[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 967 Reported in House (RH)]





                                                 Union Calendar No. 181

105th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 967

                      [Report No. 105-309, Part I]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

     To prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for the 
      participation of certain Chinese officials in international 
   conferences, programs, and activities and to provide that certain 
  Chinese officials shall be ineligible to receive visas and excluded 
                  from admission to the United States.

_______________________________________________________________________

                            October 7, 1997

 Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of 
  the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed





                                                 Union Calendar No. 181
105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 967

                      [Report No. 105-309, Part I]

     To prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for the 
      participation of certain Chinese officials in international 
   conferences, programs, and activities and to provide that certain 
  Chinese officials shall be ineligible to receive visas and excluded 
                  from admission to the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 1997

Mr. Gilman (for himself, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Solomon, Mr. Cox of California, 
 Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. 
    Payne, and Mr. Lantos) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition 
  to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

                            October 6, 1997

 Reported from the Committee on International Relations with amendments

                            October 6, 1997

 Referral to the Committee on the Judiciary extended October 6, 1997, 
           for a period ending not later than October 7, 1997

                            October 7, 1997

Additional sponsors: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. 
 Horn, Mr. Underwood, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Watts of Oklahoma, Mr. Bunning, 
   Mr. Canady of Florida, Mr. Bob Schaffer of Colorado, Mr. Frank of 
Massachusetts, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Barr of 
 Georgia, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Stark, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Porter, Mr. 
 Diaz-Balart, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. McIntosh, Mr. 
             Spence, Mr. Royce, Mr. Hunter, and Mr. Shadegg

                            October 7, 1997

 Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of 
  the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
  [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for the 
      participation of certain Chinese officials in international 
   conferences, programs, and activities and to provide that certain 
  Chinese officials shall be ineligible to receive visas and excluded 
                  from admission to the United States.

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

<DELETED>SECTION 1. FINDINGS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    The Congress makes the following findings:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Despite public assurances by the Government of 
        the People's Republic of China that it would abide by the 
        principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 
        despite the United Nations Charter requirement that all members 
        promote respect for and observance of basic human rights, 
        including freedom of religion, the Chinese Government continues 
        to place severe restrictions on religious expression and 
        practice.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) It has been reported that at an internal 
        Central Communist Party meeting in 1994, President Jiang Zemin 
        asserted that religion is one of the biggest threats to 
        Communist Party rule in China and Tibet.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) On January 31, 1994, Premier Li Peng signed 
        decrees number 144 and 145 which restrict worship, religious 
        education, distribution of Bibles and other religious 
        literature, and contact with foreign coreligionists.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) The Chinese Government has created official 
        religious organizations that control all religious worship, 
        activity, and association in China and Tibet and supplant the 
        independent authority of the Roman Catholic Church, independent 
        Protestant churches, and independent Buddhist, Taoist, and 
        Islamic associations.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) In July 1995, Ye Xiaowen, a rigid communist 
        hostile to religion, was appointed to head the Bureau of 
        Religious Affairs, a Chinese Government agency controlled by 
        the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist 
        Party. The Bureau of Religious Affairs has administrative 
        control over all religious worship and activity in China and 
        Tibet through a system of granting or denying rights through an 
        official registration system. Those who fail to or are not 
        allowed to register are subject to punitive measures.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) In the past year, the Chinese Government has 
        expressed great concern over the spread of Christianity and 
        particularly over the rapid growth of Christian religious 
        institutions other than those controlled by the Chinese 
        Government, including the Roman Catholic Church and the 
        evangelical Christian ``house churches''.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) Soon after the establishment of the People's 
        Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese Government imprisoned 
Christians who refused to relinquish their faith to become servants of 
communism, charging them as ``counter-revolutionaries'' and sentencing 
them to 20 years or more in ``reeducation through labor 
camps''.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) Hundreds of Chinese Protestants and Catholics 
        are among those now imprisoned, detained, or continuously 
        harassed because of their religious beliefs or 
        activities.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) The prisons and labor camps which hold these 
        religious prisoners are run by the Ministry of Public Security 
        and the Ministry of Justice of the Chinese 
        Government.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (10) Although some negotiations have taken place, 
        the Chinese Government refuses to permit the appointment by the 
        Vatican of Catholic bishops and the ordination of priests not 
        approved by the Government and insists on appointing its own 
        ``Catholic bishops''.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (11) The Tenth Panchen Lama died in January 1989 
        at Tashilhunpo Monastery, his traditional spiritual seat in 
        Shigatze, Tibet's second largest city.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (12) It has always been the right and the role of 
        the Dalai Lama to recognize the successor to the Panchen Lama. 
        On May 14, 1995, His Holiness the Dalai Lama announced 
        recognition of a six-year-old boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the 
        Eleventh Panchen Lama, according to Tibetan 
        tradition.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (13) The young boy recognized by the Dalai Lama 
        and his family have been brought to Beijing by Chinese 
        authorities and have not been seen for months. The Chinese 
        authorities announced publicly in June 1996 that they are 
        holding Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (14) Chadrel Rimpoche, abbot of Tashilhunpo 
        Monastery and head of the original search committee for the 
        Eleventh Panchen Lama, and his assistant, Champa Chung, are 
        believed to have been seized and detained by Chinese 
        authorities in May of 1995.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (15) Chinese Government authorities subsequently 
        detained other Tibetan Buddhists in connection with the 
        selection of the Eleventh Panchen Lama, including Gyatrol 
        Rimposhe, Shepa Kelsang, Lhakpa Tsering, and Ringkar 
        Ngawang.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (16) The Chinese Government convened a conference 
        in Beijing where Tibetan monks were coerced to select a rival 
        candidate to the child recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 
        Eleventh Panchen Lama.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (17) On November 29, 1995, officials of the 
        Chinese Government orchestrated an elaborate ceremony 
        designating a six-year-old boy selected by the Chinese 
        Government as the Eleventh Panchen Lama and on December 8, 
        1995, a Government-sponsored ceremony was held in Shigatze, 
        Tibet, where the boy selected by the Government was enthroned 
        as the Eleventh Panchen Lama.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (18) By seeking to impose its own candidate as the 
        Eleventh Panchen Lama and detaining the six-year-old boy 
        recognized for that position in accordance with Tibetan 
        tradition, the Chinese Government is infringing on a purely 
        Tibetan religious matter, in blatant violation of the 
        fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.</DELETED>

SEC. 2.</DELETED> SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the President should make 
freedom of religion one of the major objectives of United States 
foreign policy with respect to China. As part of this policy, the 
Department of State should raise in every relevant bilateral and 
multilateral forum the issue of individuals imprisoned, detained, 
confined, or otherwise harassed by the Chinese Government on religious 
grounds. In its communications with the Chinese Government, the 
Department of State should provide specific names of individuals of 
concern and request a complete and timely response from the Chinese 
Government regarding the individuals' whereabouts and condition, the 
charges against them, and sentence imposed. The goal of these official 
communications should be the expeditious release of all religious 
prisoners in China and Tibet and the end of the Chinese Government's 
policy and practice of harassing and repressing religious believers.

<DELETED>SEC. 3.</DELETED> SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR THE 
              PARTICIPATION OF CERTAIN CHINESE OFFICIALS IN 
              CONFERENCES, EXCHANGES, PROGRAMS, AND ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for 
fiscal years after fiscal year 1997, no funds appropriated or otherwise 
made available for the Department of State, the United States 
Information Agency, and the United States Agency for International 
Development may be used for the purpose of providing travel expenses 
and per diem for the participation of nationals of the People's 
Republic of China described in paragraphs (1) and (2) in conferences, 
exchanges, programs, and activities:
            (1) The head or political secretary of any of the following 
        Chinese Government-created or approved organizations:
                    (A) The Chinese Buddhist Association.
                    (B) The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
                    (C) The National Congress of Catholic 
                Representatives.
                    (D) The Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference.
                    (E) The Chinese Protestant ``Three Self'' Patriotic 
                Movement.
                    (F) The China Christian Council.
                    (G) The Chinese Taoist Association.
                    (H) The Chinese Islamic Association.
            (2) Any military or civilian official or employee of the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China who <DELETED>is 
        directly involved in</DELETED> carried out or directed the 
        carrying out of any of the following policies or practices 
        <DELETED>or who was responsible for the supervision of persons 
        directly involved in such policies or practices</DELETED>:
                    (A) Formulating, drafting, or implementing 
                repressive religious policies.
                    (B) Imprisoning, detaining, or harassing 
                individuals on religious grounds.
                    (C) Promoting or participating in policies or 
                practices which hinder religious activities or the free 
                expression of religious beliefs.
    (b) Certification.--
            (1) Each Federal agency subject to the prohibition of 
        subsection (a) shall certify in writing to the appropriate 
        congressional committees no later than 120 days after the date 
        of enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter, that it 
        did not pay, either directly or through a contractor or 
        grantee, for travel expenses or per diem of any national of the 
        People's Republic of China described in subsection (a).
            (2) Each certification under paragraph (1) shall be 
        supported by the following information:
                    (A) The name of each employee of any agency of the 
                Government of the People's Republic of China whose 
                travel expenses or per diem were paid by funds of the 
                reporting agency of the United States Government.
                    (B) The procedures employed by the reporting agency 
                of the United States Government to ascertain whether 
                each individual under subparagraph (A) did or did not 
                participate in activities described in subsection 
                (a)(2).
                    (C) The reporting agency's basis for concluding 
                that each individual under subparagraph (A) did not 
                participate in such activities.
    (c) Definition of Appropriate Congressional Committees.--For 
purposes of this section the term ``appropriate congressional 
committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 
the Committee on International Relations of the House of 
Representatives.

SEC. <DELETED>4.</DELETED> SEC. 3. CERTAIN OFFICIALS OF THE PEOPLE'S 
              REPUBLIC OF CHINA INELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE VISAS AND 
              EXCLUDED FROM ADMISSION.

<DELETED>    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any national 
of the People's Republic of China described in paragraphs (1) or (2) of 
section 3(a) shall be ineligible to receive visas and shall be excluded 
from admission into the United States.</DELETED>
    (a) Requirement.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any 
national of the People's Republic of China described in section 2(a)(2) 
(except the head of state, the head of government, and cabinet level 
ministers) shall be ineligible to receive visas and shall be excluded 
from admission into the United States.
    (b) Waiver.--The President may waive the requirement in subsection 
(a) with respect to an individual described in such subsection if the 
President--
            (1) determines that it is vital to the national interest to 
        do so; and
            (2) provides written notification to the appropriate 
        congressional committees (as defined in section 2(c)) 
        containing a justification for the waiver.

SEC. <DELETED>5. </DELETED>SEC. 4. SUNSET PROVISION.

    Sections <DELETED>3 and 4</DELETED> 2 and 3 shall cease to have 
effect 4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.