[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                  TIANANMEN AT 35: THE ONGOING STRUGGLE FOR 
                    HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN CHINA

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                              JUNE 4, 2024

                               __________

 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
 
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

             Available at www.cecc.gov or www.govinfo.gov
             
                               __________

                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
55-894 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2024                    
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------              
            
              CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA

                    LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

          House                                     Senate

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey,       JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon, Co-chair
    Chair                            STEVE DAINES, Montana
JAMES P. McGOVERN, Massachusetts     MARCO RUBIO, Florida
BRIAN MAST, Florida                  TOM COTTON, Arkansas
JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia            ANGUS KING, Maine
MICHELLE STEEL, California           TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
ANDREA SALINAS, Oregon               LAPHONZA R. BUTLER, California
ZACHARY NUNN, Iowa                   SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
RYAN ZINKE, Montana

                     EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

               DANIEL K. KRITENBRINK, Department of State

                  MARISA LAGO, Department of Commerce

                   THEA MEI LEE, Department of Labor

                     UZRA ZEYA, Department of State

                      Piero Tozzi, Staff Director

                   Todd Stein, Deputy Staff Director

                                  (ii)


                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                               Statements

Opening Statement of Hon. Chris Smith, a U.S. Representative from 
  New Jersey; Chair, Congressional-Executive Commission on China.     1
Statement of Hon. Jeff Merkley, a U.S. Senator from Oregon; Co-
  chair, 
  Congressional-Executive Commission on China....................     3
Statement of Hon. Andrea Salinas, a U.S. Representative from 
  Oregon.........................................................     4
Statement of Zhou Fengsuo, Executive Director of Human Rights in 
  China and student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square 
  demonstrations.................................................     5
Statement of Ruohui Yang, founder, Assembly of Students, Humber 
  College, Canada................................................     8
Statement of ``Karin,'' White Paper protest activist and student 
  at Columbia University.........................................    10
Statement of Hon. Dan Sullivan, a U.S. Senator from Alaska.......    12
Statement of Rowena He, senior research fellow, University of 
  Texas, Austin and author of Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the 
  Struggle for Democracy in China................................    13
Statement of Hon. Laphonza Butler, a U.S. Senator from California    15
Statement of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi........................    18
Statement of Hon. Jennifer Wexton, a U.S. Representative from 
  Virginia.......................................................    27

                                APPENDIX
                          Prepared Statements

Fengsuo, Zhou....................................................    35
Yang, Ruohui.....................................................    38
``Karin''........................................................    42

Smith, Hon. Chris................................................    43
Merkley, Hon. Jeff...............................................    45
McGovern, Hon. James P...........................................    45

                       Submissions for the Record

Questions for the Record for Zhou Fengsuo from Senator Brow......    46
Questions for the Record for Ruohui Yang from Senator Brown......    47
CECC Truth in Testimony Disclosure Form..........................    50
Witness Biographies..............................................    51

                                 (iii)

 
TIANANMEN AT 35: THE ONGOING STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN 
                                 CHINA

                              ----------                              


                         TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024

                            Congressional-Executive
                                       Commission on China,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The hearing was held from 10:34 a.m. to 12:42 p.m., in Room 
2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, 
Representative Chris Smith, Chair, Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China, presiding.
    Also present: Senator Jeff Merkley, Co-chair, 
Representatives Pelosi, Salinas, Nunn, and Wexton, and Senators 
Butler and Sullivan.

 OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRIS SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM 
              NEW JERSEY AND CHAIR, CONGRESSIONAL-
                 EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA

    Chair Smith. (Off mic)--government employees and police 
joined the Tiananmen students. Their voices echoed through the 
streets of over 400 cities, demanding a future built on 
justice, freedom, and dignity.
    Late in the evening on June 3rd and into June 4th, 1989, 
the Chinese Communist Party leadership unleashed the People's 
Liberation Army upon the protesters. They used brute force and 
lethal force against peaceful protests; guns and tanks crushed 
innocent civilians, young and old alike. The precise number of 
casualties to this day is unknown. There has been no public 
accounting of the events of that week and no justice for the 
victims. Rather, those seeking to commemorate the event or 
seeking information about those killed--like the Tiananmen 
mothers--are harassed, detained, and arrested themselves.
    One of the most iconic figures of the Tiananmen massacre is 
that of the Tank Man, the solitary figure, with shopping bags 
in hand, who stood in front of the advancing line of tanks. 
That act of brave defiance inspired the world and reminds us 
why the heroic protest movement of 1989 must never be 
forgotten. Tiananmen is not simply a past event to study and 
ponder but a present reminder that when the Chinese people are 
free to assemble, to act, and to speak, they demand freedom, 
democracy, and political reform.
    What happened on Tiananmen Square in 1989 should also 
remind us that the principles of freedom and democracy are not 
only American principles. The fundamental human yearning for 
dignity and liberty is not limited to any one region or country 
in the world. They are aspirations that transcend countries and 
culture, and neither tanks nor torture can erase them. 
Nonetheless, as we look at China today, the prospects for 
greater civil and political rights seem as remote today as they 
did the day after the tanks rolled through Tiananmen Square.
    An increasingly aggressive Chinese Communist Party 
government is more repressive in domestic politics, more 
mercantilistic in trade and economic policy, increasingly 
dismissive of international norms, and more assertive in 
exporting the authoritarian model globally. While repression 
looks so much different today than it did 35 years ago, the 
goal remains the same--to preserve the Communist Party's 
monopoly, absolute monopoly, on political power through any 
means necessary--state-sponsored indoctrination, a pervasive 
surveillance state, arbitrary detention, torture, and 
transnational repression.
    At this moment in time, the United States and its allies 
face a systemic challenge from the Chinese Communist government 
and its authoritarian allies in Russia, Iran, and North Korea. 
It is a challenge we cannot avoid and one where promotion of 
human rights and freedom must be recognized as a strategic 
advantage against authoritarianism. I am proud to work 
alongside the CECC and its amazing staff to shine a bright 
light on Xi Jinping's atrocities these past 5 years. I am proud 
that the Congress has worked across the aisle to address 
genocide and to stop any company from profiting from forced 
labor of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic 
minorities.
    But there's so much more to do. The United States must do a 
better job leading the free world's democracies in holding the 
Chinese Communist government accountable through sanctions in 
the United States and at the United Nations, for its ongoing 
blatant repression of the Chinese people. We must take all 
steps to stop the Chinese Communist government's efforts to 
export their authoritarian model around the world, which they 
are aggressively doing. We must find more efficient ways to 
stop American companies from subsidizing tyranny and forced 
labor. We must better protect Chinese students in the Chinese 
diaspora from transnational repression.
    We must treat the Great Firewall of China like the 21st 
century Berlin Wall. Tearing it down must be a critical U.S. 
priority, allowing the dissemination of news and information 
within China and allowing the Chinese people to communicate 
freely and securely. At the same time, we must also stand 
resolutely with those in China and Hong Kong who are imprisoned 
and disappeared, those persecuted and silenced, those censored 
and suppressed--the Chinese pastor, the Uyghur, the labor 
organizer, the Tibetan Buddhist monk, the human rights lawyer, 
the Hong Kong democracy activist, and countless others living 
under the repressive policies of the Chinese Communist 
government.
    We must communicate to the Chinese people that their 
struggle and pain has not been and will not be forgotten. And 
we--and that we believe that the Chinese Communist Party will 
eventually be consigned to the ash heap of history. To do 
anything less dishonors the spirit of Tiananmen and those who 
stood so bravely and resolutely for freedom.
    I'd now like to yield to our very distinguished cochair, 
Senator Merkley. I would just make a note--and I apologize to 
our witnesses. We have a great group of witnesses today. My 
wife is in the hospital nearby. It's pretty serious--very 
serious. And I have to leave to be by her side. But, again, I 
thank you, and I thank my good friend Senator Merkley for his 
work on this Commission. It's extraordinary.

        STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF MERKLEY, A SENATOR FROM 
         OREGON AND CO-CHAIR, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE 
                      COMMISSION ON CHINA

    Co-chair Merkley. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 
And today being June 4th, this is the appropriate day for our 
hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 
because of the focus on the events of June 3rd and 4th, 1989. 
Focus on not just Tiananmen Square, but the activities across 
China--hundreds of cities across China. The activities and the 
response to those activities really shocked the conscience of 
the world and the conscience of this Congress.
    The massacre of peaceful protesters by their own government 
spurred a decade of debate here in Congress about whether the 
U.S. should condition trade relations with China on improvement 
in human rights. Our chairman, Congressman Smith, was at the 
forefront of those bipartisan debates, along with Speaker 
Emerita Pelosi. That question was settled in the year 2000, 
when Congress and President Clinton granted permanent normal 
trade relations to the People's Republic of China.
    Congress insisted, however, that the deal include a 
mechanism to monitor China's progress on human rights and rule 
of law. That insistence, that legislation, created this 
Commission--a bicameral, bipartisan watchdog to assess China's 
behavior against international human rights standards. But 
today's hearing is not about this Commission. It is about the 
people in the People's Republic of China, the oppression they 
continue to endure, the hopes they continue to hold for a 
better future, the aspirations that they continue to fight for.
    The people gathered in Tiananmen Square in the spring of 
1989 were demanding their government respond to their 
grievances, as well as their aspirations. And the government's 
brutal response ended lives and ended optimism that day, but it 
did not end the desire for freedom. It did not end the desire 
for dignity. Those feelings are universal. They're innate to 
every human everywhere. It's a spark that cannot be 
extinguished. Thirty-five years later, that brutal grip of 
oppression has only tightened. People cannot openly express 
dissent.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about whether 
and how the citizens of the PRC find ways to share frustrations 
and desires, their use of social media or chat groups, or 
informal networks. What can the 2022 White Paper protests tell 
us? I also hope to hear how we, American policymakers, can best 
understand what people in China are saying, what they are 
feeling, what they are advocating for. It's vital that we 
listen to their voices, rather than project our own ideas or 
politics. I'm interested to learn how people keep the legacy of 
Tiananmen alive in the face of a concerted and successful 
effort by the CCP to erase the history of Tiananmen, both on 
the mainland and now in Hong Kong.
    Preservation of memory is another innate human impulse, 
essential to people's ability to maintain their culture and 
maintain their identity. Freedom of expression and freedom of 
assembly are core human rights, enshrined in the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights. The Chinese government's 
relentless effort to suppress them does not diminish the 
yearning of the people of China to realize them, or our 
responsibility to speak out for them. And that's why we are 
here. And that's why I look forward to your testimony.
    Is there anything else that anyone would like to weigh in 
on before we turn to our witnesses?

               STATEMENT OF HON. ANDREA SALINAS, 
                  A REPRESENTATIVE FROM OREGON

    Representative Salinas. Thank you. Thank you, Chair 
Merkley. And thank you to Chair Smith as well for holding this 
important hearing. And thank you to our esteemed witnesses for 
taking the time to be here today to share your stories with us. 
I was 19 years old when the Tiananmen Square protests erupted. 
And I can still remember the infamous image of the Tank Man 
bravely staring down the military tanks with his grocery bags 
in hand. And I can still remember hearing the news about the 
thousands of protesters who lost their lives standing up to 
oppression.
    Now, on the 35th anniversary of the protests, the Chinese 
people are still prohibited from talking about Tiananmen and 
have faced reprisals from recent protests such as the White 
Paper movement. The Chinese government has cracked down on 
protesters both here and transnationally, which underscores the 
very important need for this hearing. We can honor the legacy 
of these courageous protesters by hearing these stories today 
and ensuring that they are remembered, despite efforts by the 
Chinese Communist Party to erase them from memory.
    With that said, I'm eager to hear from all of you and to 
discuss how this Commission and Congress can support you in 
your fight for human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech 
in China. Thank you.
    Co-chair Merkley. I will now introduce our witnesses, 
starting with Zhou Fengsuo. And I'll apologize for my 
pronunciation, however off it might be. Welcome. He is--he was 
a Tiananmen student leader and is executive director of Human 
Rights in China. In 1989, Zhou was a physics student at 
Tsinghua University in Beijing, who helped set up a broadcast 
station on Tiananmen Square and provided support and medical 
help to students who were on a hunger strike. Authorities took 
him into custody and detained him for a year without trial. 
After coming to the United States in 2007, he cofounded 
Humanitarian China to promote the rule of law, human rights, 
and freedom of expression in China, and to provide humanitarian 
support to political prisoners and their families. Since 2023, 
he has served as executive director of Human Rights in China.
    Next will be Ruohui Yang, a rights advocate and is 
currently a paralegal student at Humber College in Canada. In 
2020, he founded the Assembly of Citizens, a Chinese student 
association which organized large-scale June 4th commemoration 
activities and White Paper movement protests in Canada. Since 
2022, he has been an assistant editor for China Spring, where 
he has strengthened the focus on Chinese human rights issues 
and political prisoners through his editorial work.
    Karin, an alias, is a student at Columbia University who 
organized a campus White Paper protest solidarity event in 
2022. She will testify in disguise, as other organizers of the 
event were either attacked at Columbia or encountered 
intimidation from the PRC police.
    Rowena He is joining us by video. She is a China specialist 
and historian of modern China at the University of Texas at 
Austin. Her focus is the nexus of history, memory, and power, 
and the relationship between academic freedom and public 
opinion, human rights, and democratization, youth values, and 
nationalism. Her first book was entitled Tiananmen Exiles: 
Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China.''
    Mr. Zhou, we'll turn to you first.

                   STATEMENT OF ZHOU FENGSUO,

                  TIANANMEN STUDENT LEADER AND

           EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA

    Mr. Zhou. Thank you, Senator Merkley. Thank you, Chris 
Smith. And thanks to the CECC for organizing this hearing.
    I am Zhou Fengsuo, Fengsuo Zhou in English, and I'm 
currently executive director of Human Rights in China and 
president and co-founder of Humanitarian China. I was a 
Tiananmen student leader 35 years ago. It is my honor and duty 
to testify today, as a survivor of the Tiananmen massacre.
    In October 2022, I was at a Halloween parade with a group 
of young protesters. I was the only adult in the group of about 
50. But looking around, I knew many of them. Some of them were 
guests at my home. Some visited the Tiananmen exhibition. Some 
were kids of my fellow protesters from Tiananmen. I was really 
touched when one of them told me that he was arrested a few 
years ago on Tiananmen Square commemorating the Tiananmen 
massacre in the very place it happened, even though at that 
time nobody knew about this.
    As I was standing there, I was excited and inspired. And 
then, without my prompting, they chanted, ``Down with CCP, Down 
with Xi Jinping.'' At that moment, I was in tears. I realized 
that after 33 years, we have finally seen the younger 
generation. They are stepping up to carry the torch of freedom 
that I have carried with me since 1989 from Tiananmen Square.
    In 1989, I was a physics student at Tsinghua University. I 
was among the first to protest on Tiananmen Square after Hu 
Yaobang's death. Hu Yaobang was a former party secretary of the 
CCP, but his death signaled the death of reform in China. 
That's why we were concerned. That's why we went to Tiananmen 
Square to protest. And then, on this very day 35 years ago, I 
was among the last to leave Tiananmen Square when the tanks 
were rolling in, the soldiers were pointing guns at us. One of 
the tanks was only 20 feet away from me.
    In between these two dates, I witnessed the most incredible 
outpouring of Chinese people in support of freedom and 
democracy. Millions of people gathered on Tiananmen Square from 
all walks of society, not only students but also journalists, 
communist government officials, Christians, Buddhist monks, 
even police and soldiers. It was also my first time meeting 
people from Hong Kong and witnessing their strong support, and 
learned from them the techniques of civil society. The 
solidarity at that moment was so overwhelming, strong, and 
inspiring.
    I installed dozens of loudspeakers on the Monument to the 
Heroes at the center of the square, and firsthand the people's 
real voices were heard, echoing across this huge plaza, at the 
very center of Communist China's political power. In that 
moment, many Chinese people who were fearful and quiet became 
expressive and articulate, sometimes even jubilant. Freedom was 
in the air. Democracy was almost within reach.
    Unfortunately, I also witnessed the brutal massacre of 
these peaceful protesters by the troops armed with tanks and 
machine guns. The pungent smell of tear gas, the bullet holes 
in the buildings, the rolling tanks, armored vehicles, and the 
dead bodies outside of the hospital--in a bicycle shed, because 
the hospital was so overwhelmed with those who were injured and 
killed. That was a war. A war conducted by the CCP's invading 
army against freedom-loving Chinese.
    I remember seeing Zhong Qing among those who died. He was a 
younger classmate of mine at Tsinghua University. He died for 
our shared dream of a free China. He was a third-year student 
studying instruments at Tsinghua University. I was shocked 
beyond belief. I couldn't comprehend what I was witnessing. I 
realized I must carry his name and continue speaking out on his 
behalf.
    The protesters were not the only ones who suffered under 
the government's attacks. The military's brutal siege of the 
capital encountered courageous resistance from the people of 
Beijing. When martial law was first declared, millions of 
people poured out from their homes to block the troops. Many of 
them stood in front of the marching soldiers and rolling tanks 
in order to protect students like me, some of them carrying 
their children on their shoulders just to show the soldiers 
that Beijing was peaceful.
    This is why the world witnessed the great Tank Man, who has 
since become the most important icon of the last century, 
representing courage against overwhelming power and violence. 
To date, I'm often asked who this Tank Man is. We probably will 
never know. Had he survived, he probably wouldn't even realize 
the significance of his move because there were many like him 
who stood in front of the tanks.
    The whole world watched as the Chinese government turned 
against its own people and murdered peaceful protesters. Yet 
President Bush sent a special envoy to inform the Butcher of 
Beijing, Deng Xiaoping, of the support of the U.S. Government, 
even after the senseless massacre. Within 10 days, probably, 
the CCP took the wrong path after 1989, setting the country on 
the trajectory of ever-increasing political repression and 
human rights violations. That is why later this very regime 
would put Uyghurs in concentration camps, would force Tibetans 
into self-immolation, and would deprive Hong Kong of its 
freedom.
    If a regime can use tanks in broad daylight to kill its own 
people and still enjoy the support of the most democratic 
countries in the world, there's no limit to what it could do--
both in terms of internal repression and external aggression. 
That's why we are seeing the China of today. Domestically, the 
CCP chooses to erase the memory of the massacre through 
censorship and brutal repression. It tightened its grip on free 
speech, banning any mention of the reality of what happened on 
Tiananmen Square and in the rest of the country, to the extent 
that many young people today have never heard about it. Twenty 
years later, after the death of my classmate, Zhong Qing, his 
brother visited the Tiananmen Museum in Hong Kong. And that was 
the first time he learned why his older brother died. This 
museum was shut down by the CCP after the National Security 
Law. That's why we are building museums here. There's one in 
Manhattan.
    Perhaps in 1989 the CCP could have taken a different path, 
transforming itself into a social democratic party. But the 
massacre and the crackdown eliminated the ability of this 
regime to be positively changed through mere trade and 
investment. The U.S. Government has deliberately put their 
heads in the sand, ignoring the cause of human rights activists 
and political prisoners in China. This strategy may have 
brought short-term gains, in the form of increased profits and 
lower inflation, but appeasing the CCP for the benefit of trade 
has proven to be self-defeating and self-destructive.
    What Tiananmen told us 35 years ago, and still today, the 
most important lesson is that United States policy toward the 
CCP regime must focus on the democratization of China. Without 
democratization, the regime will become an even stronger threat 
toward universal values, including freedom and human rights. 
Okay, I'm running out of time. Okay, let me just quickly finish 
this. Today we remember Tiananmen because it reminds us of what 
a different China could have been, because Chinese people 
demonstrated their love for freedom and democracy through their 
protests and their resistance. The fight didn't stop them. For 
most of us, it was only the beginning of our journey.
    Liu Xiaobo gave up a position as visiting scholar at 
Columbia University to go back to China to join the students on 
Tiananmen Square. He refused to leave China and died as the 
first and only Nobel Peace laureate in prison without ever 
seeing the award. Xu Zhiyong was only a high school student, 
but the protest and the massacre awakened him. He resolved to 
dedicate his life to the dream of a free, democratic, and 
beautiful China. His New Citizens Movement gained tens of 
thousands of followers from all over China. He was recently 
sentenced to 14 years in prison.
    For me personally, it has been a privilege to work with 
these amazing freedom fighters, to raise awareness of their 
suffering, their sacrifice, their dreams, their goals, and to 
support the Tiananmen Mothers and the other victims of the 
Tiananmen massacre and the crackdown. Even though the Tiananmen 
protest and the massacre remain a source of trauma for the 
Chinese people, it has simultaneously become a tremendous 
source of inspiration, healing, and hope. That's why I have 
collected many relics and artworks from 1989. Each of these 
items carries a story of life and death, of strength and 
endurance, that is difficult to find anywhere.
    I have with me this blood-stained towel. In the morning, 
when we were leaving Tiananmen Square, someone was shot. This 
towel was used to wipe the blood of the person who was wounded. 
This is evidence of the murder. It's also a sign of hope and 
life, because this was kept for 33 years in China very 
carefully, against the government's surveillance for two 
generations, and gifted to me last year. This T-shirt was made 
by the students who created the very sculpture of the Goddess 
of Democracy on Tiananmen Square. This was the reason millions 
of people protested on Tiananmen Square--democracy and freedom 
for China. Thank you.
    Co-chair Merkley. And is that what the Chinese writing is 
on the T-shirt, is it democracy and freedom for China?
    Mr. Zhou. Yes, sir.
    Co-chair Merkley. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. 
And with your permission, I'll enter the balance of your 
testimony into the record.
    Mr. Zhou. Please.
    Co-chair Merkley. Thank you. I really appreciate how you 
have highlighted many individuals who, with very courageous 
acts, have stood up for democracy and freedom. Thank you.
    Mr. Yang.

   STATEMENT OF RUOHUI YANG, FOUNDER OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND 
  DEMOCRACY ORGANIZATION ASSEMBLY OF CITIZENS, AND STUDENT AT 
                     HUMBER COLLEGE, CANADA

    Mr. Yang. Hello. I just want to say I highly agree with 
what my Right Honorable friend Mr. Zhou just said. The Chinese 
Communist Party has unleashed a war on its own people. So 
that's why I also brought this one with me. This medal was 
issued to those soldiers who shot students on Tiananmen Square 
35 years ago. In normal nations, medals are given to soldiers 
who are acting distinguishedly and brave on the battlefield 
against their enemy. But in China, their enemy appears to be 
their own people. It says, ``commemorative of putting down the 
riot.'' Those soldiers got this medal not because of their 
bravery, but because they were cowards. Not for fighting the 
enemy, but for slaughtering their own people.
    My story begins 5 years ago. Five years ago today, the 30th 
anniversary of June the 4th, I took to the streets for the 
first time, committing myself to the movement of democracy in 
China. I was deeply intimidated by the atmosphere of fear 
cultivated by the Chinese Communist Party in Canada. However, 
the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition movement has further 
secured my determination to engage in the Chinese democracy 
movement. In Toronto, I have actively participated with my Hong 
Kong friends organizing support for the democracy movement 
supporting the Hong Kong people.
    As someone from mainland China, I have faced huge pressure 
from my own community, dealing with psychological stress from 
harassment by communist supporters and also the suffering from 
political melancholy. Things that happened during the protests 
remind me that the national border cannot stop the CCP from 
spreading fear overseas. Some Chinese, organized and encouraged 
by the consulates, drove their luxury cars through our 
protesting line shouting insults. They burned our flowers at 
the Statue of Democracy. Some protesters even received death 
threats. My life was full of harassment by strangers.
    In 2020, Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistleblower of COVID-19, 
who could have possibly stopped this global catastrophe from 
happening, was arrested by the Chinese police for ``spreading 
false statements'' and labeled a criminal. He died shortly 
after, due to the virus. But surprisingly I witnessed many 
young Chinese students attending the memorial event we 
organized in downtown Toronto, which deeply moved me. I called 
on everyone to be organized and bound together to overcome the 
fear and despair, and fight for a life of humanity, human 
rights, democracy, and freedom.
    This led to the founding of our organization, Assembly of 
Citizens. Over 3 years of COVID-19, the young generation in 
China has suffered from other human rights disasters. During 
the White Paper revolution in the winter of 2022, the Assembly 
of Citizens became capable of organizing events and protests 
across Canada more professionally and faster as a group. Our 
friends in Europe created a mailbox for contributors and for 
resistance fighters inside the Great Firewall; it became one of 
the most influential Mandarin accounts on X. Dr. Li collected 
testimony and stories of human rights catastrophes that have 
been neglected by international society--and told those stories 
to millions of people every day, while simultaneously facing 
threats from the Communist Party.
    Our friends in the U.S. are making movies, talk shows, and 
all forms of art in order to spread awareness of the oppression 
of human rights in China.
    Our friends in Japan and Korea are trying to establish 
creative businesses to emphasize resistance as a lifestyle. 
Through dealing with various issues, we realized how to avoid 
division, build professional organizations, and build more 
inclusive and stronger links with other groups.
    Twenty-nine years ago in this very same congressional hall 
Major General Charles Sweeney, who testified about the decision 
to drop the atomic bomb, said, ``One can only forgive by 
remembering. And to forget is to risk repeating history.'' The 
last rapid deterioration of human rights under a major power is 
1933 in Germany. That's the year when they enacted the Enabling 
Act, which brought Germany under dictatorship. In that year, 
Peter Drucker began writing his first book, The End of Economic 
Man: The Origins of Totalitarianism. Today as we open this 
book, we feel as if history is actually repeating itself.
    Let me adopt some of his words to describe today's 
situation in China. The Chinese substitute the CCP for order, 
but they cannot have real order. And they worship Xi Jinping, 
because they have no God to worship, showing their very 
intensity that they must have order, a creed, a radical concept 
of man. Military intimidation of Taiwan, the suppression of 
freedom, persecution against LGBTQ groups, the reeducation 
camps for Uyghurs and Tibetans, and the war against religion 
are all a sign of weakness instead of strength. The more 
desperate the Chinese become, the more strongly entrenched 
totalitarianism will appear to be. The further they push down 
the totalitarian road, the greater will they despair.
    However, as soon as we offer an alternative, the whole 
totalitarian magic will vanish like a nightmare. This is the 
current situation in China. And this is our mission. We hope we 
can show all Chinese a new choice, a possibility for a 
democracy and freedom lifestyle, with dignity and the value of 
human rights. Therefore, I believe my colleagues can do their 
job well. I trust that my predecessors from the Tiananmen 
Square generation can cooperate effectively. I trust that my 
allies can stand with us. And I also believe that you can make 
the right choice. Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, I 
truly appreciate you for listening to my story. We're doing the 
best we can. But your help is necessary as well. After all, 
this future belongs to us. It belongs to them. And it belongs 
to you. Thank you.
    Co-chair Merkley. Thank you. Thank you much. And thank you 
for your advocacy and your courage.
    We're now going to turn to Karin. Welcome.

                 STATEMENT OF KARIN (AN ALIAS),

                  WHITE PAPER PROTEST ACTIVIST

               AND STUDENT AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

    Ms. Karin. I would like to begin by expressing gratitude 
for the opportunity to testify disguised, even though it will 
only delay the inevitable police visit to my parents. Media 
Director Scott Flipse told me that only I could evaluate 
whether the cost of testifying is worth it. But however much 
this cost weighs on me, the cost for my fellow student 
activists who have already experienced intimidation, 
harassment, and even physical assault from CCP agents is 10 
times greater. And for the record, all the names in my 
testimony will be aliases.
    I was born and raised in China. Like many Chinese students 
my age, I wondered about the conspicuous lack of events 
depicted between 1970 and 1990 in our history textbook. I only 
learned about June 4th by reading about it on Wikipedia in high 
school. In 2022, I began an internship in Shanghai with one of 
China's largest technology conglomerates. Like many young 
people who grew up in the economic prosperity of the 2010s, 
sheltered by censorship, I was ready to bask in and contribute 
to the economic achievements of my nation.
    In March an unexpected citywide lockdown began, and this 
will subsequently be remembered as one of the largest 
humanitarian crises in China's COVID response. The lockdown has 
made me realize that despite economic development, the Chinese 
Communist Party has not changed, even in 35 years, from its 
totalitarian self. In November 2022, after I returned to 
university, the fire in Urumqi sparked a global wave of vigils 
and protests to commemorate the victims.
    My friend and I organized a vigil at Columbia in front of 
Low Library. We spread the word through social media only one 
day before the event. But to our surprise, not just 10 or 100, 
but 300 people showed up that night. The scene reminded me of 
how Chinese students at Columbia 35 years ago gathered at the 
very same place to demonstrate solidarity with students on the 
square.
    We wanted it to be a peaceful event, but my friend Eva, 
shortly after delivering her speech, was violently assaulted, 
struck right on the face three times by an unidentified 
individual who claimed to be a Columbia student. Later, she 
turned to the Columbia administration, but no action was taken 
aside from a suggestion to seek mental health support. Not even 
a campus safety alert.
    I was in a class on China's foreign policy. There were a 
few Chinese students whose comments were blatant CCP 
propaganda, like how the concentration camps do not exist. 
After the vigil, I was always afraid that those Chinese 
students would recognize me. I was afraid that what happened to 
Eva at the protest was going to happen to me too, and that 
Columbia would just do nothing. As China reopened, the momentum 
of the White Paper protests has died down gradually. My friends 
and I at Columbia have tried to preserve the spark by 
continuing to organize events like movie screenings of COVID 
documentaries and panel discussions.
    However, we were always plagued by far-reaching 
transnational repression. My friend and co-organizer Chris was 
interrogated by Chinese police when he returned to China last 
year. He reached out to me on Instagram to inquire about the 
names of participants of the New York protests. I was informed 
that he sent those inquiries under police pressure. The CECC 
has done an extraordinary job in its 2023 report in documenting 
the CCP's transnational repression, especially that faced by 
the Uyghurs and the Hong Kongers.
    But I want to bring to your attention that even though the 
White Paper movement has subsided, the intensity of 
transnational repression against outspoken Chinese overseas 
students has only escalated, in most cases through personal 
harassment, transnational surveillance, and the coercion of 
proxies--meaning the intimidation and interrogation of family 
members in China. My fellow student activists experienced this 
retribution in ever-increasing quantities and severity this 
year. Yet, unlike Hong Kong or Uyghur activists, few can step 
forward and tell their story.
    According to Columbia's own website, it has approximately 
6,000 currently enrolled Chinese students in 2023. Many of 
them, after completion of their study, will return to China and 
work in occupations of political or economic importance. As a 
social science major, I have always believed that a change in 
society starts with a change in its citizens' minds. In fact, 
many vocal individuals of the White Paper movement in China 
were educated overseas. Exposure to freedom made us free. But 
if these brilliant minds cannot even think and speak freely on 
American campuses, on American soil, it will be much more 
difficult for a movement like White Paper to be sparked again.
    I don't have time to go through the policy recommendations 
in my testimony, but I would like to receive questions on them 
later if possible. Congressmembers, 160 years ago President 
Lincoln showed us that America was a nation that would hold the 
power and bear the responsibility to assure freedom to the 
free. He said, as Americans, ``We shall nobly save or meanly 
lose the last best hope of Earth.'' That is our union. That is 
our beacon of liberty for those oppressed around the world.
    Congressmembers, 35 years ago you showed those students 
from Beijing fleeing a brutal massacre that the United States 
kept its promise as the last best hope of Earth, a safe haven 
for people who pursue and fight for democracy and freedom. Now 
I ask you to show the compassion and support for us, for those 
first pioneers who lit the spark for all should not be allowed 
to freeze in the wind and snow.
    Co-chair Merkley. Thank you very much for your testimony.
    And we're now going to have testimony from Rowena He, who's 
joining us by video. Members have various hearings, briefings, 
and votes, so we are coming and going, and I apologize that 
that is the nature of how the House and Senate operate. I'm 
going to turn the gavel over to my colleague from the House.
    Representative Nunn. At this time, I'd like to recognize 
Rowena He for her opening comments.
    As we do an audio check here, I just want to say Rowena He 
is joining us by video. She is a China specialist, a historian 
of modern history at the University of Texas in Austin. Her 
focus is on the nexus of history, memory, and power, and the 
relationship between academic freedom and public opinion, human 
rights and democratization, and youth values and nationalism. 
Her first book was entitled Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the 
Struggle for Democracy in China.
    As we work through our audio system, we'll recognize 
Senator Sullivan for his opening comments. And then we'll come 
back for Q&A with the panel. Thank you very much for being here 
today. With that, Senator.

                STATEMENT OF HON. DAN SULLIVAN,
                     A SENATOR FROM ALASKA

    Senator Sullivan. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I 
want to thank the witnesses for their courage, their testimony, 
and bravery. And now, in my view, Mr. Chairman, some of this--
the fact that you even have to be brave in America, as Karin 
has shown, is a real troubling aspect of what's happening right 
now with regard to the Chinese Communist Party's attempts at 
global reach to suppress dissent. Even trying to depress 
dissent in the United States.
    You know, this anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre 
is something that most Americans who were alive then, we all 
remember it. And unlike what the Chinese Communist Party has 
tried to do to its own people, they have not been able to erase 
the memory of those horrendous events in the United States or 
around the world.
    I am actually just back from a Senate CODEL with Senator 
Butler and some other senators, a bipartisan Senate CODEL to 
Taiwan. And this is a real free society, one of the freest 
societies in the world. And of course, culturally, it is 
Chinese. Which is why the CCP is so scared about what's 
happening in Taiwan. Like Hong Kong, the way Hong Kong was, 
Taiwan threatens the very central tenet of the Chinese 
Communist Party's ruling ethos, which is that one man, ruling 
in perpetuity by crushing all dissent, knows what's good for 
1.4 billion people. That is why they're so afraid of Taiwanese 
democracy.
    I want to thank the witnesses again, Mr. Chairman, here, 
and to recognize also what is one of the most outrageous 
Chinese Communist Party offenses. And that is how they 
systematically, regularly target dissidents abroad and their 
families to make them comply with what they see as correct 
behavior. And as we are seeing with these brave witnesses 
today, they're even doing this in the United States of 
America--hunting down dissidents in the United States of 
America. I think every single American citizen should be 
outraged by this.
    And, again, I want to thank our witnesses today for their 
courage. We stand with them. And I look forward to them taking 
their questions and getting the word out not just to American 
citizens but to people all around the world on the brutality of 
this authoritarian regime in Beijing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Senator. I could not agree 
more with your well-placed opening statement.
    With that, I'd like to return to one of our key witnesses, 
Rowena He, who is now available for us remote. Rowena, the 
floor is yours.

 STATEMENT OF ROWENA HE, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF 
 TEXAS, AUSTIN, AND AUTHOR OF TIANANMEN EXILES: VOICES OF THE 
                         STRUGGLE FOR 
                       DEMOCRACY IN CHINA

    Ms. He. Okay. Thank you so much. Can you hear me now? Thank 
you so much for this opportunity to join you from afar in 
solidarity. I'm currently at Stanford because I wanted to honor 
my commitment that I made a long time ago to speak here on 
campus for the Tiananmen anniversary today, June 4th. And as 
you all know this is a special day because exactly today, 35 
years ago, over 200,000 army soldiers, equipped with AK-47s and 
tanks, were deployed into the capital city of Beijing against 
unarmed civilians.
    I was a teenager at that time. And I always wondered in 
those days if the world knew what was happening to us. I used 
to light candles secretly with my friends, my college friends--
closing the doors and windows, worrying about being caught. I 
know many of them are listening to me today, from afar. It 
means a lot that the CECC is organizing this hearing and giving 
us a voice on this special day, when the idealism of my 
generation was so violently silenced in 1989.
    Ten years ago, when I first testified for the CECC, I was 
both hopeful and sad. I had just published my first book 
Tiananmen Exiles despite state efforts to erase the history of 
1989; I was also teaching this taboo subject at Harvard, 
keeping the memory alive among the younger generation. At the 
same time, I felt so sad because there was still no justice for 
the victims. A Tiananmen father hanged himself in an empty 
parking lot before one of the Tiananmen anniversaries. I used 
to listen to this father's testimony. He was so determined to 
carry on, seeking justice for his son, Ya Aiguo.
    All these years I kept wondering what was in this father's 
mind when he was walking towards that empty parking lot near 
Tiananmen Square--that's probably the closest place that he 
could get to near the Square where his son was killed.
    All these years I kept wondering what this father was 
thinking when he was walking towards that empty parking lot. 
That was a Rising China age. That was the time when the whole 
world was mesmerized by the power and the wealth of the CCP, 
and it was all about that ``China Model'' of state capitalism 
and authoritarianism. This father probably felt that there was 
nothing in this world that he had, except his life, to remind 
us that we owe his son justice. And I wanted so much to be able 
to give him that justice. That was 10 years ago.
    Five years ago, I was invited to testify before the CECC 
again, but I had a commitment to speak at the University of 
London. I couldn't make it. And at that time, I had just 
finished a fellowship at IAS Princeton and accepted a 
professorship in Hong Kong. And who would have thought that 
now, 5 years later, on the 35th anniversary of Tiananmen, I 
would be denied a work visa and banned from returning to my 
position as Associate Professor of History at the Chinese 
University of Hong Kong.
    Tiananmen is not just about the past. Tiananmen is ongoing. 
The repression, the political repression, is ongoing. The 
Tiananmen Mothers are still not allowed to openly mourn their 
children; the exiles are not allowed to go home to their 
parents' sickbeds and funerals. And scholars like me are 
constantly being punished. We are in freedom; we are outside 
China, but we are never free. It pains me to watch these 
younger people, who have just now testified about the 
repression, talking about fear, about harassment to their 
family members. Because that's exactly what we had previously 
been through.
    If there's any one thing that kept me going, it's not 
because of courage, the word people often used to describe me. 
On the contrary, it's because of fear. It's because of the fear 
that we have lived through, especially after 1989. It's because 
of fear that I wanted to continue. I wanted to carry on.
    The past 35 years have witnessed a war of memory against 
forgetting. The CCP has used all the state machinery to erase 
the history of memory, but not in Hong Kong.
    Hong Kong, where I just got expelled, used to be the beacon 
of light for those of us struggling in darkness for 30 years. 
Every year in Victoria Park, you would know that no matter how 
difficult it was, no matter how depressing, how daunting my 
journey of studying Tiananmen was--you knew that on the day of 
June 4th, today, for 30 years people in Hong Kong would light 
the candles in Victoria Park--telling the Beijing regime that 
there's something in this world that cannot be crushed by guns 
and tanks, and propaganda machines and jails. That's our human 
beings longing for freedom, truth, and justice.
    But now the organizers of these candlelight vigils are 
either in exile or in jail. The last court trial that I went to 
before I left Hong Kong was actually for the trial of the 
organizers of the Tiananmen candlelight vigil. I had imagined 
so many times before I went to the court that day, how I would 
react, how I would feel when I saw my friends on the other side 
of the courtroom. But when I saw them--when I saw them coming 
out--Albert Ho Chun-yan and Lee Cheuk-yan, these men who 
devoted their lives to organizing the candlelight vigils for 
us--lighting candles to show those of us in darkness that ``we 
are still here'' and ``we are not giving up.'' But now they 
were on the other side of the courtroom.
    That strong sense of helplessness was just so overwhelming, 
just like a few months ago before their court trial, when the 
statue of the Goddess of Democracy was removed from my campus 
at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Twice in my life, first 
time in my teenage years--the second time when I was a middle-
aged woman, as a professor on campus--trying to defend academic 
freedom on my campus, to protect the younger generation of Hong 
Kong and China when they were struggling in their fight for 
freedom and democracy. And twice, we saw that statue of 
democracy that the students first erected in Tiananmen Square, 
symbolizing our generation's longing for the same values 
represented by your Statue of Liberty in New York City, being 
taken away.
    Tiananmen was not just about repression. It's also about 
hope. It's about a generation's longing for the universal 
values of liberty and democracy. And that fateful night of 
repression changed everything, but we are still--we are still 
trying to carry on the fight. I think it's because of all the 
repression that Congressman Smith mentioned at the beginning, 
and also the earlier testimony, that makes it even more 
important that we continue this fight.
    People used to ask me why human rights in China matters. 
They said that we have economic interests, voters' interests--
human rights in China was not our priority. I fully understand 
how important it is for each of us, every one of us, especially 
under the difficult economic situation, to bring food to the 
table for our family and to take care of our loved ones. That's 
what we want as human beings. However, Tiananmen was not just 
about China; it's not just about 1989. If we look at what 
happened during COVID, the violation of human rights of one 
medical doctor in Wuhan, in China, became the violation of 
human rights of every single human being on Earth.
    So 1989 did not end in 1989. It's an ongoing struggle. If 
there's anything we can do--as Milan Kundera describes it: 
``The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory 
against forgetting.'' As expressed in 1984, ``those who control 
the present control the past, and those who control the past 
control the future.'' Let's work together collectively to make 
sure that the government in Beijing cannot control our present 
to control our past, and cannot control our past to control our 
future. I know that we may lose many battles, but we are going 
to win the war of memory against forgetting. History is on our 
side. I will be happy to answer any questions later. Thank you 
very much.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Professor He, for that 
powerful testimony.
    With that, I'd next like to recognize the senator for her 
opening comments, and then we'll get into comment and question.

               STATEMENT OF HON. LAPHONZA BUTLER,
                   A SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA

    Senator Butler. Thank you, Chairman, for the opportunity to 
address such an esteemed panel. It's interesting to me that we 
mark this moment and anniversary with a declaration of courage. 
Also marked with a great deal of sadness. But what inspires me 
is that we sit in this moment listening to the fear and 
concerns, but also underneath, the expectation and hope. And 
the work of this Commission, I think, is a critical part of 
meeting those expectations of hope with these activists, and 
leaders and academics across the country and the world. I 
believe that together, as has been declared, we can meet the 
moment of expectation and hope by continuing to commemorate the 
sacrifice of so many in 1989. But making that commemoration 
with a very loud demand--a demand for justice, truth, and 
freedom.
    And I know that, as a part of this Commission, I stand with 
all of my colleagues in meeting that moment in such a way. Mr. 
Chairman, I just have a few questions, if that would be okay.
    Mr. Zhao, thank you for your bravery, and for being here 
today and sharing your story. As one who knows truly the 
firsthand consequences of speaking out on human rights, your 
perspective and your insight are especially valuable to us. One 
thing that particularly interests me is how you have worked to 
unite those who focus on the overall human rights picture in 
China and those who focus on the specific concerns of the 
Uyghur and Tibetan communities. Can you tell me a little bit 
more about how your work with the Uyghur and Tibetan 
communities has gone, and how you've been effective in 
developing cooperation among these groups?
    Mr. Zhou. Thank you, Senator Butler. Thank you for coming 
today. And thank you for your kind words of support and 
solidarity.
    I have worked extensively with Tibetan communities and the 
Uyghur activists in the past. Of course, we always want to do 
more. The Tibetan community has been our strongest supporter 
from 35 years ago to date. They participate in our 
commemoration rallies everywhere. And I normally go to their 
celebrations, their events, regularly. And we have a very 
active community for cultural exchange among the diaspora 
communities.
    So, you know, with that we have tremendous respect for the 
Tibetan community. They have grown their roots very deeply in 
the host countries, and they have practiced democracy in their 
diaspora. You know, both of these are aspects of what we are 
trying to learn. And we are actually getting a lot of help from 
them. For example, sometimes we want to have events in our 
organizations. Early on they gave us, you know, space to hold 
these kinds of events. And we are forever grateful.
    And my organization, Humanitarian China, was one of the 
earliest supporters of the Uyghur economist, Professor Ilham 
Tohti when his daughter, Jewher, arrived in the United States. 
Because her father was arrested at the airport she was here 
alone. We raised money among our supporters to support her 
transition. You know, she's made friends since then. And I also 
talk continuously with the Uyghur community. We are very 
outspoken on the concentration camps and other issues.
    For me, of course, it was when I was in prison that I began 
to realize that I was in the same situation as all these 
underprivileged groups under the CCP. You know, we were 
brainwashed to believe that we were, like, the prized children 
of the CCP regime. But then, you know, in prison we realized 
how brutal this regime is against people. Once you're in that 
kind of situation, you feel a bond with the other 
underprivileged groups. And it's always my hope that we can do 
more. Thank you.
    Senator Butler. Thank you so much for that. As a labor 
leader in California representing one of the most diverse 
communities across our state, what I hear in your response is, 
the tools that have been most effective, and I think it's 
applicable as we continue to meet this moment, are the 
experience of shared pain and common humanity, and most 
importantly, the aspirational purpose that unites us all, no 
matter what community. And I appreciate you for lifting those 
tools up as we all work together to broaden this coalition to 
bring more voices to this incredibly important issue.
    My last question, if I can, Mr. Chair, just quickly, would 
be to Mr. Yang. I've always believed that young people should 
be empowered to advocate for change as they seek to shape the 
future in which they will live. So I'm pleased to learn about 
your efforts to organize students around the world in 
advocating for human rights in China. Can you share with us 
your view on the younger generation of Chinese citizens, both 
within and outside the country, and their--and the perspective 
may be different from their parents' or grandparents' 
generation. I'd love to hear the sort of inter-
generational perspective of leaders within the community 
relative to this issue.
    Mr. Yang. Thank you, ma'am. First of all, about my family. 
My father's generation, pretty much my father and my mother and 
my grandparents were really, really loyal to Communist Party 
members. So they'll be really unhappy to see me being here. But 
generally, the condition in China right now is really 
desperate. Even at this very moment when we are having this 
meeting right now, someone in mainland China might just be on 
the way to committing suicide because of the terrible, terrible 
economic atmosphere in China right now. And the entire society 
is really desperate, especially for young people. The suicide 
rate in mainland China, which I believe is included in my nine-
page written testimony--you can take a look later--is really 
high right now. So that's really a catastrophe.
    Additionally, overseas we do have--we're really glad to see 
there's various groups in Europe, in Japan, in America, all 
over the place. Currently, I'm trying to establish 
communication and cooperation with these groups and these 
people that are really helping, really encouraging that we are, 
like, really showing solidarity. But we might have a little bit 
different agenda than the Tiananmen Square generation. We're 
trying to be more creative, utilize modern technology as well 
as we can. And we are more focused on basic human rights.
    We do not have the privilege of talking about the future of 
Asia, or the shape of the world, because right now due to the 
atmosphere being so desperate, our goal is just to help as many 
people as possible at least save their lives--like LGBTQ 
groups, like those students being persecuted during the White 
Paper revolution. We somehow would like to return to the 
basics, and restructure our society as more civilized, more 
democratic, and with the values of humanity and dignity from 
the beginning, step by step. And I have--I have myself full 
confidence that we will complete this task really quick.
    Senator Butler. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield 
back.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Commissioner, Senator 
Butler. Excellent line of questioning.
    With that, I'd now like to defer the chair to the Speaker 
Emerita, Representative Nancy Pelosi. Madam Speaker.

                STATEMENT OF HON. NANCY PELOSI,

        SPEAKER EMERITA OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

    Speaker Emerita Pelosi. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 
Thank you, members of the Commission, for paying very important 
attention to the Tiananmen Square massacre 35th anniversary. 
It's wonderful to hear. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the 
committee.
    And to our guests, our student leaders, our leaders for 
human rights and democracy in China, thank you for your 
participation. Thank you for your ongoing courage. Because, 
unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, that's what it's going to take 
this time, because the Chinese have a very long arm outside of 
the country. I was just in London, where they had reached out 
to show their disagreement with the courage of those speaking 
out in Hong Kong.
    But here we are 35 years later. You were not born yet. 
Maybe some of your parents weren't even born yet, I don't know. 
But in any event, it was an event that shocked the world 
because on live TV--unlike many things that had happened 
before--we could see a beautiful demonstration of courage, of 
the statue modeled after the Statue of Liberty, giving respect 
of the people in Tiananmen Square. And there were people in 
hundreds of other cities, I understand, at least a hundred 
other cities, who had come out to speak for democratic 
freedoms, also for the end of corruption. There were several 
items on the agenda.
    And there were leaders in the Chinese government who were 
supportive of and sympathetic to the cause. They were soon 
rejected.
    But first--the Chinese rolled tanks over these young 
people. Many died. Others were arrested. So many--some who 
escaped came here to Congress. I remember the first day some of 
them came here, the press of the world was focused on what they 
had to say. So this attention that this Commission is paying 
here today is very, very important, because we cannot let 
anyone think that those champions of Tiananmen Square are 
forgotten.
    As we speak, there is genocide occurring against Muslims in 
China. As we speak, there is repression in Tibet of culture, 
religion, and language so that children have to leave Tibet to 
be raised in their culture. As we speak, China--the Chinese 
government--I make that distinction from the Chinese people--
the Chinese government, the Communist Party, has made a mockery 
of ``one country, two systems'' by the suppression that we see 
in Hong Kong to destroy their democratic freedoms. They're in 
contradiction with the Basic Law, which they agreed to when the 
U.K. handed Hong Kong back over to China.
    What kind of an argument is that to the world, that they 
are truly one country, two systems? What kind of a case is that 
to make to Taiwan, when they are threatening aggression not 
only to Taiwan, but in the South China Sea? So what has 
happened in China under the circumstances of the past 35 years 
has not been positive in terms of global democracy, in terms of 
human rights, in terms of promoting democratic freedoms. We 
don't expect them to have a democratic government, but 
democratic freedoms and freedom to speak--very important.
    I say this in China and I say it at the highest level--the 
highest, highest level there--we as Americans--if we do not 
speak out in recognizing the violations of human rights and 
democratic freedoms in China because of commercial interest, we 
lose all moral authority to speak out about human rights in any 
country in the world. This is a challenge to our conscience as 
a country. The man before the tank was a symbol of such great 
courage. Not only his, but of all the others in Tiananmen 
Square, and of yours for speaking out now--student leaders and 
leaders of human rights and democracy in China, for speaking 
out now.
    I just wanted to--as the writer Lu Xun wrote, ``Lies 
written in ink cannot disguise facts written in blood.'' I just 
want to say, China is trying to deny some of this. When I was 
there a few years after Tiananmen Square, I said to some of the 
leaders in the government, there's a rumor that China is trying 
to revisit Tiananmen Square and change your attitude toward 
what happened there--maybe free the prisoners and the rest. And 
they said to me: You're right. It's a rumor. It's a rumor.
    But we must remember what happened at Tiananmen because 
China continues to deny history.
    One of my proudest possessions is the poster of the man in 
front of the tank. It's beautiful, a picture of courage. But 
not only that, it's signed by almost every dissident who has 
made his or her way out of China--signatures of courage. But I 
was saddened to learn on a subsequent visit, after we unfurled 
the banner in Tiananmen Square, remembering those who gave 
their lives--that was the early 1990s--but subsequent to that 
when I went there and was speaking at the universities, what 
was sad for me was to learn that most of the students didn't 
have the faintest idea of what that poster was, the man 
standing in front of the tank. Was it a commercial for a 
product in America? They had tried to erase that iconic image 
and what it stood for, as far as young people were concerned in 
China.
    So this is not only wrong, it's mean-spirited because it 
tries to erase the history. But we cannot forget. And we will 
not let the history be forgotten. And that's why I'm so 
grateful to the committee for your work. I thank you for the 
opportunity to share some thoughts about this really important 
35th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
Thank you, members of the Commission.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Madam Speaker. We 
appreciate you joining us.
    Ms. He. Can I jump in to respond to the questions online?
    Representative Nunn. Yes. Professor He, if you want to jump 
in, this will be your time.
    Ms. He. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much, Congresswoman 
Pelosi. It means a lot to see you here today with us. I fully 
agree with you that a government that deployed over 200,000 
army soldiers with AK-47s and tanks against unarmed civilians 
in its capital city should not have any legitimacy. And the 
narrative that the post-Tiananmen regime created, that we did 
this for you--telling the Chinese people that we did this 
because, if we hadn't, we wouldn't have had this Rising China, 
was the root of this war of memory against forgetting.
    Public opinion about democratization and nationalism, and 
even war, is all closely connected to the collective memory of 
the nation's most immediate past. So I think this war is not 
just about getting justice and getting the truth, but also, has 
strong--profound implications on public opinion, both 
domestically and internationally. The CCP has been extremely 
successful exporting its propaganda outside China, taking 
advantage of our principles of intellectual freedom, using 
democracy to undermine democracy.
    I've taught on different American campuses and later on 
Hong Kong campuses. We always faced the challenges of allowing 
different voices on the one hand, but protecting our campuses 
from the CCP propaganda that the regime had all the state 
machinery to back up. It is very difficult; it is indeed a 
challenge for democracy. And as I mentioned at the beginning, 
the fact that I, myself, after living through both post-'89 
China and surviving 2019 with my students in Hong Kong, and 
then banned as a Tiananmen scholar from returning to Hong Kong, 
is already very telling--they are afraid of a history scholar 
and teacher because they are afraid that people will find out 
the historical past.
    They are so afraid. That was why--that's why they launched 
the patriotic education campaign in the post-Tiananmen period, 
in which they emphasized foreign invasions--the Opium War, the 
Japanese invasion, while at the same time, they twist and 
manipulate historical memories of every atrocity that the CCP 
was responsible for. This is something that we need to think 
about harder in our policy-making--what can we do to protect 
our campuses?
    I would also like to respond to the question raised earlier 
about engagement. Forgive me if I'm running over--you can tell 
me. What can we do to engage? I think there's something lost in 
translation. Often people in this country think of engagement 
as the way the U.S. engages. Of course, human rights NGOs are 
doing great work. But we also need to recognize the fact that 
under the CCP, any organization, any formal official 
organization, will immediately be banned, and targeted.
    So I think it is important that we see those who are 
invisible but who are doing groundwork on the front line of the 
battlefield. I felt strongly about this, especially after my 
experience of working in Hong Kong after 2019, in the past few 
years. We had to be low profile when we were carrying on in 
small ways. There are still so many people who are invisible 
but they are doing important work underground. So maybe we can 
think about how to support these people in addition to NGOs and 
social media. For example, after the passing of Article 23 in 
Hong Kong, I immediately felt that social media had become so 
quiet. But that doesn't mean that people have given up 
resisting. They haven't. They have their own way to resist and 
to express themselves. I could keep going with examples. But 
thank you for the opportunity to share my views.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Professor He.
    Speaker Pelosi, do you have any further questions for the 
Commission? Otherwise, we'll continue with the line.
    Speaker Emerita Pelosi. Just to pick up from what we just 
heard. Everybody says to me, Well, what are you going to do 
about China? It's a big country. We're a big country. We have 
to find our common ground. There are areas that we must try to 
work together on if we're going to solve the climate crisis, 
for example. We have to try to find some common ground there, 
and some areas of respect. But that doesn't mean that we ignore 
what has happened before. So we have to be true to our values, 
be true to our priorities, and be respectful of the people of 
China and not equate them with the Chinese Communist Party 
regime and the rest.
    And to recognize--you know, when President Xi came to the 
United States, not this time for APEC but before--Senator 
Feinstein, my dear friend, and colleague of the senators who 
are here--she and I spoke to him about Tibet, in particular. We 
talked about China, but Tibet in particular. And he said, When 
it comes to Tibet you don't even know what you're talking 
about. You should go there. Things are great there. You just 
don't know. You should go. So I said, Mr. President, I've been 
trying to get a visa to go to Tibet for 25 years. Does this 
mean we have a visa to go to Tibet?
    So we went to Tibet. And it was like a Potemkin Village. 
You know, they had tried to make it look as if people were just 
as happy as can be to have their culture diluted, their 
language forbidden, their religion mocked, and their people 
tortured for even the thought or the mention of the Dalai Lama. 
And so we told him when we went to Beijing after that visit--
Jim McGovern said to him, We saw your Potemkin village of 
Tibet, because it wasn't real. And time prevents me from going 
into all of the unreality of it.
    But, again, it's a big country. We're a big country. We 
want to find a future together that has global security, again, 
our values respected, because they respect in their governance 
their own people. That wouldn't be possible but for the courage 
of our guests here--the testimony here today. Thank you so much 
for that. So I don't really have a question except to say, when 
people say we can't ignore them, no, we can't ignore China. We 
have to find our common ground. But that common ground has to 
be about respect. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Representative Nunn. I'd like to thank the lady from 
California. And thank you, Congresswoman, for your advice and 
your perspective on this. Very good.
    Speaker Emerita Pelosi. Thank you.
    Representative Nunn. I want to return to the Commission 
here and say how honored I am to chair this hearing and that 
Chairman Smith has done great work to bring this team together 
on the 35th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. Today, we're 
holding important hearings to highlight not only the 
demonstrations that occurred over three decades ago, but the 
challenge that continues. I remember being a child and watching 
on NBC News as the anchor highlighted this gentleman here 
[points to photo of the Tank Man]. Standing as a beacon not 
just to the individuals of China standing up to tyranny, but 
really a world at the precipice--facing down both Communist 
China and the Soviet Union and their proxies around the world.
    And here, more than anywhere else, we saw the first 
breaches in that horrible wall of communism's takeover of the 
world. For those of you who are here today, both those who were 
on the ground when it happened and those who continue to be a 
voice for democracy and human rights, we are so grateful for 
your experiences and your voice. And we recognize that there is 
much more that needs to be done. As we gather here today, we 
not only remember the brave individuals who stood up in the 
name of democracy in 1989 in the streets of Beijing, but also 
to examine ways in which the CCP maintains a stranglehold on 
free speech throughout that country and exports it around the 
world today--including its detrimental effect and intimidation 
factor right here in the United States, on U.S. soil today, as 
one of our witnesses is exemplifying.
    This Commission has examined time and time again Xi 
Jinping's brutal rule and has turned the clock backward on the 
people of China. And despite the victories won in 1989, we have 
seen the sun continue to set. His desire to crush political 
dissidents, silence opposing ideologies and threaten those who 
would challenge his power, signifies that China has descended 
into a near total authoritarian dystopia. This overwhelming 
suppression is not limited to immediate threats to Xi's power, 
but rather transcends decades of opposing and intolerable 
narratives. As we have learned today, the inability of those in 
mainland China to discuss the 1989 Tiananmen Square 
demonstration showcases the lengths to which the CCP will go 
not only to whitewash history, but to bury those, literally in 
some cases, who disagree with the Party.
    It's critical that we understand why the CCP continues to 
silence the story of Tiananmen Square and identify the tactics 
in which they're engaging to repress speech today. So I applaud 
this Commission for working together not only in a bipartisan 
and bicameral way, and with the White House to give voice to 
those who have been silenced. I want to thank our witnesses for 
their bravery for appearing here today. I'd like to get in a 
line of questioning.
    So with that, I'd like to begin with Dr. Zhou Fengsuo. 
During these protests that are highlighted behind me, you 
helped set up the broadcast station to echo your beliefs and 
help keep fellow demonstrators up to date on what was happening 
in real time, in a country where free speech--let alone 
coordinated speech--was nearly impossible. As a young student, 
walk us through your thought process on the opposition work 
that you had done to stand up to China leading up to it, and 
including the day of events in Tiananmen Square.
    Mr. Zhou. I was a physics student, but I was a voracious 
reader. I read a lot of English literature. I was inspired by 
the famous speeches and documents. My first speech on Tiananmen 
Square was comparing the Declaration of Independence with the 
Chinese constitution, which I believe is arbitrary and 
dictatorial. It's not really from people's consent, like what 
the Declaration of Independence was showing us. But at that 
time I was pushed away after my speech because the student 
organizers on Tiananmen Square believed I was too radical.
    Only in prison when I studied Chinese law--you know, so-
called law--I realized just talking about the illegitimacy of 
the constitution is a crime in itself. That's why the other 
people were scared. But for me, this was a moment I realized 
even though it was a scary thought, the moment I shared it, it 
made such a difference in me and in the people around me. 
That's why Tiananmen Square is like a magnet for so many people 
from different walks of society, even though, you know, before 
that they were so fearful.
    Representative Nunn. Mr. Zhou, the same intimidation that 
you felt in 1989 China, we're now more than three decades on. 
You look at individuals in the country. Does that same level of 
intimidation persist? Is it pervasive under Xi's current CCP?
    Mr. Zhou. It's even stronger now. You know, at that time, 
we all believed that technology would change China to a better 
direction. But unfortunately, what happened is exactly the 
opposite. The CCP used the most sophisticated technology to 
monitor people, to force people into self-censorship. And 
that's not happening only in China. It's happening abroad as 
well. So that has proven to be, you know, one of most 
disturbing aspects of the technology, and how it happened.
    But on the other hand, you know, there are always brave 
people who are fighting against this. At this moment we're 
speaking, the Twitter account of Teacher Li on Twitter--the 
very tweet about today in Beijing, that Human Rights in China 
wrote for him, is receiving 1.6 million hits. And most of these 
are people from China on this very single topic. This is, like, 
15 hours after its publication. You know, it showed people's 
will. They are very interested in this. They have to overcome 
all the difficulties and risk a lot just to access this 
information. But as they state, they are not forgetting. They 
are trying to remember.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Mr. Zhou. And I applaud the 
bravery not only of the folks inside of China but, as you 
noted, the bravery continues outside of China. And, 
challengingly, the use of electronics has actually put many of 
them on the target list. And so I'd like to turn to Karin here. 
Karin, you have worked hard to continue to ``call out'' the 
hypocrisy not only within China, but the threat it has to folks 
right here on U.S. soil. Your work calling out China's zero-
COVID policy illustrates the broader context of the CCP's 
desire to maintain control of a population well beyond the 
shores of Beijing's territorial integrity, but to intimidate 
folks like yourself, right here on U.S. territory. You can 
highlight here the complete lockdown of an entire country of 
over a billion people, but yet they still had resources to come 
after you. Karin, share your story with us and how this 
suppression and tracking extends far beyond China's coastline.
    Ms. Karin. Yes. Thank you for your question, 
Representative. I would like to begin by saying that I 
personally haven't experienced any direct intimidation or 
harassment, but many of my friends and more and more this year 
are experiencing intimidation, harassment, and interrogation. 
When they are here, they might just get a call from their 
parents asking them to hop onto a Zoom call. And then in the 
window of the Zoom call, next to their parents, they will see 
the face of CCP police, ready to interrogate them unexpectedly. 
And part of the reason that I'm testifying in disguise is 
because I was afraid what happened to my friend Eva might 
happen to me again.
    But the larger reason as to why I'm afraid actually has 
more to do with not knowing what's going to happen to me. I 
don't know if tomorrow I'm going to get punched in the face 
three times like Eva was or be like the girl from the Berklee 
School of Music who received a threatening message that her 
hand was going to get chopped off for just doing the vigil at 
the school. And at Columbia, a school with a massively 
influential CSSA, and almost 7,000 Chinese students, I think 
there will always be this feeling of uncertainty as to when, 
and from whom, and what format the retaliation or transnational 
repression is going to happen.
    Representative Nunn. Well, Karin, to both you and your 
colleagues, we salute not only your bravery but your steadfast 
commitment to speaking truth to power--whether it's here in the 
United States or overseas.
    I'd now like to call on Professor Rowena He. Identify for 
us, Professor, you're coming to us remote here, but you've seen 
from your work CCP suppression both inside mainland China and 
that tradition of censorship now spilling over. The CCP has 
influence over the Chinese diaspora, as well as political 
activists here in the United States. What have you been able to 
identify as to how they've carried this out beyond Beijing's 
immediate threshold of control?
    Ms. He. Thank you. For decades, I lived in fear. People 
often ask me, What are the difficulties of researching 
Tiananmen or any forbidden memory, taboo subjects by the 
Beijing regime? I think first of all, it was fear. This is a 
problem for the entire China field, not just for me, and also 
for journalists reporting from inside or outside China. If you 
do a good job with integrity, you will very likely, sooner or 
later, lose access to the country that you study or report on. 
So the implications, again, are profound. The regime has full 
control of who can get in and who will be denied work visas. 
It's almost mission impossible.
    How is it possible that you are studying China, but Beijing 
is going to control your access to China? So you do a good job, 
and then you lose your job, as I mentioned at the beginning. 
This is conflict of interest. We need to figure out 
collectively what we can do about this. Academic freedom, 
intellectual freedom--is the core of any inquiry. The CCP has 
been doing this in the post-'89 China. There is always such an 
unbalanced relationship between the state power and its people, 
between the power and the powerless like me. They use all state 
machinery to control you. Instead of trying to resolve the 
political and social issues being brought up, the regime 
punishes those who raise those issues, people like Liu Xiaobo 
and those who signed Charter 08, when people openly asked for 
political change and transformation again after Tiananmen. And 
the result was, Liu Xiaobo became the second Nobel Peace Prize 
laureate who died as a political prisoner. So those kinds of 
implications on individuals are profound. And we need to find a 
way to protect individuals who speak truth to power, including 
myself. When I first returned from the battlefield, that's what 
I called it, when I was being banned after defending our 
universal values on the front line, I didn't know what was 
going to happen to me, and what was going to happen to my 
family in China.
    And I think each of us, people like Fengsuo, can tell you a 
story about how we were punished because of work and were not 
allowed to return to China to be at the sickbed of our loved 
ones before they died. So Tiananmen is not just about politics; 
it's not even just about facts. It's about humanity. It's also 
about the values that we defend. And the CCP has been 
successful in twisting the values and changing the narrative. 
We are facing a big crisis with the CCP taking over public 
opinion about the China Model, presenting it as an alternative 
of civilization for the world now that democracy is failing. If 
that narrative takes over, then we would really be in crisis. 
I'm now exiled officially, after studying Tiananmen for over 
two decades. Democracy is my only home. I hope that we will 
work together to safeguard and preserve democracy. I will have 
no home to move to if democracy fails. Let's protect and 
preserve democracy.
    Please allow me a few more minutes to respond to your 
question about the 1980s, and the Tiananmen generation. We were 
a generation of what I call ``inbetweeners.'' We were born 
toward the end of Mao's Cultural Revolution and grew up during 
Deng's open reform era. On one hand, we were instilled with the 
ideas of sacrificing for the great cause; at the same time, we 
were exposed to individualistic new ideas. That was reflected 
in the two songs sung throughout the Tiananmen Movement in 
1989. The first one was the Communist Party's 
``Internationale.'' And then the second one--``Nothing to My 
Name'' by the rock singer Cui Jian.
    So people often ask me, how is it possible that the 
students were singing the communist ``Internationale'' while 
falling in front of communist machine guns? This is what I call 
the betrayal of loyalty in my book.
    But I don't think the White Paper Generation has that kind 
of illusion about the regime. Maybe we don't see any cracks 
now, but I think the hope lies in the future generation; 
engagement with the future generation. I think that they know 
better what this regime is capable of. And that's where the 
hope is.
    We may not be able to tell when the change will take place 
until it happens. Any major historical change, before it 
happened, people would tell you it's impossible, including the 
fall of the Berlin Wall. But after it happened, everyone said 
that it was inevitable. With that, I think that we leave a note 
of hope with the future generation present today who testified 
together with us. Thank you very much for the opportunity to 
speak.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Professor Rowena He.
    I'd now like to turn from the generation of Tiananmen 
Square to where we are now inside China. Mr. Yang, you have 
been a journalist. You have been on the front lines, both 
covering and reporting this. And you are part of a new 
generation of individuals standing up for free speech. To what 
extent do you think the Tiananmen massacre influenced your 
generation of Chinese students? And has censorship fueled the 
type of threat that was talked about by other members on the 
panel today? And to what extent would you recommend change?
    Mr. Yang. Thank you, sir. First of all, the Tiananmen 
Square massacre to our new generation, I've been having 
conversations with many of my colleagues. And to many of us, 
the most surprising part and most encouraging part of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre is not--we're not really surprised by 
the bloodshed that has been conducted by the Communist Party, 
because we have already witnessed what's happening in Tibet, 
what's happening with the Uyghurs, what's happening in Hong 
Kong. So we are kind of prepared as to how brutal the Communist 
Party could possibly be.
    And for many of us, the new generation, when we first 
learned about the Tiananmen Square massacre, the most 
surprising part was not the brutal murder and slaughter. It's 
actually we were really surprised to find that our nation at 
one time was so close to freedom, was so close to breaking the 
chain of thousands of years of dictatorship and autocracy. And 
we're really encouraged that this land still has hope, that 
these people are trustworthy. But the circumstances are such 
that the atmosphere is really being manipulated by the 
Communist Party. So we're not really able to observe and 
witness the real circumstances in China right now. But the main 
goal is we are still looking ahead, and with real confidence 
about the future of this land, and to our people.
    And sorry, what's the second question again?
    Representative Nunn. Aspects that you've seen for reform or 
holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable--either in your 
reporting or speaking out against it?
    Mr. Yang. Right. So currently we do have lots of case 
studies and experience of people who have been harassed and 
intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party overseas. Especially 
for someone like me, who has decided to be openly against the 
Communist Party. We do have lots of pressure, lots of 
intimidation, sometimes really harmful trauma we need to go 
through. So that's why we are currently including the proposal 
I've brought in my nine-page report to you, that we are doing 
the best we can to try to seek the resources to reestablish a 
safe space, a public zone with democracy and the value of 
humanity. In that case, we could help our colleagues, members, 
or people in our community to rehabilitate from this trauma. 
That's one of the most important steps we need to take, and to 
walk away from the trauma and move on.
    Representative Nunn. Thank you, Mr. Yang.
    We heard about the physical violence, the intimidation 
occurring here in the United States. You've reported from 
Canada. Tell us how the transnational threat coming from the 
CCP, including places in Canada, has had an impact on 
communities there.
    Mr. Yang. Right, absolutely. I just had a case that came up 
I believe a couple weeks before. One of my friends in London, 
which is in Ontario, brought this to my attention--the whole 
story is they have, like, a festival in college, and someone 
brought a Korean flag there--and many of the Chinese students 
were really upset about this scenario. So my friend was 
thinking, like, You guys can't do this. This is discrimination. 
And he was seriously bullied by these Chinese nationalists--we 
call them ``pinkies'' or patriarchs of the Communist Party--
communist lovers, etc. They seriously threatened my friend and 
really tried to intimidate him.
    So we are currently still working with the other MPs and 
Canadian police to deal with these kinds of circumstances right 
now. And besides that, I have personally experienced lots of 
swearing and intimidation from the Mandarin-speaking community 
in Toronto. Besides that, one of the most shocking parts is 
what I mentioned in my speech, that we--in 2019 placed plastic 
flowers as a 30-year memorial for the Tiananmen Square massacre 
at the Statue of Democracy at New York University. After around 
one or two days, I realized that that the flowers had been 
burned, and there were really dark marks on the floor--on the 
wall and the floor around them. But no one really deals with 
it.
    So that's part of what we are trying to do right now. 
That's why from our Canadian side we're trying the best we can 
to have a coalition and push a bill forward called C 70, which 
is regarding foreign registration and regulations.
    Representative Nunn. I want to thank our witnesses not only 
for their testimony but for their individual bravery in 
standing up and shedding light on this. Whether it was in 1989, 
sir, or whether it's today in 2024. As a career-long 
intelligence officer who worked in China, there was hope. There 
was an opportunity to make a change.
    But we have seen that door quickly shut, whether it's in 
the direct ramifications of what's happening and the transition 
of Hong Kong back to dictatorial rule by Beijing, whether it's 
what's happening to the people inside of China, whether they be 
Uyghurs or minority members being oppressed by their own 
government, or, as you have highlighted, individuals who are 
the children of the 1989 revolution within Tiananmen Square, or 
the next generation, who continue to be both hunted, bullied, 
and clearly abused.
    We have to make a change. By calling out China you are 
doing a direct service not only to your fellow countrymen but 
to individuals and humanity around the world. I'm truly 
emboldened by your bravery. And I thank you for being here with 
us today.
    With that, as chair, I'd like to recognize Commissioner 
Representative Wexton for her comments and questions before the 
witnesses today. Thank you.

               STATEMENT OF HON. JENNIFER WEXTON,
                 A REPRESENTATIVE FROM VIRGINIA

    Representative Wexton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As members 
of the Commission already know, last year I was diagnosed with 
progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP. I describe it as 
Parkinson's on steroids and I don't recommend it. PSP makes it 
very difficult for me to speak. So I use an assistive app so 
that I can participate and you can understand me. I want to 
thank the Chair and Co-chair for allowing me to do both today.
    China's continued suppression of the free press is a grave 
human rights concern. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the 
Chinese Communist Party's efforts to bury the memory of its 
crimes at Tiananmen Square. That's why I'm happy to be leading 
the revolution with Chairman Smith, marking the 35th 
anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. It is critical 
that the Chinese government end its censorship of speech about 
the Tiananmen Square massacre and stop its intimidation of 
families mourning those lost in 1989.
    This question is for the whole panel, starting with Karin. 
What are the primary challenges faced by activists working to 
preserve the remembrance of the Tiananmen Square massacre, 
despite censorship by the Chinese government?
    Ms. Karin. Thank you for your question, Representative. 
Since I'm currently a student on an American campus, I think I 
can only speak on behalf of my other fellow student activists 
here on American campuses. And I think the greatest challenge 
that we face right now is the looming fear of transnational 
repression, not knowing what form it's going to take tomorrow, 
or not knowing from whom it's going to come. And I mentioned in 
my testimony that, unlike Uyghur or Hong Kong dissidents, 
Chinese overseas students encounter distinct obstacles when 
attempting to reveal such instances of transnational repression 
and coercion by the CCP.
    And I think the situation faced by Uyghur or Hong Kong 
dissidents is objectively much worse than ours. We, the Chinese 
overseas students, often feel that we have too much to lose. By 
coming forward to tell our stories, not only do we risk the 
families, the core families of ours in China, but also the 
social connection that we have here with our peers, Chinese 
students. But if institutions here are willing to offer 
students more support and protection of identity, as CECC is 
doing today by allowing me to anonymously testify, then I think 
more Chinese students will be willing to come forward and tell 
their stories. I think this is the largest challenge faced by 
our community. And this is the solution to it. Thank you.
    Ms. He. Can I jump in?
    Representative Wexton. Go ahead.
    Ms. He. I think this is such an important, excellent 
question. I hope I can jump in. As an individual, I've been 
attacked all these years, first by the nationalist students and 
also, at the same time, as Karin mentioned, the fear of our 
families being taken hostage by the regime. And we see that 
this is starting to happen in Hong Kong as well. So things are 
deteriorating. And we face this as human beings.
    That's why I argue in my book that sometimes being 
idealistic and trying to fight for a human rights course in 
China--you can be selfish. That means that you choose to do 
what the right thing to do is, but the human price--the 
personal price to pay is not just you. Because the CCP is 
always seen by association. They also punish your loved ones in 
order to control you. They intrude on your private space in 
order to control your public activism. I think that's something 
that we have to face as human beings. They take advantage of 
the most beautiful thing in human life, that's your love for 
your family members. And then they control you.
    And secondly, I think engagement in--as a scholar, for me 
as a teacher, on campuses, either before in Hong Kong or on 
American campuses, I think it's also extremely important not 
just to focus on Chinese students, or American students, or 
Hong Kong students. I think the engagement, the community that 
we built--like, for example, when I was at Harvard, I organized 
annual Tiananmen conferences every year, even after the 
semester ended. And the students wanted the Tiananmen Mothers 
to know that, whatever the CCP was doing and saying, that we, 
young people here, still remember, and we still care.
    I think that message from the younger generation is 
important. It's also a message of hope. And I believe that many 
of us, not just someone who studies Tiananmen--I think many of 
us on American campuses--in Hong Kong, it's very difficult now. 
But I know my colleagues still carry on. But if you're in 
freedom, if you're in democracy, please make full use of the 
classroom space that we have to engage and to educate the 
younger generation not just about China, not just about 
Tiananmen, but about the importance of standing up for those 
who cannot speak for themselves, like the Tiananmen Mothers. 
Thank you very much.
    Mr. Yang. I think it's my turn right now. So if I haven't 
got the question wrong, it's pretty much about what barriers 
we're facing, what circumstances we're facing, and what kind of 
support we need. So at the current stage, I'll be really 
direct, based on what I have in the data and what I have 
experienced.
    First of all, I think there are four important categories 
for the new generation to deal with. And not only the new 
generation, but pretty much for every protester against the 
Chinese Communist Party overseas.
    First of all, the most important one is identity. While 
relatively safe, you might face the risk of returning to China 
at any time. That could be a huge consequence. And 
additionally, funding support. Many of the young 
organizations--from what I know--are broke, and most of them 
survive on donations and fundraising, not nearly enough for 
what the political activists need. For example, I've been 
spending a couple hundred dollars on speakers, and this still 
hasn't been paid back yet. But it still takes time.
    Additionally, legal support. In many cases we do need many 
of the various policies to support the activists on doing what 
we're doing right now. For instance, where I come from in 
Canada, we do have a little bit of a shortage on these kinds of 
circumstances. So we are trying the best we can to push our 
bill forward through the Congress in order to get the political 
and legal support in a more legitimate way.
    Eventually, the last but one of the most important things 
is, we do need support from the professional side. For 
instance, the technical rules of having the meetings or the SOP 
or standard formula of how to deal with conflict, or sexual 
harassment, these kinds of procedures. We need some advice from 
the professional side. But this one is pretty much linked with 
the second point, which is the founding problem. The main goal 
is just trying to establish our community and our organizations 
to be more professional, to be more standard. And this is one 
of the most important things that our generation is trying to 
establish and complete. Thank you.
    Mr. Zhou. Yes, I would like to add on. For me over the last 
35 years the main challenge here is the collusion of the large 
tech companies with the CCP regime in silencing the 
commemoration of Tiananmen. My own accounts across two 
different platforms were shut down at different times because I 
commemorate the Tiananmen anniversary. And what's more 
important is that the FBI investigation revealed that every 
company with business in China has such an operation that they 
would sometimes even hire a state security agent to tell them 
what to do in terms of censorship and surveillance.
    That puts everyone in danger, not only us. And, for 
example, Apple, when some protester in China used AirDrop to 
distribute the messages--and Apple stopped this function very 
soon, very quickly, as it was happening. And just recently I 
met someone who used AirDrop in China and his information was 
leaked. They turned him in. There's no other way other than 
Apple providing some insider information from the company so 
that this kind of service can be tracked. So that's the kind of 
area I think in which we need more clarification.
    I would urge that there be a hearing on how U.S. tech 
companies work with the CCP in this aspect, because a large 
part of the transnational repression is also enabled by the 
online surveillance. You know, for example, someone was 
revealed online because the website that he used leaked the 
information of his IP address somehow to CCP hackers, either 
willingly or unwillingly. But, yes, we must look into this. 
This is a very broad issue. Thank you.
    Representative Wexton. Thank you. Does any member have any 
additional questions for any member of the panel? Hearing none, 
I want to thank the witnesses for their bravery in speaking out 
against oppression and in support of the Tiananmen victims and 
democratic self-determination. As an American who has lived her 
entire lifetime in a free society and a democratic republic, I 
can only imagine the repression that you all have seen. Please 
know that you have friends here on both sides of the aisle in 
Congress.
    Staff Director Tozzi. Did anyone want to say anything 
finally for the record? Professor He.
    Ms. He. Yes, thank you. Thank you so much. It just means so 
much--I was traveling nonstop, and I wondered if I could do 
this. But I'm so grateful to have this opportunity. I'm so glad 
I could do it. I hope that people will remember the Tiananmen 
Mothers and remember those young people who lost their voices 
in 1989. Also the struggles of the Hong Kong people right now--
ongoing. Please pay attention to them, to how Hong Kong is now 
becoming really another city of China, politically, in terms of 
the repression.
    And please fight with us in solidarity. Very often we feel 
weak, we feel vulnerable. We find it difficult. It's just so 
meaningful to be with Fengsuo and the other two witnesses from 
the younger generation, 35 years after Tiananmen. I see that 
the torch is being passed on. And if we want light, we must 
conquer darkness. Thank you so much.
    Staff Director Tozzi. Anyone else?
    Mr. Zhou. Yes, I would add something. The White Paper 
protest, the success of it--you know, it was the first public 
protest that forced the CCP into changing its policy--showed 
that there is a very vibrant cyber community engendered by 
Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, Facebook. And so it's very 
important to keep this civil society, in cyberspace, strong and 
alive. And for example, today there is just a tremendous 
commemoration of what happened 35 years ago, way stronger than 
any time in the past. But it is happening because there is 
cyberspace. And, you know, what happened during the White Paper 
protests also showed that the narrative in this civil society 
virtual space is crucial for change in China.
    The White Paper movement also showed that the overseas 
diaspora organizations are important and effective in bringing 
change to China today. You know, when Peng Lifa's message was 
silenced in China, it was preserved and broadcast all over in 
this virtual space, parallel to the censored space in China. 
This is why my organization now wants to focus our work on 
digital rights and freedom of expression, and then the diaspora 
community building, especially with young people and the new 
immigrants who are disillusioned by Xi Jinping.
    Furthermore, I want to applaud the recent steps taken by 
law enforcement and Congress to push back against transnational 
repression. I have seen perceptible changes in the environment 
because of recent actions, but the Chinese diaspora overall 
still lives in fear in the shadow of the CCP's repression. It 
is vitally important that we continue to work toward providing 
a secure environment for people to live free of persecution. In 
doing so, the United States must center its policy toward China 
around China's democratization and respect toward human rights.
    In conclusion, I thank the Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China for your unfailing support on this very 
important issue. On the 35th anniversary of Tiananmen, I urge 
you to listen to the voices of the Chinese people who have 
fought for freedom and to protect the rights of those who seek 
to express themselves freely and openly. I believe in the 
future of a democratic, free, and beautiful China. We are all 
working toward it. Thank you.
    Staff Director Tozzi. Thank you.
    Mr. Yang or Karin?
    Ms. Karin. I would like to also briefly add two things I 
think the policymakers could do to address this very specific 
transnational repression that Chinese students on American 
campuses are experiencing right now. The first is to compel the 
Chinese Student and Scholar Associations, known more commonly 
as CSSAs, on American campuses to be transparent about their 
funding sources. CSSAs provides a community for Chinese 
students who have only recently arrived in America, but at the 
same time many of its members receive funding from the Chinese 
consulate or embassies and serve as eyes for the consulate to 
identify and silence pro-democracy students.
    By compelling CSSAs to disclose their funding, we can 
ensure that this community, important to many, does not become 
a vehicle of the CCP's long arm of repression. The second 
thing, I think, is to urge universities to establish a 
comprehensive response mechanism and support networks for 
students facing transnational repression. This could include 
many things, like setting up campus task forces against 
transnational repression and offering security support for on-
campus events in which students participating potentially face 
the risk of being identified and harassed. If we are able to 
put such a response mechanism in place, then more pro-democracy 
Chinese students will feel more comfortable expressing their 
political thoughts in campus spaces, without needing to go 
through what I or my friends were forced to go through. Thank 
you.
    Staff Director Tozzi. Thank you.
    Mr. Yang. Thank you. Basically, my report is a bit too 
long. So I'll just bring the most important thing that I 
believe right here. On the political advice, I will say the 
U.S. can be a partner with China on trade, but it has to be 
based on the American people as partners in human rights with 
the Chinese people. This is the most important thing. And 
eventually I want to talk to all the people who're watching 
this live. Coming to North America or coming to a free place is 
not the end. It's not even the beginning of the end. It's the 
end of the beginning. There is a long way to go. There's a long 
struggle to go. But luckily, we've got Congress, we've got 
every free government--responsible government on our side. 
We've got pretty much all the people who love freedom and 
democracy on our side. So maybe you are melancholy or feeling 
stress right now. Please carry on. We are with you and 
everyone's with you. And we are eventually going to make it.
    Staff Director Tozzi. Well, thank you. And with those 
closing words, the hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 12:42 p.m., the hearing was concluded.]

?














=======================================================================


                         A  P  P  E  N  D  I  X

=======================================================================


                          Prepared Statements

                              ----------                              


                   Prepared Statement of Zhou Fengsuo

    In 2022, I attended a Halloween parade in Manhattan with a group of 
around fifty young people, dressed in protest garb and carrying signs 
challenging the Chinese Communist Party. I was the only older adult in 
the crowd, but I recognized many of the attendees. Several were 
students who would go on to organize major White Paper protests, and 
some were the children of fellow Tiananmen protesters. I had met many 
of them in prior months, as they visited the June 4th Memorial Museum. 
I was deeply touched when one protester told me that they had spent 7 
months in prison a few years prior for commemorating the massacre on 
Tiananmen Square. As I stood in this crowd of young people, I felt very 
excited and inspired. Without any prompting, they shouted, ``down with 
CCP, down with Xi Jinping.'' At that moment, I was in tears. I realized 
that after 33 years, I was finally seeing the younger generation 
stepping up to carry the torch of freedom that I have carried with me 
ever since 1989, from Tiananmen Square.
    In 1989, I was a student studying physics at Tsinghua University in 
Beijing. I was among the first to protest on Tiananmen Square when Hu 
Yaobang died, and I was among the last to leave when the tanks were 
rolling in, one only 20 feet from me. In between, I witnessed the most 
incredible outpouring of Chinese people in support of freedom and 
democracy. Millions of people gathered on Tiananmen Square from all 
walks of life: students, ordinary Chinese people, communist officials, 
Christians, and Buddhist monks. It was also my first time meeting 
people from Hong Kong, and witnessing their strong support. The 
solidarity at that moment was so overwhelming, strong, and inspiring. I 
installed dozens of loudspeakers on the Monument to the People's Heroes 
at the center of the square, and for the first time, the people's 
heartfelt voices were heard echoing across the huge plaza, at the 
center of China's political power. In that moment, many Chinese people 
who were fearful and reticent became expressive and articulate. Freedom 
was in the air. Democracy was almost within reach.
    I also witnessed the brutal massacre of these peaceful protestors 
by elite troops, armed with tanks and machine guns. The pungent smell 
of tear gas. The bullet holes on the buildings along the most important 
street in Beijing. The rolling tanks and armored vehicles, and the dead 
bodies outside of the hospital, laying in the bicycle shed because the 
hospital was so overwhelmed by those who were wounded and killed. The 
scene was that of a war zone; a war conducted by the CCP's army against 
the Chinese people. I remember Zhong Qing, my younger schoolmate from 
Tsinghua, who died for our shared dream of a better China. He was only 
a third-year student, studying in the instrument department at Tsinghua 
University. When I realized he was dead, I couldn't believe what I was 
seeing. I realized I must carry on in his name and continue speaking 
out on his behalf.
    The protesters were not the only ones who suffered under the 
government's attack. The military's brutal siege of the city 
encountered courageous resistance from the people of Beijing. When 
martial law was first declared, millions of people came out to block 
the troops. Many of them stood still in front of the marching soldiers 
and rolling tanks in order to protect the student protesters like me. 
That is how we witnessed the great Tank Man, who has since become one 
of the most important icons of the last century, representing courage 
against overwhelming power and violence.
    The whole world watched as the Chinese government turned against 
its own people and murdered peaceful protesters. Yet, the response from 
democratic countries was weak: the United States imposed only limited 
sanctions, and President H.W. Bush sent a special envoy to inform Deng 
Xiaoping of his support, even after this senseless massacre.\1\ The CCP 
took the wrong path after 1989, setting the country on a trajectory of 
ever-increasing political repression and human right violations. That 
is why, later, this regime would put Uyghurs in concentration camps, 
force Tibetans into self-immolation, and deprive Hong Kong of its 
freedom. If a regime can use tanks in broad daylight to kill its own 
people and still enjoy the support of most democratic countries, there 
is no limit to what it could do, in terms of both internal repression 
and external aggression.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ ``The Other Tiananmen Papers: A ChinaFile Conversation,'' 
ChinaFile, July 8, 2019, https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/other-
tiananmen-papers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Domestically, the CCP chose to simply erase the memories of the 
massacre through censorship and brutal repression. It tightened its 
grip on free speech, banning any mention of the reality of what 
happened that summer, to the extent that many young people in China 
today have never heard of it. Twenty-eight years after my classmate 
Zhong Qing's death, his brother visited the Tiananmen Museum in Hong 
Kong. It was the first time that he learned why his older brother died.
    Perhaps the CCP once could have taken a different path, 
transforming into a social democratic party, but the massacre and 
crackdown in 1989 eliminated the ability of this regime to be 
positively changed through mere trade and investment. United States 
policymakers have deliberately put their heads in the sand, ignoring 
the cause of human rights activists and political prisoners in China. 
This strategy may have brought short-term gains in the form of 
increased profit, but appeasing the CCP for the benefit of trade has 
proven to be self-defeating and self-destructive. What Tiananmen told 
us 35 years ago, the most important lesson, is that the United States 
policy toward the CCP regime must focus on the democratization of 
China. Without democratization, the regime will become an even stronger 
threat toward universal values including freedom and human rights.
    Today, we remember Tiananmen because it reminds us of what a 
different China could have been; because Chinese people demonstrated 
their love of freedom and democracy through their protests and 
resistance. The fight didn't stop then--for most of us, it was only the 
beginning of our journey. There was Liu Xiaobo, who gave up a position 
as a visiting scholar at Columbia University to fly back to join the 
students on Tiananmen Square. He refused to leave China and died as the 
first and only Nobel Peace laureate who died in prison without ever 
seeing the award. There is Xu Zhiyong, who was only a high school 
student when the massacre happened, but who was resolved from that 
moment on to dedicate his life to the dream of a free, democratic, and 
beautiful China. His New Citizens' Movement gained tens of thousands of 
followers, from all over China. He was recently sentenced to 14 years 
in prison.
    For me personally, it has been a privilege to work with these 
amazing freedom fighters, to raise awareness of their suffering, their 
sacrifices, their dreams, and their goals, and to support the Tiananmen 
Mothers, and other victims of the Tiananmen Massacre. Even though the 
Tiananmen protests and massacre remain a source of trauma for the 
Chinese people, it has simultaneously become a tremendous source of 
inspiration, healing, and hope. That's why I have collected many relics 
and artworks from 1989. Each of these items carries a story of life and 
death, of strength and endurance, that is difficult to find elsewhere.
    Even though the CCP has tried, in many ways successfully, to erase 
the memory of the Tiananmen protests, it remains the most sought-after 
information for young people from China. They are eager to embrace the 
Tiananmen protests as a source of energy and inspiration. Many of them 
are willing to risk a lot to preserve the memory. Zeng Yuxuan, a law 
student from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, reached out to me 
when she saw that I was touring a banner in commemoration of Tiananmen. 
Tragically, she was arrested in Hong Kong for possessing this banner 
and sentenced to 6 months in prison, then sent back to China, and she 
has not been heard from since. I am always moved by her message about 
the Tiananmen protests. She told me that even though the great protests 
ended in tragedy, it is something precious that binds us all, across 
generations.
    I am reminded, often, of this legacy that ties together everyone 
who has fought for freedom in China. When I heard of Peng Lifa, the 
Sitong Bridge Warrior, I was immediately reminded of the great feat of 
Tank Man in 1989. Peng Lifa staged his protest at the most visible 
place, during very tight security for the 20th Party Congress. He used 
a loudspeaker and smoke generator so his message would be seen, and 
managed to broadcast for more than 30 minutes in Beijing before he was 
arrested and disappeared.
    Miraculously, his message spread like wildfire. Although domestic 
censorship limited its initial reach, in the United States, in Berlin, 
in Toronto, in Tokyo, everywhere, Chinese students were mobilizing. 
They formed groups and stood up in the name of duty, a phrase borrowed 
from the now very famous Tiananmen slogan: ``It's my duty,'' said a 
protester riding a bicycle to Tiananmen Square. The voice of these 
young activists was carried back to China by tens of millions of VPN 
users, who were locked in their own homes under the Zero-COVID policy.
    Eventually, this spark of protest spread out across China, and grew 
in Shanghai after the unjust deaths of Uyghur families in the Urumqi 
apartment fires, thus forcing the CCP to change their policy in 
response to people's protests for the first time in the CCP's history.
    Their story, the story of the White Paper protesters, reverberates 
in me. The story of one young student who gingerly posted banners, then 
found friends and realized she wasn't alone, exactly mirrored what we 
went through in 1989. The moment that people began to gather, they 
realized that there are millions of people just like them that share 
the same opinions but were forced into silence and indifference because 
of fear and self-censorship. But when they heard each other, they 
realized not only that they were not alone, but their voices reflected 
the true voices of people in China who can't speak out. This happened 
35 years ago on Tiananmen Square, but today these discussions happen in 
cyberspace, through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and 
eventually flooded onto the heavily censored and surveilled domestic 
apps such as WeChat and Douyin.
    Over the last 5 years, we have seen Uyghurs forced into 
concentration camps, the forced takeover of Hong Kong, Tibetan children 
torn away from their families, and, of course, the horrible Zero-COVID 
policy. We are undoubtedly in a dark moment for human rights in China. 
Yet, rather than giving up, Chinese people still fought to find their 
voice in cyberspace. Millions of people use VPNs to circumvent the 
Great Firewall. The internet is a vital place for civil society 
discourse and actions, when these kinds of activities are completely 
forbidden in China. There is, has been, and will be a huge impact on 
China through this space.
    The White Paper Movement also showed that overseas diaspora 
organizations are important and effective in bringing change to China, 
even today. The voice of Peng Lifa was preserved outside of China, 
while it was silenced completely within China at first. It's because of 
his message reverberating back over China that eventually, people were 
able to act at the same time and under the same slogan. This is why 
Human Rights in China, my organization, wants to focus our work on 
digital rights, freedom of expression, and diaspora community building, 
especially among young people and new immigrants who are disillusioned 
by Xi Jinping.
    I am also alarmed by the increasing censorship within China, which 
now extends to Hong Kong. The Tiananmen Massacre is, in many ways, a 
salient litmus test. For decades, Hong Kong held a yearly vigil for the 
victims of the massacre. Yet, since 2019, we have witnessed a city 
darkened by the CCP, while admirable heroes such as Chow Hang-tung, and 
others, have risked and lost everything for the sake of remembering 
Tiananmen. Just a few days ago, seven people in Hong Kong were 
arrested, including Chow Hang-tung, her mother, and former colleagues, 
for continuing her work and posting on social media about the Tiananmen 
Massacre.
    Unfortunately, Western tech companies have played a significant 
role in enabling the Chinese government's censorship. Two social media 
accounts on different platforms, belonging to Humanitarian China, an 
organization I co-founded, have been shut down because of our 
involvement in Tiananmen commemoration events. An FBI investigation 
revealed that companies with business in China must comply with CCP 
directions on censorship.\2\ During the White Paper Movement, the 
people used Apple's AirDrop technology to spread Peng Lifa's message, 
until the service was suddenly shut down, in another case of 
cooperation with the Chinese authorities. Apple did not respond to our 
concerns, even after student activist Wang Han protested with a week-
long hunger strike in front of Apple headquarters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Drew Harwell and Ellen Nakashima, ``Federal prosecutors accuse 
Zoom executive of working with Chinese government to surveil users and 
suppress video calls,'' The Washington Post, 
Dec. 18, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/18/
zoom-helped-china-
surveillance/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Both the White Paper Movement and Tiananmen commemoration face the 
same strict online censorship, enabled by the willing cooperation of 
U.S. companies. This is where policymakers can make a difference. 
Through the White Paper Movement, we have seen proof that Chinese 
cyber-society has the power to influence China and bring in fundamental 
change. However, the companies that enable the existence of this 
vibrant cyber-society remain vulnerable to the CCP, and have not done 
enough to protect vulnerable users or stand up against the CCP's 
demands. Companies must be held to account for their role in supporting 
the CCP's censorship, surveillance, and harassment. I encourage 
Congress to investigate how U.S. tech companies comply with the CCP's 
demands, thus exposing every user to direct threat of surveillance.
    Furthermore, I applaud the recent steps taken by law enforcement 
and Congress to push back against transnational repression, and I have 
seen perceptible changes in the environment. But the Chinese diaspora 
still lives in fear, in the shadow of the CCP's transnational 
repression. It is vitally important that we continue to work toward 
providing a secure environment for people to live free of persecution. 
In order to do so, the United States must center its policy toward 
China around China's democratization and respect toward human rights.
    In conclusion, I thank the congressional-Executive Commission on 
China for your unfailing support on this very important issue. On this 
35th anniversary of Tiananmen, I urge you to listen to the voices of 
the Chinese people who have fought for freedom, and to protect the 
rights of those who seek to express themselves freely and openly. I 
believe in the future of a democratic, free, and beautiful China. Thank 
you.
                                 ______
                                 

                   Prepared Statement of Ruohui Yang

    Five years ago today, on the 30th anniversary of June 4th, I took 
to the streets for the first time, committing myself to the movement 
for democracy in China.
    I was deeply intimidated by the atmosphere of fear cultivated by 
the Chinese Communist Party in Canada. I was cautious around everyone, 
wearing sunglasses and masks.
    However, the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition movement further 
secured my determination to engage in the democracy movement. In 
Toronto, I actively participated with my Hong Kong friends in 
organizing support for the Hong Kong people. As someone from mainland 
China, I also faced considerable pressure from my own community, 
dealing with psychological stress from harassment by Communist Party 
supporters and suffering political depression filled with 
powerlessness. I constantly worried about receiving midnight phone 
calls from China, from my father--a Communist Party official--
hysterically threatening to cutoff my tuition to force me to return to 
China. I worried about being unable to complete my studies and being 
forced back to a land where expressing different opinions means facing 
bullying from teachers and classmates.
    Things that happened during the protests reminded me that the 
national border cannot stop the Communist Party from spreading fear 
overseas. Some Chinese, organized by the consulate, drove their luxury 
cars through our protest lines, shouting insults. They burned our 
flowers at the Statue of Democracy; some protesters even received death 
threats. My life was filled with harassment from strangers, and I felt 
isolated within my own community.
    In 2020, Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistleblower of COVID-19, who could 
have prevented this global disaster, was accused by Chinese police of 
spreading ``false statements'' and subsequently labeled a ``criminal.'' 
He died from the virus shortly after. Surprisingly, many young Chinese 
students attended a memorial event I organized in downtown Toronto, 
which deeply moved me. I called on everyone to organize and band 
together to overcome this fear and despair and fight for a life of 
human rights, freedom, and democracy--which led to the founding of our 
organization, ``Assembly of Citizens.''
    Before the summer of 2022, we remained a secret society. In our 
group, we had events like movie screenings and discussion sessions and 
learned the history of the Tiananmen generation. More importantly, we 
have tried to re-establish a union based on respect for human rights, 
and equality among individuals, fighting to create a public space and 
seeking Chinese Democracy. With our solidarity, the Assembly of 
Citizens successfully organized the Tiananmen Square massacre 
anniversary event as a young generation during the summer of 2022, and 
this is the point that we started to turn to the public. It was also 
the moment that I decided to stand on the stage and openly protest 
against the threat and fear of the CCP spreading.
    Over the 3 years of COVID-19, the young generation in China has 
suffered from our human rights disaster. The most familiar way of life 
has been modified, it has accelerated the awakening of human rights, it 
has also caused the establishment of various young groups around the 
world. During the White Paper Revolution winter of 2022, the Assembly 
of Citizens became capable of organizing protests and events faster and 
more professionally to support the movement in China. Our friends in 
Europe became the mailbox for contributors and resistance fighters 
inside the Great Firewall, becoming one of the most influential 
Mandarin accounts on X. Rowena He collected the testimoneys and stories 
of human rights catastrophes inside the Great Firewall and told these 
stories that have been neglected by international society to millions 
of people every day, simultaneously facing the threat of the CCP. Our 
friends in the U.S. are trying to make movies, talk shows, and other 
forms of art to spread awareness of the oppression of human rights. Our 
friends in Japan and Korea are establishing cultural and creative 
businesses to emphasize resistance as a lifestyle. Through dealing with 
various issues, we realized how to avoid division, build a professional 
organization, and more inclusively and strongly link with other groups.
    We inherited the spirit of resistance from the Tiananmen 
generation, along with our characteristics. Our actions reflect what 
Taiwanese people often mention: ``a lifestyle of democracy and 
freedom.'' Based on this spirit, although our political beliefs may be 
different, we were able to effectively connect with Taiwanese, 
Tibetans, Hongkongers, Uyghurs, and other groups to combat our common 
terror and oppression of human rights.
    Twenty-nine years ago, in the same congressional hall, Major 
General Charles Sweeney, who testified about the decision to drop the 
atomic bomb, said, ``One can only forgive by remembering. And to forget 
is to risk repeating history.'' The last rapid deterioration of human 
rights under a major power was in 1933 in Germany, the year they 
enacted the Enabling Act, a law that brought Germany under 
dictatorship. In that year, Peter Drucker began writing his first book, 
``The End of Economic Man: The Origins of Totalitarianism.'' Today, as 
we open this book, we feel as if history is repeating itself. Let me 
adapt his words to today's situation in China.
    The form which the totalitarian revolution has been taking 
indicates in itself that such an order will eventually arrive. That the 
Chinese substitute the CCP for order when they cannot have real order, 
that they worship Xi Jinping when they have no God to worship and no 
concept of man to respect, shows by its very intensity that they must 
have an order, a creed, and a rational concept of man. The more 
fervently they turn to nationalism, the more feverishly they search for 
something else. And the more eagerly they will embrace the new order 
when it appears. Military intimidation against Taiwan, the totalitarian 
organization of society, the suppression of freedom and liberties, the 
re-education camps for the minorities, and the war against religion are 
all signs of weakness, not of strength. They have their roots in the 
blackest, unfathomable despair. The more desperate the Chinese become, 
the more strongly entrenched totalitarianism will appear to be. The 
further they push down the totalitarian road, the greater will be their 
despair. As soon as they are offered an alternative--but no sooner--the 
whole totalitarian magic will vanish like a nightmare.
    Nothing the totalitarians can do to fortify their power will be the 
slightest protection against the sweep of a new order which will again 
give the masses a positive creed instead of a gospel of pure negation; 
which will again affirm the validity of life and of society instead of 
preaching senseless sacrifice; which will again give man dignity and 
value instead of denying his very existence. Not even the totalitarian 
education which seizes the youngest infants, and which has been 
regarded generally as the greatest danger to civilization, will alter 
the situation in the least. The youth of China may be regimented for a 
positive idea and order. They can only be kept regimented for the 
negative and for the sake of the organization as long as there is no 
alternative. Children can be educated to think exclusively in one 
direction, but they cannot successfully be educated not to think at 
all.
    This is the current situation in China, and this is our mission. We 
hope that through continuous efforts abroad, we can show all Chinese 
people a new choice, an option and possibility for a democratic and 
free lifestyle that can endow us with positive beliefs and values, 
affirm the legitimacy of our lives and public society, and let them 
feel the dignity and value of humanity.
    The competition and confrontation between the U.S. and China should 
not be a racial or national confrontation, nor an ideological one. 
Instead, it should be a confrontation between a lifestyle of democracy 
and freedom and authoritarianism. Using Blinken's China policy as a 
reference, we believe that the U.S. should cooperate with the Chinese 
people at the global level and compete with the party nature of the 
CCP, the CCP's foreign propaganda ideology, and confront the CCP's 
actions, the police and surveillance State, and authoritarian ideology.
    We hope that the U.S. Congress and government will incorporate a 
perspective that upholds basic human rights and maintains peace when 
formulating policies. It is advisable to refer to America's experience 
in dismantling totalitarianism in the 20th century when developing 
current policies toward China and policies concerning the Chinese 
diaspora within the U.S. Effective communication with overseas Chinese 
and the mainland population is essential. President Reagan used Soviet 
jokes to highlight the Soviet people's struggle and consulted numerous 
knowledgeable scholars about the USSR in the formulation of policies 
toward it. These policies played a crucial role in the later 
transformation and dissolution of the Soviet Union.
    We need to work with the pro-democracy Chinese organizations and 
expatriate Chinese communities, and through their efforts, establish 
connections with people inside the firewall, showing them the lifestyle 
of democracy and freedom, and encouraging them to further pursue human 
rights inside the wall. They have already done much work voluntarily 
abroad; here I aim to systematically organize these efforts based on my 
connection.
    Specifically, we should achieve this goal through a positioning 
change and three stages.
    A positioning change: The United States is a trade partner of China 
on the premise that the American people are partners in human rights 
with the Chinese people.
    The United States should no longer recognize the controlled areas 
of the People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong, as a free 
market. The foundation of a free market is the autonomous 
decisionmaking of market entities. However, the level of freedom 
essential for the survival of free markets in Hong Kong and mainland 
China--personal freedom, freedom of speech, thought, expression, 
academic freedom, freedom of communication, freedom of information 
dissemination, and judicial independence--are at their lowest level 
since the reform and opening up policy. The overall societal freedom is 
crazily regressing back to the Cultural Revolution era; thus, the 
micro-foundations of a free market no longer exist in China. When the 
Party leads everything in the market, the signals from market entities 
are severely concealed and distorted by the will of the Party. Any so-
called ``free trade'' with Beijing supports the war machine of the 
dictatorship, shifting contradictions, and providing resources, which 
is a disguised form of appeasement. Using free trade as cover may 
alleviate inflation and wealth disparity with cheap goods in the short 
term, but it allows China's low human rights-advantaged products to 
flood the market. It is both short-sighted and akin to drinking poison 
to quench thirst.
    China should only consider restoring its status as a market economy 
after it elevates its human rights standards to meet the requirements 
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
    This is a clear signal that, through U.S. trade policy and joint 
action with allies, a clear message is sent to the Chinese people at 
home and abroad that Americans and the entire world are paying 
attention to the human rights abuses they experience daily. Attention 
is given to overtime work, unfair labor practices, unpaid wages, 
unfinished buildings, disappearing freedoms in academia, speech, 
communication, media, rights protection, children's education rights, 
deteriorating rule of law, and mental health in China. With the 
increased strength of China, the human rights situation of the Chinese 
will be improved as well. Americans will consider the survival 
circumstance of the Chinese as superior instead of their business 
profit.
    Based on this, in order to promote the improvement of human rights 
in China and strengthen ties with the Chinese people, combating the 
authoritarian propaganda and control of the autocratic government, we 
should act in three stages:

    These three stages are: Shaping a safe environment for overseas 
Chinese, cultivating professional talent and organizations, and 
promoting human rights reform in China. This is also the best way, from 
a macro perspective, to address the collective political trauma of the 
Chinese people, and to promote anti-war and resistance forces in China.

Stage One: Creating a Safe Environment for Overseas Chinese

    1.  Pay attention to the cross-border repression of dissidents, 
especially regarding personal safety. Strictly manage agents of the CCP 
in various countries. Restrict or even prohibit their activities 
directed by foreign governments.

    2.  Strengthen research on the history of Chinese political 
violence and trauma. Provide mental and psychological health experts 
and various trauma recovery groups to the Chinese community, including 
international students, to support their recovery from political 
violence and trauma.

    3.  Pay attention to building independent Chinese community 
organizations and networks, separate from the Communist Party. Assist 
intellectuals, opinion leaders, and middle-class elites coming from 
China in forming various associations independent of the Chinese 
Communist Party. And assist with training in various systems such as 
equality, anti-discrimination, non-violence, parliamentary rules, etc. 
And provide opportunities for exchange with other ethnic networks to 
explore how to establish related organizations.

    4.  Change the way of discussing issues related to China, based on 
human rights and using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a 
standard to measure Chinese actions. In discussions about China, reduce 
debates about capitalism/communism, progressivism/conservatism, 
fairness/efficiency, the rise of the East and the decline of the West/
civilizational conflicts, and superpower disputes, to avoid providing 
material for domestic authoritarian propaganda in China.
    5.  Implement reciprocal privacy policies for Chinese software such 
as WeChat. Require their overseas versions to be isolated from mainland 
versions, lifting data censorship, and requiring data to be stored 
locally.

Stage Two: Cultivating Professional Talent and Organizations

    1.  Support the establishment of a Chinese human rights data base. 
Counter the comprehensive control of news inside China, comprehensively 
statisticians, and sort all possible contributions from inside the 
Firewall. And according to the United Nations Declaration on Human 
Rights, these are human rights violation events. Create quantified 
annual human rights reports and present the real human rights situation 
of the people in China. Through data base categorization and survey 
questionnaires, collect experiences of maintaining rights inside China, 
and write manuals and instructions for avoiding pitfalls in rights 
defense.

    2.  Form a panel of experts on specific rights issues both inside 
and outside China, provide various templates, documents, laws, 
publicity materials, and process flows and create overseas rights 
support groups. Make it convenient for rights defenders to cooperate 
anonymously across borders. Visualize the data according to the age of 
the people, the types of human rights infringements, locations, hot 
topics, and others, forming a survival manual for inside the Firewall. 
Let everyone understand the real human rights situation of their living 
environment and its impact on them.

    3.  Absorb exiled Chinese elite scholars/Chinese policy interns 
with a background in China into Federal Government/congressional staff/
think tanks. Make U.S. China policy clearer, more accurate, and vividly 
convey to the Chinese people. Let the public realize the dangers of 
authoritarianism and stay away from authoritarianism under nationalist 
slogans.

    4.  Establish bipartisan groups for Chinese human rights/community 
awareness/cultural integration. Help Chinese/international students 
quickly popularize and have channels to practice American values after 
entering American society, changing the wrong concepts originally held 
in China, learning to respect freedom of speech and political freedom.

    5.  Support various academic research and artistic creations on 
various human rights issues in China, including publishing, film, 
podcasts, talk shows, literary works, stage plays, and creative design.

    6.  Pay attention to Chinese humanities scholars in exile, absorb 
them into various think tanks, or form various organizations. Create 
historical works and literary works based on human rights for Chinese 
people, revealing the impact of the lack of human rights on daily life. 
And form reading lists, collections, data bases, etc., to facilitate 
the Chinese people reading about, and understanding, the importance of 
human rights.

    7.  Increase academic research on the human rights situation of 
Chinese people and the psychology and concepts of Chinese people. 
Enable the academic community to interpret and observe human rights 
issues from the perspective of the Chinese people. Change the structure 
of the human rights report of the U.S. Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China, paying more attention to the human rights issues 
of ordinary people.

Promoting Human Rights Reform in China

    1.  Encourage overseas Chinese organizations to provide support for 
rights defenders in China. Summarize the experience of defending rights 
inside China and share.

    2.  Through overseas Chinese organizations, provide various 
literary works, real information, and data bases to the Chinese people 
inside the Great Firewall to help them understand the real situation.

    3.  Using data base reports and industry research reports, sanction 
all Chinese companies that use high-tech technology to participate in 
government projects that violate the human rights of the Chinese 
people, including their executives/staff.

    4.  Link human rights to trade, cancel China's Most-Favored-Nation 
(MFN) trade status and China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) 
status, implement tariff penalties/import controls on organizations/
companies that violate human rights, and limit American companies from 
obtaining products and software that violate human rights. Limit 
China's cost competition advantage gained through low human rights 
standards.

    5.  Warn or punish human rights violators, and carefully review 
their and their families' visas, and bank accounts.

    These steps will require the efforts of the Tiananmen generation, 
the efforts of our new generation, and the efforts of many people in 
China. I can dedicate my life to this because, as a young person who 
never experienced the Tiananmen Square incident, when first learning 
about the history of June 4th, the initial shock did not come from the 
Communist Party's ruthless bloody suppression, but from the realization 
that our country once had such a different social atmosphere. We were 
moved to tears by the images of the square and the saying `To Tiananmen 
Square, it's my duty.' In our lowest and saddest moments, we realized 
that we are not alone. For someone like me, an exile who has never 
personally seen a glimmer of dawn in my homeland, that moment of June 
4th represented a brightness of humanity that dispelled my prejudices 
about this land, reinforcing my belief that the people in this country 
deserve another possibility, that there is still hope for this land. 
More importantly, it made me realize that my country, once, through 
everyone's efforts, almost broke free from the shadow of millennia of 
autocracy and dictatorship.
    Therefore, I believe that my colleagues can do their jobs well, I 
trust that my predecessors of June 4th will cooperate effectively, I 
believe that my compatriots and allies can stand with us, and I also 
believe that you can make the right decisions. Ladies and gentlemen of 
the legislature, thank you for listening to my story. We are doing our 
jobs; now it's your turn.
    After all, this future belongs to us, to them, and to you as well.
                                 ______
                                 

                    Prepared Statement of ``Karin''

    I would like to begin by expressing gratitude for the opportunity 
to testify disguised, even though it will only delay the inevitable 
police visit to my parents. Media Director Scott Flipse told me that 
only I could evaluate whether the cost of testifying is worth it. But 
however much this cost weighs on me, the cost for my fellow student 
activists who have already experienced intimidation, harassment, and 
even physical assault from CCP agents is ten times greater. For the 
record, all the names in my testimony will be aliases.
    I was born and raised in China. Like many Chinese students my age, 
I wondered about the conspicuous lack of events depicted between 1970 
and 1990 in our history textbook. I only learned about June 4th by 
reading about it on Wikipedia in high school.
    In 2022, I began an internship in Shanghai with one of China's 
largest technology conglomerates. Like many young people who grew up in 
the economic prosperity of the 2010's, sheltered by censorship, I was 
ready to bask in and contribute to the economic achievements of my 
nation. In March, an unexpected city-wide lockdown began. This would 
subsequently be remembered as one of the largest humanitarian crises in 
China's COVID response.
    When the residents of Shanghai cried for help, the government 
``addressed not the problem, but the person who voiced the problem.'' 
The lockdown made me realize that despite economic development, the 
Chinese Communist Party had not changed, even in 35 years, from its 
totalitarian self.
    In November 2022, after I returned to the university, the fire in 
Urumqi sparked a global wave of vigils and protests to commemorate the 
victims. My friends and I organized a vigil at Columbia in front of the 
Low Library. We spread the word through social media only 1 day before 
the event. To our surprise, not just 10, or 100, but 300 people showed 
up that night. The scene reminded me of how Chinese students at 
Columbia 35 years ago gathered at the very same place to demonstrate 
solidarity with students on the square.
    We wanted it to be a peaceful event. But my friend Ava, shortly 
after delivering a speech, was violently assaulted--struck on the 
face--by an unidentified individual who claimed to be a Columbia 
student. Later, she turned to the Columbia administration, but no 
action was taken aside from a suggestion to seek ``mental health 
support.'' Not even a campus safety alert.
    I was in a class on China's foreign policy. There were a few 
Chinese students whose comments were blatant CCP propaganda, like how 
the concentration camp in Xinjiang does not exist. After the vigil, I 
was always afraid that those Chinese students would recognize me. I was 
afraid what happened to Ava at the protest was going to happen to me, 
too. And that Columbia's administration would do nothing.
    As China reopened, the momentum of the white paper protest died 
down gradually. My friends and I at Columbia have tried to maintain the 
spark by continuing to organize events like movie screenings of COVID 
documentaries and panel discussions on campus. However, we were always 
plagued by far-reaching transnational repression.
    My friend and co-organizer, Chris, was interrogated by the Chinese 
police when he returned to China last year. He reached out to me on 
Instagram to inquire about the names of participants in the New York 
protests. I was informed that he sent those inquiries under police 
pressure.
    The CECC has done an extraordinary job in its 2023 report in 
documenting the CCP's transnational repression, especially that faced 
by the Uyghurs and Hong Kongers. But I want to bring to your attention 
that even though the white paper movement has subsided, the intensity 
of transnational repression against outspoken Chinese overseas students 
has only escalated, in most cases, through personal harassment, 
transnational surveillance, and the coercion of proxies--in this case 
meaning the interrogation and intimidation of family members in China. 
My fellow student activists experienced this retribution in ever-
increasing quantities and severity this year. Yet unlike Hong Kong and 
Uyghur activists, few can step forward and tell the story.
    According to Columbia's own website, it had 6,880 currently 
enrolled Chinese students in 2023. Many of them, after completion of 
their studies, will return to China and work in occupations of 
political or economic importance. As a social science major, I have 
always believed that a change in society starts with the change in its 
citizens' minds. In fact, many vocal individuals of the white paper 
movement in China were educated overseas. Exposure to freedom made us 
free. But if these brilliant minds cannot even think and speak freely 
on American campuses, on American soil, then it would be much more 
difficult for a movement like White Paper to be sparked again.
    I believe there are two things that policymakers could do. The 
first is to compel the Chinese Student and Scholar Associations (CSSAs) 
on American campuses to be transparent about their funding sources. 
CSSAs provide a community for Chinese students who have only recently 
arrived in America, but at the same time, many of its members receive 
funding from the Chinese consulate and serve as eyes for the consulate 
to identify and silence pro-democracy students. By compelling CSSAs to 
disclose their funding, we can ensure that this community, important to 
many, does not become a vehicle of the CCP's long arm of repression.
    Second, urge universities to establish a comprehensive response 
mechanism and support network for students facing transnational 
repression. This could include setting up campus task forces against 
transnational repression, creating guidelines of resources available 
for students to seek help when they feel unsafe, and offering security 
support for on-campus events in which students participating 
potentially face the risk of being identified and harassed. If we are 
able to put such a response mechanism in place, then more pro-democracy 
students will feel comfortable expressing their political thoughts in 
campus spaces, without needing to go through the fear and trauma that I 
and my friend Ava were forced through.
    Congress members, 160 years ago President Lincoln showed us that 
America was a nation that would ``hold the power, and bear the 
responsibility [to] assure freedom to the free.'' He said as Americans, 
``We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth'' 
that is our union, that is our beacon of liberty for those oppressed 
around the world.
    Congress members, 35 years ago, you showed those students from 
Beijing fleeing a brutal massacre that the United States kept its 
promise as the last best hope of earth, a safe haven for people who 
pursue and fight for democracy and freedom. Now I ask you to show 
compassion and support for us, that those first pioneers who lit the 
spark for all not be allowed to freeze in the wind and snow.
                                 ______
                                 

                 Prepared Statement of Hon. Chris Smith

    Thirty-five years ago today the world watched as millions of 
Chinese gathered to peacefully demand political reform and democratic 
openness. The hopes and dreams of those heady days ended with needless 
violence--tears, bloodshed, arrest, and exile. Mothers lost sons, 
fathers lost daughters, and China lost an idealistic generation to the 
tanks that rolled down Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989.
    On this solemn occasion, we reflect on the bravery and sacrifice of 
those who stood for democracy and freedom on that fateful day. We 
grieve with those who still don't know what happened to their lost 
loved ones. And we demand that the Chinese Communist government make a 
full public accounting of those killed or missing and end its Orwellian 
efforts to censor what is a dark chapter of Chinese history.
    It is also important to reflect on the events that led up to that 
fateful day in 1989 and consider why they still matter for the cold war 
competition that now shapes U.S.-China relations.
    The students who initially gathered in the center of Beijing in 
April 1989 did so to mourn the death of Communist Party leader Hu 
Yaobang--someone they viewed as a political reformer.
    In the days to follow, thousands would gather in Tiananmen Square 
and in over 400 other cities. Their numbers grew as the days passed 
until more than a million people--including journalists, workers, 
government employees and police--joined the Tiananmen students in 
demanding a future built on justice, freedom, and dignity.
    During the evening of June 3d and into June 4th, 1989, the Chinese 
Communist Party leadership unleashed the People's Liberation Army (PLA) 
upon the protesters. The PLA used brute and lethal force against 
peaceful protest. Guns and tanks crushed innocent civilians, young and 
old alike.
    The precise number of casualties is unknown. There has been no 
public accounting of the events of that week and no justice for the 
victims. Rather, those seeking to commemorate the event or seek 
information about those killed, like the Tiananmen Mothers, are 
harassed, detained, and arrested.
    One of the most iconic images from the Tiananmen Massacre is that 
of the ``Tank Man''--the solitary figure, with shopping bags in hand, 
who stood in front of the advancing line of tanks. That act of brave 
defiance inspired the world and should remind us that Tiananmen is not 
simply a past event to study and ponder, but a present reminder that 
when the Chinese people are free to assemble and to speak, they demand 
liberty and political reform.
    What happened on Tiananmen Square in 1989 should also remind us 
that the principles of freedom and democracy represent a fundamental 
human yearning for dignity and human rights that is not limited to any 
culture or country. They are universal aspirations that neither tanks 
nor torture can ever destroy.
    Sadly, as we look at the China of today, the prospects for greater 
civil and political rights seem as remote as the day after the tanks 
rolled through Tiananmen Square.
    An increasingly aggressive Chinese Communist government is more 
repressive in domestic politics, more mercantilist in trade and 
economic policy, increasingly dismissive of international norms, and 
more assertive in exporting the authoritarian model globally.
    While repression looks much different today than it did 35 years 
ago, the goal remains the same: preserve the Communist Party's monopoly 
on political power through any means necessary--state-sponsored 
indoctrination, a pervasive surveillance State, arbitrary detention, 
torture, and transnational repression.
    The U.S. and all freedom-loving people cannot be neutral when the 
Chinese Communist Party tramples human rights with impunity or while 
genocide and crimes against humanity are being committed.
    A choice has to be made: You either stand with the Tank Man or you 
stand with the tank. There is no middle ground.
    That choice is even starker now than it was 35 years ago. The U.S. 
and its allies face a systemic challenge from the Chinese Communist 
Party and its allies in Russia, Iran, and North Korea. It is a 
challenge we cannot avoid and one where promotion of human rights and 
freedom must be recognized as a strategic advantage against the dark 
forces of authoritarianism.
    The United States must do a better job leading the free world's 
democracies in shining a light on the atrocities being committed by the 
Chinese Communist Party and holding those responsible accountable--
whether through more robust use of existing sanctions authorities or 
better leveraging American influence at the United Nations.
    We must take all steps to stop the Communist Chinese Party's 
efforts to export their authoritarian model around the world. We must 
find more efficient ways to stop American companies from subsidizing 
communist tyranny and forced labor. We must better protect Chinese 
students and the Chinese diaspora from intimidation and even violence 
while they live in the United States.
    And we must treat the ``Great Firewall'' of China like the 21st 
century Berlin Wall; tearing it down must be a critical U.S. priority 
that will allow the dissemination of news and information within China 
and allow the Chinese people to communicate without fear.
    At the same time, we must resolutely stand with those in China and 
Hong Kong who are imprisoned, censored, and disappeared--the Christian 
pastor, the Tibetan Buddhist monk, the Uyghur Muslim, the labor 
organizer, the human rights lawyer, the Hong Kong democracy activist, 
and countless others living under the repressive policies of the 
Chinese Communist Party.
    They are the ones who will ultimately bring political change in 
China. We must communicate to them and the Chinese people directly that 
their struggle and pain has not and will not be forgotten, and that we 
believe the Chinese Communist Party will eventually be consigned to the 
ash heap of history. To do anything less dishonors the spirit of 
Tiananmen and those who continue to stand so bravely and resolutely for 
freedom.
                                 ______
                                 

                Prepared Statement of Hon. Jeff Merkley

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today being June 4, this is an appropriate 
day for a hearing of the congressional-Executive Commission on China 
because of the focus on the events of June 3-4, 1989, at Tiananmen 
Square, and in cities across China. Those events shocked the conscience 
of the world, and the conscience of this Congress.
    The massacre of peaceful protesters by their own government spurred 
a decade of debate here in Congress about whether the United States 
should condition trade relations with China on improvements in human 
rights. Our chairman, Congressman Smith, was at the forefront of those 
bipartisan debates, along with Speaker Emerita Pelosi.
    That question was settled in 2000 when Congress and President 
Clinton granted permanent normal trade relations to the People's 
Republic of China. Congress insisted, however, that the deal include a 
mechanism to monitor China's progress on human rights and rule of law. 
That insistence and that legislation created this Commission, a 
bicameral, bipartisan watchdog to assess China's behavior against 
international human rights standards.
    But today's hearing is not about this Commission. It is about the 
people in the People's Republic of China, the oppression they continue 
to endure, the hopes that they continue to hold for a better future, 
and the aspirations they continue to fight for.
    The people gathered in Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989 were 
demanding their government respond to their grievances as well as their 
aspirations. The government's brutal response ended lives and ended 
optimism that day, but it did not end the desire for freedom and the 
desire for dignity. Those feelings are universal and innate to every 
human everywhere. It is a spark that cannot be extinguished.
    Thirty-five years later, that brutal grip of oppression has only 
tightened. People cannot openly express dissent.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about whether and how 
the citizens of the PRC find ways to share their frustrations and 
desires. Do they use social media, chat groups, informal networks? What 
can the 2022 White Paper protests tell us?
    I also hope to hear how we, American policymakers, can best 
understand what people in China are saying, what they are feeling, what 
they are advocating for. It is vital that we listen to their voices 
rather than project our own ideas or politics.
    I am interested to learn how people keep alive the legacy of 
Tiananmen in the face of a concerted and successful effort by the CCP 
to erase the history, both on the mainland and now in Hong Kong. 
Preservation of memory is another innate human impulse, essential to 
people's ability to maintain their culture and maintain their identity.
    Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are core human rights 
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Chinese 
government's relentless effort to suppress them does not diminish the 
yearning of the people of China to realize them or our responsibility 
to speak out for them. That is why we are here. I look forward to your 
testimony.
                                 ______
                                 

              Prepared Statement of Hon. James P. McGovern

    Good morning. I join my colleagues in welcoming everyone to today's 
hearing on the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 
China.
    Thirty-five years ago, Chinese authorities ordered their military 
to forcibly remove protesters who had occupied Tiananmen Square for 
weeks, and who were calling for economic and political reform.
    Estimates of how many people were wounded and killed when the tanks 
rolled in range from the hundreds to a few thousand; the exact numbers 
are still unknown. What we do know is that the violence unleashed that 
day meant that hardliners in the Chinese government had gained the 
upper hand over reformists, with consequences that are still being felt 
today.
    Through 2020, an annual vigil for the victims of Tiananmen Square 
was held in Victoria Park in Hong Kong. In fact, Hong Kong was the only 
Chinese city in which commemorations were allowed, a result of the 
``one country, two systems'' arrangement. But in 2021, Victoria Park 
was empty because the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 
made public mention of the massacre a jailable offense.
    The new Article 23 law, passed in Hong Kong in March, doubles down 
on this. Six people were arrested a few days ago for ``inciting 
hatred'' against Beijing by posting messages about a ``sensitive 
date''--the June 4th Tiananmen Square anniversary.
    In fact, for years the PRC has used every tactic it can to erase 
the memory of Tiananmen, from restricting internet searches and 
removing books to physical repression.
    So we are here today to commemorate that which cannot be 
commemorated in China. We are here to remember and pay tribute to those 
who were killed on June 4, 1989, and those who were wounded, and those 
who were imprisoned for their participation. We are also here to 
remember the demands of the protesters 35 years ago, their ideas, their 
hope, and their courage. We are here because memory is both the 
preservation of the past, and a source of power and inspiration for the 
future.
    As one of our witnesses will tell us today, even though the 
Tiananmen protests and massacre remain a source of trauma for the 
Chinese people, they have simultaneously become a tremendous source of 
inspiration, healing, and hope. Another witness will tell us, ``We 
inherited the spirit of resistance from the Tiananmen generation.''
    Memory and memorializing can and should be an empowering process. 
We are here today to contribute to that process, in honor of the Tank 
Man and all the protesters in Tiananmen Square on that fateful day, 
June 4, 1989.
    Thank you.

                  Questions and Answers for the Record

                                 ______
                                 

             Questions for Zhou Fengsuo from Senator Brown

    June 4, 2024 marks 35 years since the wish for freedom and 
democracy by the Chinese people was met with violent suppression by the 
Chinese government. Lethal force was used against those using two of 
their universal human rights: speech and assembly. I'd like to thank 
Chair Smith and Co-chair Merkley for holding this important hearing. 
China's citizens deserve a transparent account of the tragic events of 
the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and we must do more to counter the 
Chinese government's continued attack on human rights.
    Question. Despite international efforts urging Chinese President Xi 
Jinping to take concrete steps to end the repression of ethnic and 
religious minorities, journalists, members of the LGTBQ community, and 
the Chinese people as a whole, the People's Republic of China (PRC) 
continues to harass diaspora communities and critics of the PRC--not 
just in China, but around the world. Many of you mention the Chinese 
government's use of transnational repression as a way to intimidate and 
harass Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, the Taiwanese, journalists, 
human rights advocates, and others. The Committee held a hearing on 
this topic last year, where witnesses shared ideas on how to address 
this serious challenge.
    My question for you is: What steps do you believe the U.S. should 
take, in partnership with our allies, to preemptively address and halt 
transnational repression?

    Answer.
    1.  Law enforcement needs to investigate and prosecute the 
perpetrators who are acting on behalf of the CCP regime in the United 
States. The recent indictments of Wu Xiaomeng and others are very 
effective. The diaspora organizations like HRIC can work with law 
enforcement to provide the most up-to-date information.

    2.  Require any organizations that take CCP money or work closely 
with the CCP to disclose and register, especially CSSAs (Chinese 
Students and Scholars Associations) and Hometown Associations. This 
should also include lobbying groups, universities, and other 
institutions.

    3.  Compel U.S. companies with businesses in China to disclose how 
they comply with CCP authorities. Require U.S. tech companies to take 
concrete action to prevent harassing, threatening, and surveillance in 
cyberspace, targeting diaspora activists.

    4.  Government agencies should work closely and regularly with 
human rights organizations to understand the full scope of CCP 
transnational repression.

    Question. This commission has spent time discussing concerns over 
the use of surveillance technology by the Chinese government. As has 
been widely reported, Chinese electric vehicles and other connected 
vehicles utilize technology to gather sensitive data on drivers and the 
environments they are in.
    Mr. Zhou, you briefly mentioned how the Chinese Communist Party 
(CCP) has used technological repression against your organization, and 
Mr. Yang also suggested that Chinese companies that use high-tech 
technology to participate in government projects to violate human 
rights be sanctioned.
    I have called for banning Chinese electric vehicles from the U.S., 
one of many reasons being the potential security threat they pose. 
Given your experience, do you believe that the CCP may be using data 
collected by Chinese electric cars and other connected vehicles as a 
surveillance tool?

    Answer. Yes, every company in China serves the CCP regime as the 
ultimate goal. There is no doubt that CCP utilizes every tool possible 
for the purpose of surveillance and eventual domination of the 
democratic countries. Electric vehicles are a natural choice and will 
pose significant threats.
                                 ______
                                 

              Questions for Ruohui Yang from Senator Brown

    Question. Despite international efforts urging Chinese President Xi 
Jinping to take the concrete steps to end the repression of ethnic and 
religious minorities, journalists, members of the LGTBQ community, and 
the Chinese people as a whole, the People's Republic of China (PRC) 
continues to harass diaspora communities and critics of the PRC--not 
just in China, but around the world. Many of you mention the Chinese 
government's use of transnational repression as a way to intimidate and 
harass Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, the Taiwanese, journalists, 
human rights advocates, and others. The Committee held a hearing on 
this topic last year, where witnesses shared ideas on how to address 
this serious challenge.
    My question for you is: What steps do you believe the U.S. should 
take, in partnership with our allies, to preemptively address and halt 
transnational repression?

    Answer. The U.S. Government urgently needs to implement a 
reciprocal policy against China. This policy, crucial for our national 
security, must be revised promptly following any policy alteration in 
China. As the guardian of its citizens and interests, the U.S. 
Government must explicitly target the individuals and organizations 
that have connections with Chinese diplomatic missions, which includes 
all bodies cooperating with China, such as the CSSA, across 
universities within U.S. territory, all the Chinese national or 
regional fellowship and commercial associations, and other parties 
mentioned by Chinese state media or foreign offices. These groups must 
be queried, registered, and notified about their foreign agent status 
and the constraints they must conform to for any potential detrimental 
activities within U.S. territory.
    The People's Republic of China has become a one-party authoritarian 
state. In practice, the various consulates within U.S. territory 
primarily serve as agents of the Chinese Communist Party, a.k.a. the 
CCP, rather than the Chinese state or citizens. China's current 
decisionmaking mechanism on foreign policy is monopolized by the 
Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the CCP 
(commonly called the Central Foreign Affairs Commission) instead of the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. Another fact is that the superior 
organ of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, the State Council, 
primarily serves the decisionmaking of the CCP rather than that of the 
National People's Congress or the government. The principle of 
strengthening CCP leadership was first mentioned in the ``Opinions of 
the CCP Central Committee on Strengthening the Party's Political 
Construction'' in 2019 and again brought up by the amendment to the 
Organization Law of the State Council in 2024. Both of them request 
comprehensive leadership by the CCP over miscellaneous state 
departments. China's ``wolf warrior diplomacy'' gradually commenced 
during this period. Therefore, all Chinese diplomatic missions overseas 
are front organizations of the CCP. It is worth remarking that as we 
are writing this piece, Xi Jinping, the chairman of the CCP, has just 
chaired the fifth meeting of the Central Comprehensively Deepening 
Reforms Commission of the CCP. He has once again emphasized the 
importance of integrating party leadership into various aspects of 
corporate governance.
    Considering the realities above, it is essential to differentiate 
between ordinary Chinese citizens, the CCP and its executive bodies, 
the Chinese government, and China's unique transnational modern 
corporate entities. It is also critical for U.S. policymakers to 
explicitly distinguish whether the individuals and groups are 
associated directly with the CCP and its front organizations within 
U.S. territory.
    To counter the influence of CCP infiltration, the U.S. must 
acknowledge the intrinsic importance of overseas Chinese and Chinese 
American intellectuals, students, and human rights activists. Their 
distinctive perspectives and backgrounds can be harnessed to combat the 
CCP's massive propaganda. The U.S. Government should support the 
overseas Chinese in formulating their community associations, which 
should be non-political and binary, and focus on social integration and 
community development. The primary goal for the U.S. is to assist them 
in disseminating their work and allow them to partake in the American 
policymaking process to counterbalance the ideological influence of the 
CCP.
    Due to tightening restrictions on freedom of expression, many 
Chinese scholars and human rights lawyers have been exiled overseas. 
The U.S. should now utilize these Chinese experts to comprehend China's 
censorship mechanics. It is crucial to provide them with convenient 
issuance of visas and improved working conditions, allowing them to 
exemplify the reality of China to American voters through the media.
    The long-term resolution is that the Chinese communities overseas 
that are self-sufficient and independent of the influence of the CCP 
must be strengthened to bankrupt the narrative of the CCP that 
endeavors to obfuscate the difference between cultural belongingness to 
the Chinese culture or community and corpse-like loyalty or obedience 
to the CCP among domestic and overseas Chinese residents and Chinese 
Americans. It should commence to consolidate support from the communal, 
cultural, and political activist groups. It could even begin with the 
younger generation of dissenters in exile, letting them reconstruct the 
civil society that once existed in China with their thoughts and 
activities.

    Question. In your testimony, you wrote: ``Any so-called `free 
trade' with Beijing supports the war machine of the dictatorship, 
shifting contradictions, and providing resources, which is a disguised 
form of appeasement. Using free trade as a cover may alleviate 
inflation and wealth disparity with cheap goods in the short term, but 
it allows China's low human-rights-advantaged products to flood the 
market. It is both short-sighted and akin to drinking poison to quench 
thirst.''
    For my entire career, I've fought against trade policies that 
undermine workers both at home and abroad. One effort that Congress 
passed recently to address the continued use of forced labor to help 
counter China's human rights abuses is the bipartisan Uyghur Forced 
Labor Prevention Act. This law, implemented in June 2022, creates 
protection against the funding of forced labor among ethnic minorities.
    Do you have thoughts on what additional action is necessary to 
prevent the Chinese government's continued human rights violations 
against more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims who've been 
coerced into forced labor programs?

    Answer. Concerning the current issues of Xinjiang ``re-education 
camps'' that have disastrously affected the lifestyle and cultural 
identity of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other minorities in Xinjiang, it must 
be pointed out that to define it as genocide or religious extermination 
against Uyghurs and other minorities is counterproductive to truly 
alleviating or bringing to an end these human rights violations. I am 
not attempting to deny the appalling atrocities committed by the CCP 
against its citizens, but the definition of genocide will presumably 
make many American voters assume it is a political gimmick. It will 
also strengthen the misconception among Chinese residents in China that 
the U.S. is exploiting this issue and using it as a justification to 
implement sinophobic foreign policies or even a potential Chinese 
Exclusion Act in the 21st century. Considering that the CCP can 
misinterpret it in their propaganda agenda and exacerbate Islamophobia 
among Chinese citizens, it can put Uyghurs and other minorities in 
Xinjiang in more dangerous circumstances.
    A more practical solution is to put the Xinjiang ``re-education 
camps'' and other issues correlated to human rights violations in China 
into a larger overall picture. We consider the re-education camps in 
Xinjiang to be a series of social experiments by the CCP to impose 
totalitarian control on every aspect of society. In their agenda, 
Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other minorities in Xinjiang are persecuted not 
only due to their distinguishable ethnic and religious differences but 
also because they are living in a distinct, self-reliant society that 
is out of the reach of CCP totalitarianism, which, from the perspective 
of the CCP, must be reorganized following the CCP's ideology. The CCP 
has already attempted to reorganize the non-minority Han Chinese 
society, which has been continuously developing since the Chinese 
economic reform in the 1980s and the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. 
In this case, they have achieved some limited success in imposing and 
reinforcing authoritarian rule. Nevertheless, the necessity for 
economic growth and international prestige has hampered their effort to 
transform Chinese society into a more totalitarian one. The COVID-19 
pandemic provided them with an opportunity to realize their ambition. 
From 2020 to 2022, the Zero-COVID policy made many Chinese residents 
realize the brutal face of the state and the CCP, which sacrificed 
their basic living standards and natural rights to pursue a goal that 
aimed to impose totalitarian control on every aspect of life. If we 
look back to what happened in China during these three years, we will 
discover that many of the suppressive approaches and mass surveillance 
are directly duplicated from the Xinjiang re-education camps. This is 
why China's ``White Paper Revolution,'' a series of protests against 
the harrowing Zero-COVID policy imposed by the CCP, is derived from 
Xinjiang, the northwestern province of China, with the most brutal, 
scrutinized, and totalitarian social control. Many Chinese residents 
have realized that the most significant terrorism in their country does 
not come from Uyghurs or other Muslim minorities, but from the CCP 
itself as state terrorism.
    China's manufacturing industries are built on such widespread human 
rights violations: the lack of safeguards for intellectual property 
rights, the censorship and suppression of whistleblowers and customer 
complaints, the connivance of companies' infringements of basic labor 
protections, the lack of judicial independence that allows giant 
corporations to be shielded by governments, the censorship of media 
resulting in a lack of independent investigative journalists, and the 
government's massive subsidy policy for specific companies at the 
expense of trade freedom, allowing Chinese companies to dump cheap and 
inferior products all over the world without regard for their product 
quality, brand reputation, and sustainable operating capabilities.
    On the other hand, many ordinary Chinese people have gradually 
discovered the misery that this massive infringement of human rights 
has brought to their everyday lives. Extensive works of art and 
literature have portrayed the negative impact of this violation of 
human rights on every ordinary Chinese person. Suppose American 
politicians and voters chose to disregard the growing suicide and 
unemployment rates, the decline in personal income, and the distress, 
anguish, and despondency of Chinese citizens toward their society in 
China. If so, the CCP will exploit this to isolate their opponents and 
construct a siege mentality in Chinese public opinion and make them 
feel that the motivation behind the attention to the Xinjiang re-
education camps from the U.S. is to contain China and to implement 
sinophobic imperialist and neocolonial policies in China.
    Hence, American politicians should have more awareness of the 
massive human rights issues in China and regard the persecution of 
ethnic minorities, such as the Uyghurs and Kazakhs, as the foretype of 
China's human rights crisis rather than an ethnic or religious 
conflict. Only this sort of strategy can encourage more Chinese people 
to recognize the human rights problems in Xinjiang, including the 
forced separation of families, systemic brainwashing, forced labor, 
invasion of private property, and language extinction, since these 
things are more likely to occur in the lives of every ordinary Chinese 
citizen in the future. I believe this is the fundamental solution to 
preventing further deterioration of human rights in Xinjiang and other 
regions in China.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T5350.001

                          Witness Biographies

    Zhou Fengsuo, Tiananmen student leader and Executive Director of 
Human Rights in China

    In 1989, Zhou Fengsuo was a physics student at Tsinghua University 
in Beijing. He started the Voice of Student Movement radio station and 
organized demonstrations that demanded democratic reform. During the 
protests, Zhou and other students set up a broadcast station on 
Tiananmen Square and provided support and medical help to students who 
were on hunger strikes. About a week after the massacre, authorities 
took Zhou into custody and detained him for a year without trial. 
Though wanted by Chinese authorities after he left China, he returned 
in 2014 and was detained after he went to a Beijing detention center to 
give money to political prisoners.
    After receiving an MBA from the University of Chicago, he embarked 
on a successful career in trading and investment, but never gave up his 
advocacy for human rights and democracy in China. In 2007, he co-
founded Humanitarian China to promote the rule of law, human rights, 
and freedom of expression in China and to provide humanitarian support 
to political prisoners and their families. Since 2023 he has served as 
Executive Director of Human Rights in China, mobilizing and empowering 
young Chinese human rights advocates in the diaspora and building 
advocacy coalitions with the Uyghur and Tibetan communities.

    Ruohui Yang, rights advocate and student in Paralegal Studies at 
Humber College in Canada

    Ruohui Yang is dedicated to advancing human rights and democracy in 
China. In 2020, he founded Assembly of Citizens, a Chinese student 
association that organized large-scale June Fourth commemoration 
activities and White Paper movement protests in Canada. Since 2022, 
Ruohui has been an assistant editor for China Spring, where he has 
strengthened the focus on Chinese human rights issues and political 
prisoners through his editorial work. He is also the founder of social 
media platforms that seek to organize Chinese youth and counter the 
PRC's propaganda globally. The platforms try to help Chinese young 
people recognize the deteriorating State of human rights in China and 
build a sense of community among advocates for freedom and democracy in 
China.

    Karin (an alias), student and White Paper protest organizer at 
Columbia University

    Karin will testify in disguise because other organizers of the 
event were either attacked at Columbia or faced intimidation by PRC 
police.

    Rowena He, China specialist and historian of modern China at the 
University of Texas at Austin

    Rowena He is interested in the nexus of history, memory, and power, 
and their implications for the relationship between academic freedom 
and public opinion, human rights and democratization, and youth values 
and nationalism. Her first book, Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the 
Struggle for Democracy in China, was named as one of the Top Five Books 
2014 by the Asia Society's ChinaFile.
    Dr. He received the Harvard University Certificate of Teaching 
Excellence for three consecutive years for the Tiananmen courses she 
created. She joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019 and 
received the Faculty of Arts Outstanding Teaching Award in 2020 and 
2021. In October 2023, she was denied a work visa to return to her 
position as an Associate Professor of History at CUHK.
    Dr. He publishes and speaks widely beyond the academy. Her op-eds 
have appeared in the Washington Post, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, 
the Wall Street Journal, and the Nation. Born and raised in China, she 
received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.

                                  [all]