Since the morning of July 10th, the Chinese authorities have begun a large-scale crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists in China. Within two days, over 60 human rights lawyers and activists have been forcefully taken away by the police or “disappeared”. The number is still rising.
Since Xi Jinping came to power, China’s human rights record has kept worsening. Under his reign over 1000 dissidents have been arrested. We urge President Obama and the U.S. government to investigate this case of severe human rights infringement, and, on humanitarian ground, take strong measures to intervene. Xi’s state visit to the U.S. scheduled for September this year should be cancelled, and all official exchanges with the Chinese government should be suspended until this matter is resolved.