CECC Annual Report: CCP’s Multiple Domestic and Foreign “Promises” Fall Through

Screenshot of the cover of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) 2025 annual report.

[People News] The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) released its 2025 annual report, stating that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long violated international commitments, continuously suppressing human rights, religious freedom, and the rule of law. It warns that Beijing’s “broken promises” not only harm Chinese citizens but also directly threaten U.S. interests and the global rules-based order.

According to a Voice of America report, the 282-page annual report documents in detail the latest developments of the CCP in areas such as human rights, forced labor, mass detention, and transnational repression. The report points out that from Hong Kong autonomy to labor protections, prohibition of torture, refugee protection, and the law of the sea, Beijing has signed international agreements but failed to fulfill its commitments, instead continuously expanding government control and repression.

China’s “breach pattern” harms U.S. interests

CECC Chairman Senator Dan Sullivan (Republican, Alaska) and Co-chair Representative Chris Smith (Republican, New Jersey) stated in a joint statement released with the report that the CCP repeatedly makes solemn commitments when signing treaties and agreements, but “treats these commitments as optional in governance,” resulting in a widening gap between official promises and actual practices. The statement also says, “Breaking promises is not an exception, but the norm in how the CCP handles international affairs and treats its own people.”

The two chairmen also pointed out that the CCP’s actions not only affect China but also pose real risks to the United States. These risks include: U.S. citizens being arbitrarily detained, forced-labor products entering U.S. supply chains, surveillance technologies linked to the CCP spreading globally, and Chinese communities in the United States being intimidated.

Transnational repression extends to the United States: from “overseas police stations” to pressure on dissidents

The report uses the framework of “promises made, promises broken,” listing international treaties that the CCP has signed or ratified but continuously violates, including the Convention against Torture, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Refugee Convention, the Forced Labour Convention, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

The report particularly emphasizes that CCP transnational repression operations pose direct threats to overseas Chinese communities and dissidents in the United States, including:

• Establishing undeclared “overseas police stations” in the United States and other countries
• Pressuring the families of critics
• Using Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) to monitor students studying abroad
• Harassing overseas human rights activists through social media and cyberattacks

The report notes that Chinese diplomats and security personnel have carried out transnational repression activities inside the United States, coordinating threats and harassment against demonstrators and overseas Chinese communities, violating the Vienna Convention.

“No one living in the United States should have to look over their shoulder out of fear of encountering foreign intelligence officers,” the two chairmen said in the statement.

The CECC report also notes that China’s national security and intelligence laws require companies to provide data to the government, putting American companies and users operating in China at risk of privacy violations; U.S. citizens working, studying, or traveling in China may still face arbitrary detention or exit bans.

Forced labor continues to expand: from Xinjiang cotton to the seafood supply chain

The CECC report states that the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and local governments continue to organize systematic forced labor affecting agricultural, manufacturing, and mining supply chains. Even more concerning, seafood produced through forced labor has entered U.S. school lunch programs, prisons, and military food procurement. The commission calls on the U.S. government to strengthen tracking and enforcement to fully implement the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

Broken domestic promises

The CECC report states that Beijing promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and protection of freedom of speech, assembly, and judicial independence, but in reality has used the National Security Law to massively crack down on pro-democracy figures, including sentencing 47 democracy activists involved in primary elections and continuing to prosecute Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai.

In Xinjiang, the report says that government policies of “crimes against humanity and genocide-like actions” continue, including forced labor, pervasive surveillance, religious repression, and mass arbitrary detention. International investigations found that all policies previously identified as causing atrocities in Xinjiang by the international community “have not stopped.”

The CECC report states that Chinese authorities continue to restrict all types of religious groups, placing religious practice under loyalty to the Communist Party. Muslim communities face suppression; Catholic and Protestant communities continue to face monitoring and crackdowns; “house churches” are raided, pastors are charged with “fraud,” or are banned from leaving the country. Falun Gong and other religious groups labeled as “xie jiao” face continued persecution, with many practitioners detained or tortured to death.

Policy recommendations: The United States and allies must strengthen coordination

The CECC calls on the U.S. government to take stronger measures, including:

• Imposing more targeted sanctions and visa restrictions on human rights violators
• Fully enforcing forced-labor prevention standards in federal procurement
• Implementing stricter reviews on high-risk Chinese apps, data services, and artificial intelligence products
• Launching joint enforcement actions with allies to combat transnational repression
• Providing more support to Chinese political prisoners and human rights defenders

The report warns that if democratic nations fail to respond collectively, the Chinese government will continue using threats and economic incentives to divide allies and weaken the international rules-based order.

The report emphasizes that human rights issues are not a “single issue separated from diplomacy and security,” but an essential part of U.S. national interests. Forced labor disrupts global markets, China’s arbitrary detention affects U.S. travelers, and digital surveillance technologies threaten global privacy and freedom.

“Defending human dignity helps make markets fairer, travel safer, technology freer, and alliances stronger. It weakens the influence authoritarian states, led by the totalitarian People’s Republic of China, exert on their people and partners,” the two chairmen wrote in the statement.

△