The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a bipartisan panel directed by Congress to monitor the human-rights situation in China, released its annual report this week. Among other commendable ideas, this one stands out. The CECC calls for:
Protecting any U.S. citizen fired for expressing opinions critical of Chinese government policies or supportive of human rights in China or Hong Kong by extending the right to pursue civil litigation for wrongful employment termination.
Despite all the talk about decoupling after COVID-19, the reality is that many American firms still maintain significant footholds in the Chinese market — and they make significant concessions to the Chinese Communist Party to do so. In 2018, a Marriott employee based in Nebraska allegedly “liked” a tweet from a company Twitter account that endorsed independence for Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Roy Jones, the employee, was fired for it.
Passing the CECC-endorsed legislation would be a welcome contribution to recent, ongoing efforts to shield Americans from the CCP’s long, international reach.