[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 237 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 237

   Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and 
condemning the continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights and 
  basic freedoms within the People's Republic of China, including the 
   Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Communist 
                     Party, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 6, 2023

  Mr. Van Hollen (for himself, Mr. Romney, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Rubio) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and 
condemning the continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights and 
  basic freedoms within the People's Republic of China, including the 
   Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Communist 
                     Party, and for other purposes.

Whereas, on April 15, 1989, peaceful demonstrators gathered in Tiananmen Square 
        in central Beijing to mourn the death of former General Secretary of the 
        Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Hu Yaobang, who was compelled to resign in 
        1987 for supporting political reforms within the CCP;
Whereas, throughout April and May 1989, peaceful demonstrations continued in 
        Tiananmen Square and in an estimated 400 cities across the People's 
        Republic of China;
Whereas, by May 17, 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 Chinese citizens from all walks 
        of life, including students, government employees, journalists, workers, 
        police officers, and members of the Armed Forces, gathered peacefully in 
        Tiananmen Square to call for democratic reforms;
Whereas the peaceful demonstrators 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;
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        declared martial law;
Whereas, during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989, the 
        People's Republic of China leadership sent armed People's Liberation 
        Army (PLA) troops and tanks into Beijing and surrounding areas;
Whereas, on the night of June 3, and continuing into the morning of June 4, 
        1989, PLA soldiers, at the direction of CCP leadership, fired 
        indiscriminately into crowds of peaceful protesters, killing and 
        injuring thousands of demonstrators and other unarmed civilians;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to censor any 
        mention of the crackdown centered on Tiananmen Square, prevents the 
        victims from being publicly mourned and remembered, and harasses, 
        detains, and arrests those who call for a full, public, and independent 
        accounting of the wounded, dead, and those imprisoned for participating 
        in the spring 1989 demonstrations;
Whereas the sovereignty of Hong Kong transferred from the United Kingdom to the 
        People's Republic of China in 1997 under the terms of the Joint 
        Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
        Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on 
        the Question of Hong Kong (hereafter the ``Joint Declaration''), which 
        guaranteed the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will 
        ``enjoy a high degree of autonomy,'' and committed the PRC to keep the 
        ``social and economic systems in Hong Kong'' unchanged through 2047;
Whereas the Joint Declaration states that ``Rights and freedoms, including those 
        of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of 
        travel, of movement, of correspondence, of strike, of choice of 
        occupation, of academic research and of religious belief will be ensured 
        by law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region'' and that those 
        rights are reiterated in Chapter III of the Basic Law of the HKSAR of 
        the People's Republic of China;
Whereas the people of Hong Kong have held an annual Tiananmen Square vigil since 
        1990, and has been the only such mass gathering on Chinese territory 
        because commemorations are banned in mainland China;
Whereas, on June 4, 2020, thousands of people in Hong Kong defied a ban by the 
        Hong Kong Police Force and gathered at the city's annual June 4 vigil to 
        memorialize the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre;
Whereas, on June 30, 2020, China's National People's Congress Standing Committee 
        flagrantly undermined the high degree of autonomy promised to Hong Kong 
        in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law by passing and imposing upon Hong 
        Kong the oppressive and intentionally vague Law of the People's Republic 
        of China on Safeguarding National Security in the HKSAR (``national 
        security law'');
Whereas the central Government of the People's Republic of China and the HKSAR 
        Government have since used the national security law to suppress 
        democratic voices in Hong Kong, including by barring candidates from 
        standing for election and by arresting prodemocracy activists and 
        opposition leaders;
Whereas, on March 11, 2021, China's National People's Congress adopted the 
        ``Decision of the National People's Congress on Improving the Electoral 
        System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region'', thereby further 
        restricting Hong Kong's electoral freedom and democratic representation;
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Police Force officially banned the June 
        4 vigil for the second consecutive year, citing a ban on large 
        gatherings in light of the coronavirus pandemic;
Whereas this ban has continued through 2022 and through 2023, despite the 
        pandemic restrictions being largely removed in Hong Kong;
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed legislation 
        amending local election laws to bring them in line with the China's 
        National People's Congress March 11 ``Decision of the National People's 
        Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special 
        Administrative Region'';
Whereas, on March 4, 2023, the HKSAR West Kowloon Magistrates' Court convicted 
        three standing committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of 
        Patriotic Democratic Movements of China--Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, 
        and Tsui Hon-kwong--under the National Security Law, and the Alliance 
        was an organizer of the annual Tiananmen vigil;
Whereas June 4, 2023, marks the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
        massacre;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has committed genocide 
        and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs and other predominantly 
        Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang; and
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to violate 
        the human rights of prodemocracy activists, members of ethnic groups, 
        including individuals in the Tibetan regions, religious believers, human 
        rights lawyers, citizen journalists, and labor union leaders, among many 
        others seeking to express their political or religious views or ethnic 
        identity in a peaceful manner: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses its deepest respect for and solidarity with 
        the families and friends of those killed, tortured, and 
        imprisoned for participating in the prodemocracy demonstrations 
        during the spring of 1989, and with those who have continued to 
        suffer for their fight to publicly mourn the Tiananmen Square 
        massacre victims;
            (2) reaffirms its support for those who continue to work 
        for political reform, rule of law, and protections for human 
        rights in China;
            (3) condemns the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China for its continued human rights abuses, including 
        suppressing peaceful political dissent and ethnic and religious 
        minorities;
            (4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China to--
                    (A) cease censoring information and discussion 
                about the Tiananmen Square massacre;
                    (B) invite and cooperate with a full and 
                independent investigation into the Tiananmen Square 
                massacre by the United Nations High Commissioner for 
                Human Rights;
                    (C) uphold its international legal obligations to 
                Hong Kong under the Joint Declaration of the Government 
                of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 
                Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of 
                China on the Question of Hong Kong (``Joint 
                Declaration'') and cease undermining Hong Kong's high 
                degree of autonomy; and
                    (D) allow those participants in the Tiananmen 
                demonstrations who fled overseas or reside outside of 
                China after being ``blacklisted'' for their peaceful 
                protest activity to return to China without risk of 
                retribution;
            (5) calls on the Government of the Hong Kong Special 
        Administrative Region and the relevant authorities in the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China to--
                    (A) respect and uphold the personal rights and 
                freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and the 
                independence of Hong Kong's legal system;
                    (B) restore independent democratic representation 
                to the people of Hong Kong in line with the ``One 
                Country, Two Systems'' arrangement set forth in the 
                Joint Declaration and its implementing document, the 
                Basic Law; and
                    (C) allow those living in exile for engaging in 
                prodemocracy activities to return to Hong Kong without 
                fear of detention or other repercussions;
            (6) calls on the United States Government and members of 
        Congress to mark the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
        protests, including through meetings with participants of the 
        Tiananmen Square protests who live outside of China and the 
        families and friends of the victims of the Tiananmen Square 
        massacre based outside China; and
            (7) supports ongoing peaceful movements for human rights in 
        China and of the people in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
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