[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1075 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1075

   Condemning the Chinese Government's unwarranted violence against 
Tibetan protesters, the Chinese Government's use of Internet censorship 
and surveillance to control news of the protests, and urging compliance 
with Chinese criminal law and to provide information and access to all 
                           persons detained.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2008

Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Wolf, 
   Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Chabot, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore of 
 Wisconsin, Mr. Rohrabacher, and Mr. Walsh of New York) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Condemning the Chinese Government's unwarranted violence against 
Tibetan protesters, the Chinese Government's use of Internet censorship 
and surveillance to control news of the protests, and urging compliance 
with Chinese criminal law and to provide information and access to all 
                           persons detained.

Whereas the Tibetan people have maintained throughout their long history a 
        national identity distinct from that of the Chinese people;
Whereas, in 1950, the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) invaded 
        Tibet, and, in 1951, incorporated Tibet into the PRC against the will of 
        the Tibetan people;
Whereas on March 10, 1959, after an unsuccessful popular uprising against the 
        rule of the Chinese Government, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of 
        Tibetan Buddhism, went into exile in India, where he has since 
        maintained a Government-in-Exile;
Whereas since Tibet's incorporation into China, the Chinese Government has 
        subjected the Tibetan people to undemocratic rule and myriad human 
        rights violations, similar to, but in some cases more severe than, those 
        to which the Chinese people and other peoples who live in the PRC have 
        been subjected;
Whereas the 2007 Country Report on Human Rights Practices of the United States 
        Department of State summarized the situation in Tibet as follows: ``The 
        government's human rights record in Tibetan areas of China remained 
        poor, and the level of repression of religious freedom increased. 
        Authorities continued to commit serious human rights abuses, including 
        torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and house arrest and 
        surveillance of dissidents. The government restricted freedom of speech, 
        academic freedom, and freedom of movement. The government adopted new 
        regulations and other measures to control the practice of Tibetan 
        Buddhism, including measures that require government approval to name 
        all reincarnated lamas. The preservation and development of the unique 
        religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage of Tibetan areas and the 
        protection of the Tibetan people's other fundamental human rights 
        continued to be of concern.'';
Whereas the 2007 Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on 
        China found that the Chinese Government has enforced on Tibetan 
        Buddhists an ``increased level of repression of the freedom of 
        religion'' and that ``the government is establishing greater control 
        over the Tibetan rural population by implementing programs that will 
        bring to an end the traditional lifestyle of the Tibetan nomadic 
        herder'';
Whereas the Chinese Government humiliates the religious feeling of Tibetan 
        Buddhists by requiring Buddhist monks and Tibetan officials to write 
        denunciations of the Dalai Lama;
Whereas, in 2005, Zhang Qingli, Secretary of the Communist Party of the Tibet 
        Autonomous Region, revealed the Chinese Government's attitude toward 
        Tibet when he stated, ``The Communist Party is like the parent to the 
        Tibetan people, and it is always considerate about what the children 
        need,'' and, ``The Central Party Committee is the real Buddha for 
        Tibetans'';
Whereas the Chinese Government is altering the ethnic and cultural character of 
        Tibet by using direct and indirect incentives to encourage overwhelming 
        numbers of non-Tibetans to move to Tibet and a settlement program that 
        disrupts the lives of nomadic Tibetans by requiring them to settle in 
        fixed communities;
Whereas, as a result of these actions of the Chinese Government, since March 10, 
        2008, many Tibetans have been peacefully and publicly protesting, so 
        that between March 10 and April 1, 2008, there have been reports of over 
        forty Tibetan protests across a wide geographic region, including the 
        Tibetan Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas of the neighboring provinces 
        of Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan;
Whereas the peaceful protests have often been marches led by Tibetan Buddhist 
        monks or candlelight vigils, and protesters have called for independence 
        and expressed their support for the Dalai Lama, including his return to 
        Tibet;
Whereas some Tibetans have also rioted and behaved aggressively and violently, 
        destroying property and assaulting, beating, and sometimes killing non-
        Tibetans;
Whereas Chinese authorities have responded to these protests and riots with 
        unwarranted aggression and violence, so that by April 1, 2008, 
        authorities have shot and killed over 140 Tibetans, detained several 
        thousand, and put thousands of Buddhist monks under effective house 
        arrest;
Whereas the Chinese Government has censored news of these protests in China, 
        blocked Web sites to prevent uncensored news from reaching the Chinese 
        people, including the Web sites of CNN, BBC, Google News, Yahoo!, and 
        YouTube, and some foreign journalists in China have reported that their 
        e-mail service has been interrupted;
Whereas the Chinese Government has used its state-controlled media to present a 
        distorted version of these protests in order to raise Chinese national 
        feeling against the Tibetans, tightly focusing its coverage on acts of 
        violence committed by some Tibetans, but not mentioning Tibetan 
        grievances or that authorities have shot and killed many Tibetans; and
Whereas China's Internet Surveillance Bureau has warned Tibetans about sharing 
        factual news about the protests, ``We inform Internet users that it is 
        forbidden to post news about Tibetan events . . . From today, the 
        Internet Surveillance Bureau will carry out filtering and censorship . . 
        . anyone infringing this ban will have their I.P. address sent to the 
        police who will take the necessary steps'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives--
                    (A) condemns the Chinese Government's dispersion 
                and detention of peaceful Tibetan protesters;
                    (B) condemns the Chinese Government's policy of 
                using the Internet and news media as a tool of 
                censorship, surveillance, and state control of society;
                    (C) rejects as unfounded the Chinese Government's 
                charge that the Dalai Lama has organized the protests;
                    (D) expresses its admiration for the spiritual 
                leadership provided by the Dalai Lama;
                    (E) expresses its admiration for the bravery of 
                peaceful Tibetan protesters who have risked harassment, 
                punishment, physical harm, and imprisonment to draw 
                attention to the egregious injustices the Chinese 
                Government has visited upon the Tibetan people; and
                    (F) expresses its solidarity with the Tibetan 
                people; and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the United States should--
                    (A) call upon the Chinese Government to permit 
                peaceful protest;
                    (B) call upon the Chinese Government to carefully 
                distinguish between peaceful protesters, who should not 
                be punished, and rioters, who should be properly 
                restrained and whose cases should be adjudicated in 
                accord with legal processes that respect international 
                human rights agreements and international norms of 
                legal process;
                    (C) continue to call upon the Chinese Government to 
                cease blocking Internet Web sites, cease interfering 
                with journalists' e-mail services, permit fair coverage 
                by the news media of events in Tibet, and dismantle the 
                Internet Surveillance Bureau;
                    (D) call upon the Chinese Government to comply with 
                Chinese criminal law and the laws of legal procedure, 
                and to provide details about each Tibetan detained or 
                charged with a crime, including each person's name, the 
                charges (if any) against each person, and to allow 
                access by diplomats and international observers to the 
                trials of Tibetans charged with protest-related crimes;
                    (E) call upon the Chinese Government to engage in 
                serious and substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama 
                and his representatives over the future of Tibet; and
                    (F) call upon the Chinese Government to abide by 
                the international human rights agreements which it has 
                signed.
                                 <all>