Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee have introduced legislation that would create a memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and political persecution carried out by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The bill, titled the "Honoring the Victims of Communist China's Tyranny Act," mandates the State Department to establish the memorial in International Park, directly opposite the CCP Embassy. This location is intended to serve as a daily reminder to Chinese officials of the CCP's historical and ongoing human rights abuses.
"The people of China deserve nothing less than the God-given liberty and unalienable rights America's founders fought for 250 years ago," Scott stated. "America should have zero tolerance for Communist China and its crimes."
The proposed memorial would commemorate victims from the era of Mao Zedong, whose policies are estimated by historians to have caused the deaths of tens of millions, through to the Tiananmen Square crackdown and the genocide against Uyghurs, which the U.S. government has recognized.
Scott highlighted that Xi Jinping and the CCP are responsible for severe human rights violations, including forced labor, torture, forced sterilizations, and organ harvesting. The senator also criticized online influencer Hasan Piker for past praise of Mao Zedong, calling such remarks "beyond the pale" and indicative of the "new face of the Democrat Party."
Blackburn echoed these sentiments, describing the CCP as "guilty of the worst human rights abuses imaginable." She added that the legislation would "honor victims of Communist China's tyranny by allocating existing funds and donations to build a memorial that will ensure America never forgets the human cost of the CCP's oppression."
The memorial is intended to express "solidarity and friendship of the people of the United States with the people of the People's Republic of China" and a "hope and prayer that the Chinese people may one day enjoy the blessings of liberty." Exhibits would document the genocide of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang, as well as efforts to suppress the culture, religion, history, and language of Tibetans and Southern Mongolians.
The legislation proposes a taxpayer-funded limit of $500,000 for the memorial, with the remaining costs to be covered by private donations.
Former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback has previously stated that religious freedom is the issue China fears most and advocated for confronting Xi Jinping over the repression of Christians, Uyghurs, Falun Gong, and other faiths.
Scott also cited the case of jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year sentence under the national security law, as an example of the consequences for those who speak out against the Chinese government. The senator described Lai's sentence, called "unjust and tragic" by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as a consequence for speaking out.