[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 655 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                          June 3, 2004.
Whereas the United States was founded on the principle that all men and women 
        are created equal and entitled to the exercise of their basic human 
        rights;
Whereas freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion are 
        fundamental human rights that belong to all people and are recognized as 
        such under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Whereas the horrific events of June 3-4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in 
        the People's Republic of China, reminded the world that these universal 
        human rights are denied to the citizens of the most populous nation on 
        earth by the Communist Party that rules in China;
Whereas in recent days the Communist Government of China has stepped up 
        harassment of the relatives of people who lost their lives in the 1989 
        crackdown on democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square, in an apparent 
        effort to control dissent ahead of the 15th anniversary of that tragic 
        massacre;
Whereas in recent weeks China's Communist Party leaders have been working to 
        eliminate the residual influence of Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as 
        Communist Party chief for opposing the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen 
        protests, and are trying to erase his name from history;
Whereas Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when he tearfully begged 
        student protesters to leave Tiananmen Square, and was then promptly put 
        under house arrest and purged;
Whereas the Communist Government of China declared martial law the next day and 
        troops backed by tanks crushed the student movement on June 3-4, 1989;
Whereas the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square were the manifestation of a 
        democratic movement that had begun to spread across China following the 
        death of the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the 
        People's Republic of China on April 15, 1989, and that had given rise to 
        peaceful protests throughout China calling for the establishment of a 
        dialogue with government and party leaders on democratic reforms, 
        including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the 
        elimination of corruption by government officials;
Whereas after that date thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators continued to 
        protest peacefully in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing until June 
        3 and 4, 1989, when Chinese authorities ordered the People's Liberation 
        Army and other security forces to use lethal force to disperse 
        demonstrators in Beijing, especially around Tiananmen Square;
Whereas the report of the Chinese Red Cross on June 7, 1989, and the United 
        States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 
        1989, gave various estimates of the numbers of people killed and wounded 
        in 1989 by the People's Liberation Army soldiers and other security 
        forces, and it is now believed by many that thousands were killed;
Whereas 20,000 people nationwide suspected of taking part in the democracy 
        movement were arrested and sentenced without trial to prison or 
        reeducation through labor, and many were reportedly tortured;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues to suppress dissent by 
        imprisoning pro-democracy activists, journalists, labor union leaders, 
        religious believers, and other individuals in China and Tibet who seek 
        to express their political or religious views in a peaceful manner;
Whereas credible sources estimate that the Communist Government of China 
        continues to imprison as many as 2,000 Tiananmen Square activists, such 
        as Yang Jianli, and denies such activists their basic human rights, such 
        as access to legal counsel, contact with their families, and trials 
        within reasonable times;
Whereas security agents of the People's Republic of China have detained Chinese 
        citizens who were planning activities to commemorate the 15th 
        anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, including the preparation 
        of a video for presentation at this year's United Nations Human Rights 
        Commission meeting in Geneva on the deaths of their relatives and other 
        victims who perished in Tiananmen Square;
Whereas coincident with the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, 
        the Communist Government of China has frustrated the efforts of Chinese 
        citizens in Hong Kong to establish a gradual and orderly process toward 
        universal suffrage and the democratic election of the legislature and 
        chief executive in Hong Kong as promised at the time of the reversion of 
        Hong Kong to China in 1997 and as envisioned by the Basic Law of the 
        Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
Whereas despite an unprecedented public protest in Hong Kong on July 1, 2003, 
        reminiscent of protests in Beijing shortly before June 4, 1989, the 
        Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's 
        Republic of China declared on April 26, 2004, that universal suffrage 
        would not apply to the selection of the Chief Executive in Hong Kong in 
        2007 or to the selection of members of the Legislative Council in Hong 
        Kong in 2008; and
Whereas June 4, 2004, is the 15th anniversary of the date of the Tiananmen 
        Square massacre: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed, tortured, 
        and imprisoned as a result of their participation in the democracy 
        protests of June 3-4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the 
        People's Republic of China, and to all those persons who have suffered 
        for their efforts to keep that struggle alive during the past 15 years, 
        and to all the people of China who lack fundamental human rights;
            (2) commends all persons who are peacefully advocating for democracy 
        and human rights in China;
            (3) calls upon those nations participating in the 2008 Olympic Games 
        in Beijing to use opportunities created by the Games to urge China to 
        fully comply with the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights;
            (4) calls upon the Communist Government of China, its National 
        People's Congress, and any other groups appointed by the Communist 
        Government of China to honor its pledge of a ``high degree of autonomy'' 
        made at the time of the Hong Kong reversion in 1997, by permitting 
        immediate elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong according 
        to rules approved by the Hong Kong people through an election-law 
        convention, referendum, or both, and by leaving all revisions of Hong 
        Kong law to a legislature elected by universal suffrage; and
            (5) condemns the ongoing and egregious human rights abuses by the 
        Communist Government of China and calls on that Government to--
                    (A) reevaluate the official verdict on the June 4, 1989, 
                Tiananmen pro-democracy activities and order formal 
                investigations into the reported killing, torture, and 
                imprisonment of democracy activists with the goal of bringing 
                those responsible to justice;
                    (B) establish a June Fourth Investigation Committee, the 
                proceedings and findings of which should be accessible to the 
                public, to make a just and independent inquiry into all matters 
                related to June 4, 1989;
                    (C) release all prisoners of conscience, including those 
                persons still in prison as a result of their participation in 
                the peaceful pro-democracy protests of 1989, provide just 
                compensation to the families of those killed in those protests, 
                and allow those exiled on account of their activities in 1989 to 
                return and live in freedom in China; and
                    (D) release Dr. Yang Jianli, an organizer of the Tiananmen 
                Square protests of 1989, who has been illegally detained 
                incommunicado by the Communist Government of China since April 
                26, 2002, and whose wife and 2 children are United States 
                citizens, and put an immediate end to the harassment, detention, 
                and imprisonment of all Chinese citizens exercising their 
                legitimate freedoms of expression, association, and religion.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.