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







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 794

 Recognizing the 17th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square, 
  Beijing, in the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 3, 2006

    Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Wolf, Mr. 
 Rohrabacher, and Mr. Pitts) submitted the following resolution; which 
        was referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the 17th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square, 
  Beijing, in the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.

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 governments are instituted, not to grant, but rather to secure, protect, 
        and safeguard those 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 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 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 
        3-4, 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's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
        for 1989, gave various estimates of the number 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 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 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 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 China, as part of the Tiananmen Square coverup, sentenced journalist Shi 
        Tao to 10 years in prison, using information provided by Yahoo, for 
        using his Yahoo email account to send foreigners a copy of a Chinese 
        Government memo warning of possible trouble during the 15th anniversary 
        of the Tiananmen Square massacre;
Whereas coincident with the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, 
        the Communist Government of China 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 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;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues to suppress dissent by 
        imprisoning pro-democracy activists, 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 China has transformed the Internet from an engine of freedom and 
        knowledge into an instrument of repression and of propaganda against the 
        United States and its own people;
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 harasses, persecutes, disbars, and 
        imprisons lawyers who seek to help Chinese citizens vindicate their 
        rights as guaranteed by China's constitution and laws;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues its barbaric policy of organ 
        harvesting of executed prisoners;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues its policies of coercive 
        sterilization and forced abortions to enforce its one child policy, 
        which promotes sex selective abortions and female infanticide on a 
        massive scale, a gendercide which has led to millions of ``missing 
        girls,'' and an increase in China's already severe problem of female 
        trafficking;
Whereas the Communist Government of China fails to fulfill its international 
        commitments by denying the United Nations High Commission on Refugees 
        access to North Korean refugees, and by forcibly repatriating thousands 
        of such refugees to North Korea, where they suffer persecution, 
        imprisonment, and death;
Whereas the Communist Government of China maintains hundreds, perhaps thousands 
        of slave labor camps, violates the most basic workers' rights, and fails 
        to enforce its child labor laws; and
Whereas June 4, 2006, is the 17th 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 17 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 planning to participate in the 
        2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to insist that China 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;
                    (D) end it censorship of legitimate free speech on 
                the Internet, and its persecution of Internet 
                dissidents;
                    (E) end its persecution of Falun Gong;
                    (F) end the harassment, persecution, disbarment, 
                and imprisonment of lawyers who seek to help Chinese 
                citizens vindicate their rights as guaranteed by 
                China's constitution and laws;
                    (G) end organ harvesting and ensure that its organ 
                donor programs proceed only on a purely transparent, 
                voluntary, and non-commercial basis;
                    (H) end its coercive one-child policy;
                    (I) grant the United Nations High Commission on 
                Refugees access to all refugees, and end forcible 
                repatriations of refugees, particularly to North Korea;
                    (J) close its ``re-education through labor'' camps, 
                respect the rights of workers, and end police detention 
                without trial; and
                    (K) release Dr. Yang Jianli, an organizer of 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 put an immediate end to 
                the harassment, detention, and imprisonment of all 
                Chinese citizens exercising their legitimate freedoms 
                of expression, association, and religion.
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