[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5269 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5269

 To encourage liberalization inside the People's Republic of China and 
                                 Tibet.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 7, 1994

 Mr. Lantos (for himself, Mrs. Unsoeld, and Ms. Pelosi) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To encourage liberalization inside the People's Republic of China and 
                                 Tibet.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.

    (a) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to create principles 
governing the conduct of United States economic cooperation projects in 
the People's Republic of China and Tibet.
    (b) Principles.--It is the sense of the Congress that any United 
States economic cooperation project in the People's Republic of China 
or Tibet should adhere to the following principles:
            (1) Suspend the use of all goods, wares, articles, and 
        merchandise that are mined, produced, or manufactured, in whole 
        or in part, by convict labor or forced labor if there is reason 
        to believe that the material or product is produced or 
        manufactured by such convict or forced labor, and refuse to use 
        forced labor in the project.
            (2) Seek to ensure that political or religious views, sex, 
        ethnic or national background, involvement in political or 
        labor activities or nonviolent demonstrations, or association 
        with suspected or known dissidents will not prohibit hiring, 
        lead to harassment, demotion, or dismissal, or in any way 
        affect the status or terms of employment in the project. The 
        United States parent company of the United States economic 
        cooperation project should not discriminate in terms or 
        conditions of employment in the project against persons with 
        past records of arrests or internal exile for nonviolent 
        protest or membership in unofficial organizations committed to 
        nonviolence.
            (3) Ensure that methods of production used in the project 
        do not pose an unnecessary physical danger to workers and 
        neighboring populations and property and that the project does 
        not unnecessarily risk harm to the surrounding environment, and 
        consult with community leaders regarding environmental 
        protection with respect to the project.
            (4) Strive to use business enterprises that are not 
        controlled by the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        or its authorized agents and departments as potential partners 
        in the project.
            (5) Prohibit any military presence on the premises of the 
        project.
            (6) Undertake to promote freedom of association and 
        assembly among the employees of the project. The United States 
        economic cooperation project should protest any infringement by 
        the Government of the People's Republic of China of these 
        freedoms to the appropriate authorities of that Government and 
        to the International Labor Organization, which has an office in 
        Beijing.
            (7) Use every possible channel of communication with the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China to urge that 
        Government to disclose publicly a complete list of all those 
        individuals arrested since March 1989, to end incommunicado 
        detention and torture, and to provide international observers 
        access to all places of detention in the People's Republic of 
        China and Tibet and to trials of prisoners arrested in 
        connection with the pro-democracy events of April through June 
        of 1989 and the pro-democracy demonstrations which have taken 
        place in Tibet since 1987.
            (8) Discourage or undertake to prevent compulsory political 
        indoctrination programs from taking place on the premises of 
        the operations of the project.
            (9) Promote freedom of expression, including the freedom to 
        seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, 
        regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, 
        in the form of art, or through any media. To this end, the 
        United States economic cooperation project should raise with 
        appropriate authorities of the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China concerns about restrictions on importation of 
        foreign publications.
    (c) Promotion of Principles by Other Nations.--The Secretary shall 
forward a copy of the principles set forth in subsection (b) to the 
member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development and encourage them to promote principles similar to these 
principles.

SEC. 2. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Each United States parent company conducting a 
United States economic cooperation project in the People's Republic of 
China or Tibet shall register with the Secretary and indicate whether 
such company agrees to implement the principles set forth in section 
1(b). No fee shall be required for registration under this subsection.
    (b) Effective Date.--The registration requirement of subsection (a) 
shall take effect 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Report.--Each United States parent company conducting a United 
States economic cooperation project in the People's Republic of China 
or Tibet shall report to the Secretary describing such company's 
adherence to the principles. Such company shall submit a completed 
reporting form furnished by the Secretary. The first report shall be 
submitted not later than 1 year after the date on which the national 
registers under section 2 and not later than the end of each 1-year 
period occurring thereafter.
    (b) Review of Report.--The Secretary shall review each report 
submitted under subsection (a) and determine whether the United States 
parent company submitting the report is adhering to the principles. The 
Secretary may request additional information from the United States 
parent company and other sources to verify the information contained in 
the report submitted by the company.
    (c) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall submit a report to the 
Congress and to the Secretariat of the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development describing the level of adherence to the 
principles by United States parent companies subject to the reporting 
requirement of subsection (a). This report shall be submitted not later 
than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act and not later 
than the end of each 1-year period occurring thereafter.

SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.

    (a) Support.--A Federal agency may intercede with a foreign 
government or foreign national regarding export marketing activity in 
the People's Republic of China or Tibet on behalf of a United States 
parent company subject to the reporting requirements of section 3(a) 
only if that company adheres to the principles.
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall take effect 2 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the terms ``adhere to the principles'', ``adhering to 
        the principles'' and ``adherence to the principles'' mean--
                    (A) agreeing to implement the principles set forth 
                in section 1(b);
                    (B) implementing those principles by taking good 
                faith measures with respect to each such principle; and
                    (C) reporting accurately to the Secretary on the 
                measures taken to implement those principles;
            (2) the term ``intercede with a foreign government or 
        foreign national'' includes any contact by an officer or 
        employee of the United States with officials of any foreign 
        government or foreign national involving or contemplating any 
        effort to assist in selling a good, service, or technology in 
        the People's Republic of China or Tibet, except that such term 
        does not include multilateral or bilateral government-to-
        government trade negotiations intended to resolve trade issues 
        which may affect United States parent companies who do not 
        adhere to the principles;
            (3) the term ``organized under the laws of the United 
        States'' means organized under the laws of the United States, 
        any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands, or any other territory or possession of the 
        United States;
            (4) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of State;
            (5) the term ``United States economic cooperation project'' 
        means--
                    (A) an equity joint venture, a cooperative joint 
                venture, or a wholly foreign-owned enterprise 
                established under the laws of the People's Republic of 
                China, in which--
                            (i) a corporation, partnership, wholly-
                        owned subsidiary, or other business association 
                        organized under the laws of the United States 
                        is an investor, or
                            (ii) a corporation, partnership, or other 
                        business association organized under the laws 
                        of a country other than the United States or 
                        under the laws of a territory or possession of 
                        a country other than the United States, which 
                        is wholly owned by a corporation, partnership, 
                        or other business association organized under 
                        the laws of the United States, is an investor,
                and which employs more than 50 individuals in the 
                People's Republic of China or Tibet; or
                    (B) a branch office or representative office--
                            (i) of a corporation, partnership, wholly-
                        owned subsidiary, or other business association 
                        organized under the laws of the United States, 
                        or
                            (ii) of a corporation, partnership, or 
                        other business association organized under the 
                        laws of a country other than the United States 
                        or under the laws of a territory or possession 
                        of a country other than the United States, 
                        which is wholly owned by a corporation, 
                        partnership, or other business association 
                        organized under the laws of the United States,
                which employs more than 25 employees in the People's 
                Republic of China or Tibet; and
            (6) the term ``United States parent company'' means a 
        corporation, partnership, or other business association 
        organized under the laws of the United States which is--
                    (A) the direct investor in a United States economic 
                cooperation project as described in paragraph 
                (5)(A)(i), or the sole owner of the investor in a 
                United States economic cooperation project as described 
                in paragraph (5)(A)(ii); or
                    (B) the registrant in the People's Republic of 
                China of a branch office or representative office as 
                described in paragraph (5)(B)(i), or the sole owner of 
                the registrant of a branch office or representative 
                office as described in paragraph (5)(B)(ii).
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