[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1420
 
             SIGNIFICANT REGRESSION IN CHINA'S HUMAN RIGHTS

  (Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the judgment call on conferring 
MFN on China for another year hinges on significant progress in human 
rights.
  It is becoming increasingly clear that in category after category the 
Chinese Government is not only not making progress, but is actually 
getting worse--bringing further shame and dishonor to the Government.
  An accurate portrayal of religious freedom and human rights 
protections in population control in China today would be significant 
regression.
  Effective this past Sunday, for example, are two new Draconian 
decrees cracking down on religious expression in China.
  Order No. 145, for example, bans underground house churches which 
number in the several thousand. The right to assemble, pray, and 
worship God--even in your own home--carries severe punishments. The big 
crackdown has begun. Moreover, foreigners are strictly prohibited from 
making contact with believers and catchall policy statements such as 
``No one may use places of worship for activities to destroy national 
unity, ethnic unity and social stability, to damage public health or 
undermine the national education system,'' criminalize just about 
anything that a believer says or does. These cruel policies are likely 
to lead to thousands of new arrests, tortures, and mistreatment.
  Mr. Speaker, in like manner, the Chinese Government continues to 
aggressively victimize women who bear children outside of the 
Government's repressive one child per couple policy. Forced abortion, 
forced sterilization, and discrimination against the handicapped via 
cruel eugenics policies are also on the rise.
  In a sworn affidavit dated October 29, 1993, Dr. John Aird, former 
Chief of the China Branch at the U.S. Census Bureau, stated that 
``coercion in the Chinese family planning program has in the past 2 
years reached its second extreme peak, approaching or perhaps exceeding 
the level of 1983.''
  China is not making progress in these and other areas, Mr. Speaker, 
but sadly--is making significant regression in observance of 
internationally recognized human rights.

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