§ 6902. Policy

It is the policy of the United States—

(1) to develop trade relations that broaden the benefits of trade, and lead to a leveling up, rather than a leveling down, of labor, environmental, commercial rule of law, market access, anticorruption, and other standards across national borders;

(2) to pursue effective enforcement of trade-related and other international commitments by foreign governments through enforcement mechanisms of international organizations and through the application of United States law as appropriate;

(3) to encourage foreign governments to conduct both commercial and noncommercial affairs according to the rule of law developed through democratic processes;

(4) to encourage the Government of the People’s Republic of China to afford its workers internationally recognized worker rights;

(5) to encourage the Government of the People’s Republic of China to protect the human rights of people within the territory of the People’s Republic of China, and to take steps toward protecting such rights, including, but not limited to—

(A) ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

(B) protecting the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose a residence within the People’s Republic of China and the right to leave from and return to the People’s Republic of China; and

(C) affording a criminal defendant—

(i) the right to be tried in his or her presence, and to defend himself or herself in person or through legal assistance of his or her own choosing;

(ii) the right to be informed, if he or she does not have legal assistance, of the right set forth in clause (i);

(iii) the right to have legal assistance assigned to him or her in any case in which the interests of justice so require and without payment by him or her in any such case if he or she does not have sufficient means to pay for it;

(iv) the right to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal established by the law;

(v) the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law; and

(vi) the right to be tried without undue delay; and

(6) to highlight in the United Nations Human Rights Commission and in other appropriate fora violations of human rights by foreign governments and to seek the support of other governments in urging improvements in human rights practices.

(Pub. L. 106–286, div. B, title II, § 203, Oct. 10, 2000, 114 Stat. 893.)