[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 393 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 393
Remembering the victims of the violent suppression of democracy
protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3 and 4,
1989, and calling on the Government of the People's Republic of China
to respect the universally recognized human rights of all people living
in China and around the world.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 21, 2019
Mr. McGovern (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Suozzi, Mr.
Malinowski, Ms. Wild, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Bera, Mr.
Allred, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Keating, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Vargas,
Mrs. Torres of California, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Sherman, Mrs. Wagner, and Mr.
Mast) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Remembering the victims of the violent suppression of democracy
protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3 and 4,
1989, and calling on the Government of the People's Republic of China
to respect the universally recognized human rights of all people living
in China and around the world.
Whereas June 4, 2019, marks the 30th anniversary of the violent crackdown on
peaceful demonstrations held in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square by
the People's Liberation Army, carrying out the orders of the Government
of the People's Republic of China;
Whereas an estimated 1,000,000 people joined the protests in Tiananmen Square
and citizens in over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests calling
for democratic reform, including not only students, but also government
employees, journalists, workers, police officers, members of the armed
forces, and other citizens;
Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the Government of the
People's Republic of China to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic
and political reform, and protect human rights, particularly the
freedoms of expression and assembly, issues that remain relevant in
United States-China relations 30 years later;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China takes active measures
to deny its citizens the truth about the Tiananmen Square massacre,
including the blocking of uncensored internet sites and social media
commentary on microblog and other messaging services, and the placement
of misleading information on the events of June 3 and 4, 1989, on
internet sites available in China;
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Beijing, China, after
authorities had failed to persuade demonstrators to leave Tiananmen
Square;
Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989,
thousands of armed troops, supported by tanks and other armor, moved
into Beijing and surrounding streets;
Whereas, on the night of June 3, 1989, and continuing into the morning of June
4, 1989, soldiers fired into crowds, inflicting high casualties on the
demonstrators and injuring many unarmed civilians;
Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlookers and seriously
injured many others;
Whereas independent observers reported that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were
killed and wounded by People's Liberation Army soldiers and other
security forces in Beijing and other cities in China;
Whereas tens of thousands were detained and sent to prison or reeducation
through labor, often without trial and many were tortured and imprisoned
for decades;
Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and friends of those
killed in June 1989 whose demands include the right to mourn victims
publicly and who call for a full, public, and independent accounting of
the wounded, dead, and those imprisoned for participating in the spring
1989 demonstrations;
Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have faced arrest, harassment,
and discrimination, with the group's website blocked in China and the
freezing by Chinese authorities of international cash donations made to
the group to support families of victims;
Whereas despite the Government of the People's Republic of China's integration
into the international economic system and its obligations under
international treaties and covenants, the political reforms and the
protection of universally recognized rights sought by the Tiananmen
demonstrators have not been realized during the past 30 years;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to actively
suppress universally recognized rights by imprisoning or restricting the
activities of pro-democracy activists, human rights lawyers, citizen
journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, members of ethnic
minorities, and individuals in the Xinjiang and Tibetan regions, among
many others who seek to express their political or religious views or
their ethnic identity in a peaceful manner, including in Hong Kong where
the Government of the People's Republic of China has increasingly
exerted influence, eroding freedoms there, and placing its special
status at risk;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to harass,
disappear, and detain peaceful advocates for human rights, religious
freedom, ethnic minority rights and the rule of law, and their family
members, such as Ilham Tohti, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, Lobsang
Tsering, Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), Liu Xianbin, Qin
Yongmin, Wu Gan, Zhang Haitao, Wang Quanzhang, Tashi Wangchug, Tang
Jingling, Liu Feiyue, Wang Yi, Jiang Rong, Cao Yuguang, Abdurehim Heyit,
Eziz Emet, Hebibulla Tohti, Drugdra, Lobsang Gephel, Sonam Dargye,
Thardoe Gyaltsen, Gulmira Imin, and Huang Qi, among many others;
Whereas according to the Political Prisoner Database maintained by the United
States Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the Government of
the People's Republic of China continues to detain over 1,500 political
and religious prisoners, though the number is presumed to be much
higher;
Whereas Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent advocate for human rights and
political reform Liu Xiaobo died in state custody in 2017, the first
Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in state custody since Carl Von
Ossietzky died in 1938 after being detained by the Nazi German
government;
Whereas over a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic and religious
minorities are interned in political reeducation camps in Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region and elsewhere in China and are subjected to the
forced renunciation of faith, torture, and forced assimilation of their
language and culture through actions that may constitute crimes against
humanity;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China harasses, detains, and
tortures human rights lawyers who take on cases deemed politically
sensitive; prevents Chinese workers from forming independent unions and
engages in an ongoing crackdown on labor advocates, organizations, and
their supporters; restricts severely the religious activity of
Protestants, Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists, and Turkic Muslims and has
sought to eradicate Falun Gong practice in China; vilifies publicly and
refuses to negotiate with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his
representatives over Tibetan issues and asserts control over the
reincarnation process through which the next Dalai Lama will be
recognized; repatriates forcibly refugees to North Korea and pressures
neighboring governments to repatriate refugees from China who reach
their territory in contravention of the international legal principle of
non-refoulement; restricts the activities of and detains citizen
journalists; and continues to limit the size of Chinese families;
Whereas the protection of universally recognized human rights, in law and
practice, would allow the Government of the People's Republic of China
to establish more stable economic, political, and security relations
with its neighbors and the United States; and
Whereas the United States Congress annually observes the 1989 Tiananmen
demonstrations and their violent suppression--
(1) because of the enduring impact this historical episode has had on
United States-China relations;
(2) because there has been no justice for those who lost their lives
seeking freedom and political reform during the Spring of 1989;
(3) because the Government of the People's Republic of China censors
research, discussion and commemoration of Tiananmen in China;
(4) because the demonstrations showed that the ideas of democracy and
freedom, human rights and the rule of law are not foreign to the people of
China;
(5) because the demonstrations and their violent suppression showed the
lengths to which the leaders of the Government of the People's Republic of
China will go to suppress universally recognized rights and to maintain
their hold on power; and
(6) because, despite persistent, ongoing, and sometimes brutal
repression, there continue to be Chinese citizens bravely seeking to
exercise universally recognized human rights, ensure the rule of law, and
promote political reform thus carrying on the legacy of the Tiananmen
demonstrations: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) expresses sympathy and solidarity to the families of
those killed, tortured, and imprisoned for their participation
in the pro-democracy demonstrations during the spring of 1989
in Beijing and in other cities across the People's Republic of
China;
(2) supports the leaders of the Tiananmen demonstrations
and all those who peacefully sought political reform,
democratic transparency, the rule of law, and protections for
universally recognized human rights in China;
(3) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to--
(A) support a full, transparent, and independent
accounting of the government's actions and number of
deaths that occurred during the violent suppression of
the spring 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations;
(B) rehabilitate the reputations of those who
participated in the demonstrations and those detained
for seeking to commemorate the anniversary of the
demonstrations; and
(C) cease the censoring of information and
discussion about the Tiananmen Square massacre,
including at Confucius Institutes worldwide;
(4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to allow Tiananmen demonstration participants who escaped
to or are living in exile in the United States and other
countries, or who reside outside of China because they have
been ``blacklisted'' in China as a result of their peaceful
protest activity, to return to China without risk of
repercussions or retribution; and
(5) condemns the ongoing restrictions on universally
recognized human rights by the Government of the People's
Republic of China and its efforts to quell peaceful political
dissent, censor the internet, brutally suppress ethnic and
religious minorities, and detain and torture lawyers and rights
advocates seeking the Government's commitment, in law and
practice, to international human rights treaties and covenants
to which it is a party and that are reflected in the Chinese
constitution.
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