[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 244 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 244

  Expressing the sense of the Senate on the ninth anniversary of the 
massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators on Tiananmen Square by military 
forces acting under orders from the Government of the People's Republic 
                               of China.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 1998

 Ms. Collins (for herself, Mr. Lott, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Abraham) 
 submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate on the ninth anniversary of the 
massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators on Tiananmen Square by military 
forces acting under orders from the Government of the People's Republic 
                               of China.

Whereas in the spring of 1989, thousands of students demonstrated in Tiananmen 
        Square in Beijing in favor of greater democracy, civil liberties, and 
        freedom of expression in the People's Republic of China (PRC);
Whereas these students' protests against political repression in their homeland 
        were conducted peacefully and posed no threat to their fellow Chinese 
        citizens;
Whereas on the evening of June 4, 1989, these students were brutally attacked by 
        infantry and armored vehicles of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) 
        acting under orders from the highest political and military leadership 
        of the PRC;
Whereas hundreds of these students were killed by the PLA in Tiananmen Square on 
        June 4, 1989 for offenses no more serious than that of seeking 
        peacefully to assert their most basic human, civil, and political 
        rights;
Whereas many of the leaders of the student demonstrations thus attacked were 
        subsequently imprisoned, sought out for arrest, or otherwise persecuted 
        by the Government of the PRC;
Whereas during or shortly after the brutal assault of June 4, 1989, at least 
        2,500 persons were arrested for so-called ``counter-revolutionary 
        offenses'' across China and dozens of persons were executed;
Whereas the Chinese government has never expressed regret for its actions on 
        June 4, 1989, still imprisons at least 150 persons in connection with 
        the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and has continued to deny its 
        citizens basic internationally-recognized human, civil, and political 
        rights;
Whereas the Government of the PRC, as detailed in successive annual reports on 
        human rights by the United States Department of State, still routinely 
        and systematically violates the rights of its citizens, including their 
        rights to freedom of speech, assembly, worship, and peaceful dissent; 
        and
Whereas the Tiananmen Square Massacre has become indelibly etched into the 
        political consciousness of our times as a symbol both of the 
        impossibility of forever denying a determined people the right to 
        control their own destiny and of the oppressiveness and brutality of 
        governments that seek to do so: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That, in the interest of expressing support for the 
observance of human, civil, and political rights in China and around 
the world, it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the United States Government should remain committed to 
        honoring the memory and spirit of the brave citizens of China 
        who suffered and died in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 for 
        attempting to assert their internationally-recognized rights; 
        and
            (2) supporting the peaceful transition to democratic 
        governance and the observance of internationally-recognzied 
        human, civil, and political rights and the rule of law in China 
        should be a principal goal of United States foreign policy.
    Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
resolution to the President.
                                 <all>