[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1370 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         July 30, 2008.
Whereas the relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of 
        China is one of the most important and complex in global affairs;
Whereas in the context of this complex relationship, the promotion of human 
        rights and political freedoms in the People's Republic of China is a 
        central goal of United States foreign policy towards China;
Whereas increased protection and stronger guarantees of human rights and 
        political freedoms in the People's Republic of China would improve the 
        relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of 
        China;
Whereas the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held from August 8, 2008, through 
        August 24, 2008;
Whereas the United States should continue to advance its policy goal of improved 
        human rights and political freedoms in the People's Republic of China in 
        the context of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games;
Whereas all Olympic athletes deserve to participate in a competition that takes 
        place in an atmosphere that honors the Olympic traditions of freedom and 
        openness;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China committed to protect 
        human rights, religious freedom, freedom of movement, and freedom of the 
        press as part of its conditions for being named to host the Beijing 2008 
        Olympic Games;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China issued temporary 
        regulations promising foreign media representatives covering the Beijing 
        2008 Olympic Games that they could travel freely, with the exception of 
        in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and did not require advance permission 
        before interviewing Chinese citizens during the period of January 1, 
        2007, to October 18, 2008;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has failed to abide by 
        many provisions of those regulations and has restricted foreign media 
        by--

    (1) detaining 15 journalists in 2007 for activities permitted by the 
new regulations;

    (2) refusing to allow foreign media representatives access to Tibetan 
areas of China, including those areas outside of the Tibet Autonomous 
Region covered by the pledge of free access, to report on the March 2008 
protests and the Government of the People's Republic of China's violent 
crackdown against Tibetans in those areas; and

    (3) interfering with foreign media representatives and their Chinese 
employees who were hired within China, such that 40 percent of foreign 
correspondents have reported government interference with their attempts to 
cover the news in China;

Whereas in advance of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, there are widespread 
        reports that the Government of the People's Republic of China has 
        refused to grant visas or entry to individuals because of their 
        political views, beliefs, writings, association, religion, and 
        ethnicity;
Whereas Chinese citizens and foreign visitors in China for the Beijing 2008 
        Olympic Games will not have free access to information if the Government 
        of the People's Republic of China continues to engage in blocking of 
        overseas websites and other forms of Internet filtering and censorship;
Whereas the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will not take place in an atmosphere of 
        freedom if the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to 
        limit the freedoms of speech, press, religion, movement, association, 
        and assembly of its citizens and visitors, including political 
        dissidents, protesters, petitioners, the disabled, religious activists, 
        minorities, the homeless, and other people it considers undesirable;
Whereas despite the Government of the People's Republic of China's repeated 
        pledges to the international community that the prevention and treatment 
        of HIV/AIDS are a national priority, HIV/AIDS activists and their 
        organizations remain targets for repression and harassment by Chinese 
        authorities;
Whereas in the period preceding the Olympics Games, Chinese security forces have 
        detained, threatened, and harassed HIV/AIDS and hepatitis advocates; 
        shut down conferences and meetings of Chinese and foreign HIV/AIDS 
        experts; and closed AIDS organizations;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to ignore its 
        international commitments to refugee protection, as evidenced by film 
        footage recording the shooting death of a Tibetan nun by Chinese border 
        guards in October of 2006 and human rights groups' reports citing 
        increased bounties offered for turning in North Korean refugees in 2008 
        to discourage border-crossing prior to the Olympic Games;
Whereas workers in the People's Republic of China are often exposed to 
        exploitative and unsafe working conditions, including excessive exposure 
        to dangerous machinery and chemicals;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, some Chinese companies withhold 
        wages from workers for months while retaining their ID cards to prevent 
        them from securing other work and, in the city of Shenzhen alone, an 
        average of 13 factory workers a day lose a finger or an arm, and every 
        4\1/2\ days a worker dies in a workplace accident;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has increased its 
        persecution of the Falun Gong prior to the Olympic Games;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China remains unwilling to 
        invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to China to hold direct talks on a 
        resolution on the issue of Tibet, despite calls from the international 
        community to do so before the Olympic Games;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has had discussions 
        with the representatives of the Dalai Lama, but has been unwilling to 
        engage in substantive discussions on the future of Tibet and Tibetans in 
        China;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China's continued economic 
        and political support for foreign governments that commit gross human 
        rights violations, including those of Sudan and Burma, contradicts the 
        spirit of freedom and openness of the Olympic Games;
Whereas it is the desire of the House of Representatives that the People's 
        Republic of China take the specific actions set forth herein so that the 
        Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are successful and reflect positively on its 
        host country;
Whereas the Chinese Government limits most women to having one child and 
        strictly controls the reproductive lives of Chinese citizens by 
        systematic means that include mandatory monitoring of women's 
        reproductive cycles, mandatory contraception or sterilization, mandatory 
        birth permits, coercive fines for failure to comply, forced abortion, 
        and involuntary sterilization, and this coercive policy adversely 
        affects Chinese women and has led to widespread sex-selective abortion; 
        and
Whereas on June 26, 2008, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China 
        published on its Web site a well-documented list of 734 political 
        prisoners detained by the Government of China for exercising rights 
        pertaining to peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of 
        association, and free expression, which are rights guaranteed to them by 
        China's law and Constitution, or by international law, or both: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        immediately end abuses of the human rights of its citizens, to cease 
        repression of Tibetan and Uighur people, and to end its support for the 
        Governments of Sudan and Burma to ensure that the Beijing 2008 Olympic 
        Games take place in an atmosphere that honors the Olympic traditions of 
        freedom and openness;
            (2) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        immediately release all those imprisoned or detained for nonviolently 
        exercising their political and religious rights and their right to free 
        expression, such as Hu Jia, who have been imprisoned, detained, or 
        harassed for seeking to hold China accountable to commitments to improve 
        human rights conditions announced when bidding to host the Olympic 
        Games, embodied in China's own laws and regulations, and in 
        international agreements;
            (3) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        honor its commitment to freedom of the press for foreign reporters in 
        China before and during the Olympic Games, to make those commitments 
        permanent, and publicly to guarantee an immediate end to the detention, 
        harassment, and intimidation of both foreign and domestic reporters;
            (4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        permit visitors to China, including through the issuance of visas, for 
        the period surrounding the Olympics, regardless of religious background, 
        belief, or political opinion;
            (5) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        guarantee freedom of movement within China during the period surrounding 
        the Olympics for all visitors, participants, and journalists visiting 
        China for the Olympics, and such freedom of movement should include the 
        freedom to visit Tibet, Xinjiang, China's border regions, and all other 
        areas of China without restriction and without special permits or 
        advance notice;
            (6) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        guarantee access to information by Chinese citizens and foreign 
        visitors, including full access to domestic and overseas broadcasts, 
        print media, and websites that in the past may have been excluded, 
        censored, jammed, or blocked;
            (7) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        permit political dissidents, protesters, petitioners, religious 
        activists, minorities, the disabled, the homeless, and others to 
        maintain their homes, usual locations, jobs, freedom of movement, and 
        freedom to engage in peaceful activities during the period surrounding 
        the Olympics;
            (8) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to end 
        the exploitative and dangerous conditions faced by Chinese workers in 
        many state enterprises and other commercial entities;
            (9) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        begin earnest negotiations, without preconditions, directly with His 
        Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives, on the future of Tibet 
        to provide for a mutually agreeable solution that addresses the 
        legitimate grievances of, and provides genuine autonomy for, the Tibetan 
        people;
            (10) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        end its political, economic, and military support for the Government of 
        Sudan until the violent attacks in Darfur have ceased and the Sudanese 
        Government has allowed for the full deployment of the United Nations-
        African Union Mission peacekeeping force in Darfur;
            (11) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        end its political, economic, and military support for the Government of 
        Burma until democracy is restored in Burma, human rights abuses have 
        ceased, and Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners of conscience 
        are released;
            (12) calls on the President to make a strong public statement on 
        China's human rights situation prior to his departure to Beijing for the 
        Olympic Games, to make a similar statement in Beijing and meet with the 
        families of jailed prisoners of conscience, and to seek to visit Tibet 
        and Xinjiang while in China to attend the Olympic Games;
            (13) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        abandon its coercive population control policy which includes forced 
        abortion and involuntary sterilization; and
            (14) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        review the political prisoner list published by the Congressional-
        Executive Commission on China with a view to releasing ill and aged 
        prisoners on humanitarian grounds, and to releasing those imprisoned in 
        violation of Chinese law or international human rights law.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.