[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 43 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 43

Urging the European Council to continue to maintain its embargo on the 
            sales of arms to the People's Republic of China.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 25, 2005

 Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia (for herself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, 
Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. King of New York, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Berman, 
   and Mr. Blumenauer) submitted the following resolution; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Urging the European Council to continue to maintain its embargo on the 
            sales of arms to the People's Republic of China.

Whereas on June 4, 1989, the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        ordered an unprovoked, brutal, and indiscriminate assault on thousands 
        of peaceful and unarmed demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square by 
        units of the People's Liberation Army, which resulted in at least 1,000 
        deaths and several thousand injuries;
Whereas in response to the military assault in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, 
        the President of the United States condemned the actions of the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China against participants in the 
        pro-democracy movement in China and took several concrete steps to 
        respond to the repression of the movement, including suspending all 
        exports of items on the United States Munitions List, including arms and 
        defense-related equipment, to the People's Republic of China;
Whereas on June 26, 1989, in Madrid, the European Council, which represents the 
        member-states of the European Union (EU), strongly condemned ``the 
        brutal repression taking place in China'' and introduced an embargo on 
        trade in arms with the People's Republic of China;
Whereas the Department of State's Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 
        2003 stated ``the Chinese government's human rights record remained 
        poor; the Government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses; 
        there was backsliding on key human rights issues during the year, 
        including arrests of individuals discussing sensitive subjects on the 
        Internet, health activists, labor protesters, defense lawyers, 
        journalists, house church members, and others seeking to take advantage 
        of the space created by reforms'';
Whereas on September 15, 2004, the People's Republic of China was designated by 
        the Secretary of State as a ``country of particular concern'' for the 
        sixth consecutive year for engaging in severe violations of religious 
        freedom, including continued suppression of religious groups perceived 
        to be threatening to government authority or national stability;
Whereas the citizens of the People's Republic of China still do not have the 
        right to peacefully change their government and many who openly express 
        dissenting political views are harassed, detained, or imprisoned;
Whereas the European Parliament has noted that the human rights situation in the 
        People's Republic of China remains unsatisfactory and that there has 
        been little tangible progress made with regard to the human rights 
        dialogue between the EU and China;
Whereas in a resolution adopted in December 2003 the European Parliament 
        expressed its strong belief that the People's Republic of China must 
        take actions to improve human rights and the rule of law and needs to 
        prove it has made significant progress on human rights;
Whereas in its resolution of October 2003 on the annual report from the European 
        Council to the European Parliament relating to the issue of the European 
        Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy, the European Parliament 
        insisted on a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue through dialogue 
        across the Taiwan Straits;
Whereas several Member states of the European Union have now proposed to lift 
        the ban on the sale of arms to the People's Republic of China;
Whereas lifting the current ban on the sale of arms to the People's Republic of 
        China by the European Union could result in serious and dangerous long-
        term consequences for regional stability; and
Whereas the European Parliament, in a resolution adopted on December 18, 2003, 
        and again on November 17, 2004, expressed its ``grave concerns for 
        lifting the arms embargo and called on the European Council and the 
        Member states to maintain the European Union's embargo on trade in arms 
        with the People's Republic of China and not to weaken the existing 
        national limitations on such arms sales'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) joins with the European Parliament in calling on the 
        European Council and the Member states of the European Union 
        not to lift the embargo on the sale of arms to the People's 
        Republic of China and not to weaken existing national 
        limitations on such arms sales;
            (2) expresses its concerns over the continuing unacceptable 
        human rights conditions inside the People's Republic of China;
            (3) encourages the United States Government and the 
        European Union to join together in a cooperative effort to 
        develop a common strategy to seek improved human rights 
        conditions in the People's Republic of China, to promote 
        regional stability, and to help improve political relations 
        between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan; and
            (4) urges the United States Government and the European 
        Union to initiate discussions on how the European code-of-
        conduct can be strengthened in order to ensure that sufficient 
        safeguards are in place to make it difficult to sell or 
        transfer arms or technology to the People's Republic of China 
        and to consider entering into negotiations to develop a new 
        transatlantic agreement on the future sale or transfer of arms 
        or military technology to ``countries of concern''.
                                 <all>