principle.
Press for the release of political prisoners such as Jimmy Lai and Dr. Gulshan Abbas in all U.S.–China meetings.
Reconstitute federal programs dismantled by the administration to counter Beijing’s malign influence.
Rebuild alliances with democratic partners strained by tariffs and isolationism.
Reinvigorate soft-power tools like USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, and Voice of America.
Strengthen export controls to prevent U.S. technology from enabling repression.
Re-engage multilaterally in the UN and other international institutions to push back against Beijing’s efforts to rewrite global norms around sovereignty and human rights.
The report concludes that America’s credibility and strength depend on aligning its actions with its ideals. By elevating democracy and human rights to the forefront of its China policy, it argues, the United States can rally allies, inspire oppressed peoples, and reaffirm that true leadership in the 21st century must rest on freedom, not fear.
The report is available here.