[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 794 Engrossed in House (EH)]


H. Res. 794

                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                         June 12, 2006.
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 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square were the manifestation of a 
        peaceful democratic movement 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;
Whereas on June 3-4, 1989, 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 independent observers report that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were 
        killed and wounded in 1989 by the People's Liberation Army soldiers and 
        other security forces;
Whereas 20,000 people throughout China 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 credible sources estimate that the Communist Government of China 
        continues to imprison hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of Tiananmen 
        Square activists, such as United States permanent resident Yang Jianli, 
        and denies such activists their basic human rights;
Whereas the Communist Government of China undertakes active measures to deny its 
        citizens the truth about the Tiananmen Square massacre, including the 
        blocking of uncensored Internet sites and weblogs, and the placement of 
        misleading information on the events of June 3-4, 1989 on Internet sites 
        available in China, often with the collusion and cooperation of United 
        States Internet companies such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues to suppress dissent by 
        imprisoning pro-democracy activists, lawyers, journalists, labor union 
        leaders, religious believers, members of ethnic minority rights 
        organizations, and other individuals in China and Tibet who seek to 
        express their political or religious views in a peaceful manner;
Whereas the Communist Government of China kidnapped long-time democracy activist 
        Dr. Wang Bingzhang, a United States permanent resident, and sentenced 
        him to life imprisonment for espionage and terrorism;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues its extraordinarily brutal 
        persecution of the peaceful spiritual movement of Falun Gong;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues its reprehensible policies 
        of organ harvesting of executed prisoners; maintenance of hundreds, 
        perhaps thousands of slave labor camps; coercive sterilization and 
        forced abortions resulting in sex-selective abortions, female 
        infanticide, and trafficking in persons; and forcible repatriation of 
        thousands of refugees to North Korea to face persecution, imprisonment, 
        and death in violation of its international commitments; and
Whereas June 4, 2006, is the 17th anniversary 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 17 years, 
        and to all the people of China who lack fundamental human rights;
            (2) commends all peaceful advocates for democracy and human rights 
        in China;
            (3) calls upon those nations planning to participate in the 2008 
        Olympic Games in Beijing to insist that China comply with the United 
        Nations Declaration on Human Rights; and
            (4) condemns the ongoing and egregious human rights abuses by the 
        Communist Government of China and calls on that Government to--
                    (A) 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 and put an immediate 
                end to the harassment, detention, and imprisonment of all 
                Chinese citizens exercising their legitimate freedoms of 
                expression, association, and religion;
                    (B) end its censorship of legitimate free speech on the 
                Internet, and its persecution of Internet dissidents;
                    (C) end its persecution of Falun Gong;
                    (D) end organ harvesting and ensure that its organ donor 
                programs proceed only on a purely voluntary and non-commercial 
                basis;
                    (E) end its coercive one-child policy;
                    (F) grant the United Nations High Commission on Refugees 
                access to all refugees, and end forcible repatriations of 
                refugees, particularly to North Korea;
                    (G) close its ``re-education through labor'' camps, respect 
                the rights of workers, and end police detention without trial;
                    (H) release United States permanent resident Dr. Yang 
                Jianli, a participant in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, 
                who has been illegally detained by the Communist Government of 
                China since April 26, 2002, and whose wife and two children are 
                United States citizens; and
                    (I) release United States permanent resident Dr. Wang 
                Bingzhang, long-time peaceful democracy activist, who was 
                abducted in June 2002, and illegally imprisoned for life on 
                false charges of espionage and terrorism, and whose sister, son, 
                and daughter are United States citizens.



            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.