[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 416 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 416

Condemning Communist China's discrimination, harassment, imprisonment, 
 torture, and execution of its prisoners of conscience, and supporting 
 the Tuidang movement whereby Chinese citizens renounce their ties to 
                      the Chinese Communist Party.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 23, 2011

   Mr. McCotter (for himself, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. 
  Bilirakis, Mr. Jones, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Sensenbrenner, and Mrs. 
 Myrick) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning Communist China's discrimination, harassment, imprisonment, 
 torture, and execution of its prisoners of conscience, and supporting 
 the Tuidang movement whereby Chinese citizens renounce their ties to 
                      the Chinese Communist Party.

Whereas according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 
        ``Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; 
        this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and 
        freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or 
        private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, 
        worship and observance'';
Whereas Communist China is an original party to the Universal Declaration of 
        Human Rights;
Whereas according to the United States Commission on International Religious 
        Freedom's (USCIRF) 2011 Annual Report, in Communist China, ``the 
        government actively restricts, harasses, detains, and imprisons: groups 
        that are not registered, or will not register, for political or 
        theological reasons; individuals who publicly organize legal, media, or 
        popular defense of religious freedom; and groups or leaders deemed to 
        threaten the Communist Party.'';
Whereas according to the USCIRF 2011 Annual Report, the Chinese Government, 
        ``supports extralegal security forces to suppress the activities of so-
        called `cult' organizations, actively harasses, imprisons, tortures, and 
        disappears advocates for greater religious freedom, destroys 
        unregistered religious venues, and severely restricts online access to 
        religious information and the authority of religious communities to 
        choose their own leadership and parents to teach their children 
        religion.'';
Whereas according to the United States Department of State's 2010 Annual Report 
        on International Religious Freedom, in the last reporting period, ``The 
        government detained, arrested, or sentenced to prison a number of 
        religious leaders and adherents for activities related to their 
        religious practice. These activities included assembling for religious 
        worship, expressing religious beliefs in public and in private, and 
        publishing religious texts.'';
Whereas all religious groups in Communist China who are not registered with one 
        of the 5 government-approved religious associations face some kind of 
        repression by the government;
Whereas, on October 30, 1999, China's National People's Congress promulgated an 
        ``anti-cult'' law to suppress religious freedom and political dissent 
        across the country;
Whereas according to the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on 
        China's 2011 Annual Report, ``The Chinese government and Communist Party 
        continued to restrict the religious activities and doctrine of Chinese 
        Protestants who worship in the state-controlled church, a network of at 
        least 20 million citizens and 50,000 churches . . . The government made 
        strong efforts to interfere with the internal affairs of some 
        unregistered congregations through such means as the arbitrary detention 
        of religious leaders, violent raids, destruction of worship sites, 
        attempts to prevent members from gathering, and the labeling of some 
        Protestant organizations as `cults''';
Whereas, on May 27, 2001, Christian journalist Li Ying was arrested by the 
        Communist Chinese authorities for her involvement in publishing an 
        ``underground'' Christian church magazine, and she is presently serving 
        a 15-year prison sentence in Communist China's Wuhan Female Prison in 
        Hubei Province;
Whereas, on August 20, 2001, Sun Minghua was arrested by Communist Chinese 
        authorities for her leadership position in the South China Church, and 
        she is presently serving a 13-year prison sentence in Communist China's 
        Wuhan Female Prison in Hubei Province;
Whereas, on June 17, 2004, Jiang Zongxiu was arrested, in Guizhou Provence, by 
        Communist Chinese authorities for distributing Christian literature and 
        died the following day, June 18, 2004, after being beaten to death while 
        in the custody of Communist Chinese authorities;
Whereas, on December 1, 2004, Pastor Zhang Rongliang was arrested in Xuzahi 
        village by Communist Chinese authorities and sentenced to 7.5 years in 
        prison at the Third Detention Center in Zhengzhou City, Hennan Provence;
Whereas previously, Pastor Rongliang served a combined 12 years in Communist 
        Chinese prisons where he has been tortured with electrical shocks;
Whereas, on October 1, 2007, Hua Huiqi was placed under house arrest in Beijing 
        by Communist Chinese authorities for his role as a pastor of an 
        ``underground'' house church;
Whereas subsequently, on October 17, 2007, Hua Huiqi was beaten by Communist 
        Chinese authorities because he would not reveal names of other 
        ``underground'' Christians;
Whereas according to the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on 
        China, ``at least 40 unregistered Chinese bishops are in detention, home 
        confinement, or surveillance, are in hiding, or have disappeared under 
        suspicious circumstances.'';
Whereas, on September 9, 2007, ``underground'' Bishop Han Dingxiang of the 
        Diocese of Yong Nian died in a Communist Chinese prison after being 
        detained for nearly 8 years;
Whereas during his life, Bishop Dingxiang was arrested 11 times and spent 
        roughly 35 years in either labor camps, prisons, or under house arrest;
Whereas Bishop Shi Enxiang and Bishop Su Shimin have been missing for more than 
        10 years, and the whereabouts of Bishop Yao Ling are also unknown;
Whereas according to the Laogai Research Foundation, Communist China continues 
        to operate a vast network of forced labor or re-education-through-labor 
        camps (Laogai) where at least 250,000 people are currently imprisoned, 
        many of these individuals are religious minorities and Falun Gong 
        practitioners;
Whereas since 1999, more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have reportedly 
        served time in prison, with more than 100,000 practitioners being sent 
        to re-education-through-labor camps;
Whereas according to the USCRIF, during the last several years there have been 
        allegations of government-sanctioned organ harvesting from incarcerated 
        practitioners;
Whereas, on September 22, 2007, Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was 
        secretly taken from his home after sending an open letter to the United 
        States Congress recounting Communist China's elimination of over 3,000 
        Falun Gong practitioners;
Whereas Gao Zhisheng was repeatedly tortured and abused while in custody and has 
        been missing since April 2010;
Whereas in November 2004, the publication of ``Nine Commentaries on the 
        Communist Party'' by the United States-based newspaper, the Epoch Times, 
        led to the creation of the Tuidang movement;
Whereas the Tuidang movement, which means ``withdraw from the communist party'', 
        has encouraged as many as 100,000,000 people to publicly renounce their 
        membership in the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliates; and
Whereas it is in the national interest for the United States Government to 
        actively promote religious freedom and democracy in Communist China: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns Communist China's discrimination, harassment, 
        imprisonment, torture, and execution of its prisoners of 
        conscience;
            (2) calls upon Communist China to immediately--
                    (A) cease harassment and discrimination against all 
                unregistered religious organizations and individual 
                practitioners; and
                    (B) release its prisoners of conscience;
            (3) calls upon Communist China to publicly release 
        information about--
                    (A) the number of prisoners of conscience presently 
                detained in Communist China (including Communist 
                China's Laogai prison camp system);
                    (B) the number of prisoners of conscience executed 
                or tortured in Communist China (including Communist 
                China's Laogai prison camp system); and
                    (C) the extent of Communist China's organ 
                harvesting among its prisoners of conscience;
            (4) expresses sympathy and condolences to the families of 
        prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned, tortured, and 
        murdered by the Communist Chinese government;
            (5) calls upon Communist China to allow the United States 
        Commission on International Religious Freedom or international 
        humanitarian organizations unrestricted access to current and 
        former prisoners of conscience held in Communist China's jails, 
        prison, administrative detention centers, and Laogai prison 
        camp system;
            (6) urges the Administration to raise the issue of 
        Communist China's prisoners of conscience in high-level 
        diplomatic meetings with Communist Chinese officials; and
            (7) expresses support for the Tuidang movement and its 
        members for their peaceful efforts in pursuit of religious 
        freedom and a free and democratic government in China.
                                 <all>