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Rep. Chris Smith urges White House strategy for Americans detained in China, introduces HR text
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Summary
Rep. Chris Smith told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that U.S. citizens face harsh treatment in China and described legislation (cited in the transcript as HR 54 91) to push a presidential strategy for Americans unjustly detained there.
Representative Chris Smith (R–N.J.) told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that his bill — identified in the hearing transcript as the "Nelson Wells and Dawn Michelle Hunt unjustly detained in Communist China Act, HR 54 91" — would require the White House to develop a strategy to assist Americans held in China.
"This piece of legislation, would call for the president to devise a strategy, to help these people who have been unjustly, detained," Smith said, describing a pattern he has encountered in dozens of congressional hearings on human-rights abuses in China. He said there are "well over 200 to 300" individuals who have been accused and face severe penalties and that family members have testified about abuse and lack of access.
Smith framed the bill as an instrument for advocacy and leverage. "We're hoping the president will raise this issue," he said, adding that several releases following prior hearings show "the Chinese are listening." He characterized Chinese criminal procedures as offering little due process and said U.S. action can help secure releases.
Smith also flagged related legislative priorities in the human-rights space, including reauthorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and urged timely congressional action.
The hearing did not include a committee vote on the bill; Smith asked colleagues to support rapid consideration and to use diplomatic and legislative levers to press for the detainees' release. The committee adjourned without action on the measure.
