IV 112th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 416 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

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.