Trump Likely to Push Human Rights at China Meeting

The first meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 6 will likely broach the subject of human rights abuses in China when Trump when plays host at his Mar-a-Lago home.

That's the response from a top administration official after Newsmax asked about the agenda at the "Winter White House" in Florida. The official said on background that Trump strongly believes "human rights is an integral part of where we are as Americans."

The same official said that both Trump and his Chinese counterpart are "free to discuss whatever subject they want" while at the Mar-a-Lago summit.

According to the latest report from Amnesty International (AI), the Communist regime in China continued to crack down on human rights in 2017. "Sweeping national security laws and regulations continued to be drafted and enacted, giving greater powers to the authorities to silence dissent, restrict or censor information and harass and prosecute human rights defenders," concluded AI.

The report specifically cited the Foreign NGO Management Law, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2017. The law, according to AI, "[creates] additional barriers to the already limited rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression. Although the law was ostensibly designed to regulate and even protect the activities of foreign NGOs, it transferred to the Ministry of Public Security – the state policing agency – the responsibility to oversee the registration of these NGOs, as well as supervise their operations and pre-approve their activities."

Amnesty International also cited the Film Industry Promotion Law and the Cyber Security Law, both of which were enacted in November. Under the former, the content of motion pictures "endangering national security" is restricted.

The Cyber Security Law prohibits "individuals or groups from using the internet to 'harm national security.' 'upset social order.' or 'harm national interests' – terms that were vague and imprecise under existing Chinese law and could be used to further restrict freedom of expression."