[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 102 (Friday, July 29, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             SANCTIONS AGAINST THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I want the Members, if any who are still 
around in town listening, but people to know that next week we are 
going to bring up the Pelosi bill which deals with putting sanctions 
against the People's Liberation Army. Now, people say, who is, what is 
the People's Liberation Army?
  They are the ones that killed thousands of people in Beijing during 
Tiananmen Square. They are the ones, every American citizen should know 
it, who are flooding in this Nation assault weapons which are killing 
American men, American women, and American children. Did you know, I 
ask my colleagues, that the People's Liberation Army which rolled over 
the young men in Tiananmen Square and has been responsible for so many 
barbaric things, barbaric to Americans who fought in the Korean War. Do 
you remember the oppressiveness of the People's Liberation Army in the 
Korean war? Think back.
  If you have anyone in your family who fought in the Korean war, the 
People's Liberation Army were the barbarians of North Korea. If you 
have anybody in your family that fought in Vietnam or know anybody that 
fought in Vietnam, many of the weapons coming in that killed Americans 
came from the People's Liberation Army.
  If you are young and you are just recent, then many of the weapons 
that Saddam Hussein, from Iraq, used to kill American men and women 
came from the People's Liberation Army of China.
  You say, what does that have to do with this? Well, next week we are 
going to have a sanctions bill which will prohibit goods coming in to 
the United States that are made by the People's Liberation Army.
  Now, I think most Americans know, but just to state for the record 
again, let me just tell you what. I was there several years ago and we 
visited this prison, Beijing prison number one. These prisoners, there 
were 40 Tiananmen Square prisoners working in this prison. They were 
making slave labor goods, slave labor goods, knocking out textile 
workers throughout the United States and in South Carolina and North 
Carolina and Georgia and Virginia and every other place, with slave 
labor goods coming in and competing with American products. And they 
pay them nothing. Slave labor.
  I should also say for the record that I am a free trader. I have 
never voted for a protectionist bill since I have been in Congress. Not 
once. I was a strong supporter of NAFTA, strong supporter of good 
trade. I think trade makes a difference. But in China's case, we want 
to sanction not all of China but the People's Liberation Army.

  This man here represents the thousands, the thousands that are in 
Chinese gulags. I think most Members know, but just to reiterate it 
again, that the Chinese government has arrested Catholic bishops. You 
would not think they would arrest a Catholic bishop, Catholic bishops, 
priests and ministers, and they have leveled Tibet.

                              {time}  1450

  In Tibet the Buddhist monks and those of the Buddhist faith have been 
persecuted. One of our colleagues, the gentleman from New Jersey, 
Congressman Chris Smith, went to China this year, took Holy Communion 
from Bishop Su, a Catholic bishop. Several days after Chris Smith took 
holy communion, they arrested Bishop Su.
  What I want to bring this debate back on is next week, we should 
clearly support the bill that sanctions, that goes against the People's 
Liberation Army that was involved in the Korean war and responsible for 
the deaths of a lot of Americans in Korea. Do you want to be with the 
People's Liberation Army? No. Responsible for the same thing in 
Vietnam. Responsible for sending weapons.
  Right now as we now speak, the People's Liberation Army and China are 
pumping weapons into Southern Sudan where they are killing black 
Christians and they are killing them because they are Christians. The 
same army we are going to get to vote next week, do you want to give 
them special trade benefits to knock out American textile workers and 
shoe workers and toy manufacturers, or do you want to sanction?
  Let me say a word to those on my side of the aisle. As a Republican 
Member, I think we have so much to be proud of, that we are the party 
of Lincoln. We are the party of great compassion and interest with 
regard to human rights. I would not want to see my party, I would not 
want to see the Republican party lose its soul. ``Want is to profit a 
man if he gains the whole word and loses his soul?'' We read in the 
Bible. I would not want my party, I would not want the other party, but 
I particularly would not want the Republican party to lose its soul by 
siding with the bandits, the bandits and the barbarians of Beijing that 
control the People's Liberation Army. We are going to get a chance next 
week. The Catholic Conference supports this bill, the Pelosi bill. 
Fundamentals, evangelicals around this country support the bill.
  I will tell you, the Christians that we meet with in China certainly 
support the bill. The human rights interests in this country support 
the bill. The Chinese dissidents in this country who have families back 
there support the bill. The AFL-CIO supports this bill. The clothing 
workers support this bill. Organized labor supports this bill. This 
bill ought to pass.

  To those on the Republican side, I just think we have to be careful. 
I know sometimes you want to be with business and, say, a business 
lobbyist comes in. But this business is a moral issue. It is for the 
heart and soul of the Republican party. It would be like in the time of 
the Civil War of Lincoln then selling out and not taking a stand with 
regard to slavery. It would be like a situation whereby we know what 
was right and we then decided to kind of close our eyes to the bishops 
that are still in jail, to the human rights dissidents that are still 
in jail, to the ministers that are still in jail, to the Buddhist monks 
that are still in jail, to those that are being tortured every day. 
Now, a bigger issue is the overall MFN. We are also going to vote on a 
bill, a bill of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], God bless 
him, it is a wonderful bill which I am going to speak for and support, 
which would take away MFN from all the goods coming into China. I think 
that is the appropriate way to go. I am going to support it. But 
Members can vote yes on that or vote no. But we come down to the basic 
sanctioning, punishing the People's Liberation Army. Clearly the right 
vote I believe is a vote for the Pelosi bill, which will do that.
  In closing, there are two final points. Some people say, ``Well, I'm 
for human rights, but sanctions, well, they just don't work.''
  ``I'm for human rights, Congressman Wolf, but sanctions, they just 
don't work.''
  You can tell Scharansky, who is now living in Israel, who used the 
support when we took MFN away from the Soviet Union, you tell 
Scharansky that sanctions do not work. You tell Sakharov that sanctions 
do not work. We would laugh at you today if he were here to say that 
sanctions do not work. You tell the Romanians in Romania, Father Calciu 
who got out of prison after being in prison for 19 years, 19 years, and 
we used MFN get him out. You tell Father Calciu that sanctions do not 
work. Look Father Calciu in the eye and say, ``Father, I know you have 
been in there for 19 years, but it wasn't the sanctions that got you 
out,'' and Father Calciu will tell you:
  Young man, young lady, it was the sanctions that got me out. It was 
the prayers to the good Lord and it was the sanctions that got me out.
  Lastly, tell Nelson Mandela that sanctions do not work. Tell him that 
they did not work. I listened to white South Africans and black South 
Africans interviewed on a National Public Radio show several months 
ago. ``I was opposed to sanctions,'' this one South African said, ``I 
was opposed to sanctions, but I was wrong. It made a difference.''
  Tell Nelson Mandela that sanctions did not work. I am going to 
develop this theme all next week, but in closing, I will cover one last 
point.
  Many of the arguments used against the bill to take away MFN from the 
People's Liberation Army, to sanction this corrupt group that everyone 
agrees, we have unanimity that they are bad, this group, there is this 
powerful argument that I have found that was offered during World War 
II and before World War II with Nazi Germany. Would we today be saying, 
would any Member have the temerity, the courage or the stupidity to 
come and say that we should not put sanctions on the Nazi army, on the 
SS?
  Of course they would say that, clearly. We have documents to show 
that during 1933 and 1934 and 1935, Cordell Hull and others said, ``No, 
let's not upset the Nazis, let's not speak out on this issue.'' That 
somehow if we speak out on this issue, we will upset the Germans. My 
God, if there is one mistake we made and we have made many in this 
country, the United States should have been speaking out boldly in 1933 
and 1934 and 1935 and 1936 and 1937 and 1938. We are the leader of the 
world. We are the leader of the free world because of our military 
strength. We can thank Ronald Reagan for that and I think we can thank 
George Bush for that and we can thank many preceding Presidents for 
that.

  The reason that we also are number one in the world is because we 
lead not only with power, with raw power of might and missiles, we lead 
with power of example, the power of example. America is a great country 
because of that. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas 
Jefferson, from my State: We hold these truths, truths, to be self-
evident. That all men are created equal.
  It does not say all American men and women. It says all men, Chinese 
men. All men, Chinese women. All men are endowed, are endowed, endowed 
by their Creator with inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness.
  I think we are going to be faced with a tremendous moral dilemma next 
week. There are going to be some who want to and let me just stipulate 
for the record, they are good men and women on both sides of the aisle, 
on both sides of this issue, all truth and honesty does not rest with 
one side, and I will stipulate there are good people and good arguments 
on the other side, but when it comes to the People's Liberation Army, 
we are going to have to decide, do we want to vote in support of more 
assault weapons and guns that they sell, and you know they are laughing 
at us. I bet the People's Liberation Army leadership is just laughing 
at us. And do you know, I guess the American people know, I think the 
Congress knows, that the People's Liberation Army has offices here in 
the United States? They do industrial espionage and military espionage 
against our Government, but they are laughing at us. We are going to 
have to decide, do we stand with the Catholic bishops of China. Do we 
stand with the protestant ministers of China? Do we stand with the 
peasants that meet in house churches so they can worship Christ? People 
that when you ask them of anything about the Government, they say, I do 
not want to get involved in politics, I just want to worship Christ. I 
want to be in my house church. I just want to worship in freedom, who 
will literally do anything for a Bible. Do we want to stand with the 
people who will do anything for a Bible, who want to worship Jesus 
Christ in their house or do we want to stand with the People's 
Liberation Army? Do we want to stand with the People's Liberation Army 
that gave weapons to Saddam Hussein that killed American soldiers or do 
we want to stand with those against? Do we want to stand with the 
People's Liberation Army that is aiding the terrorists around the world 
and putting arms into southern Sudan whereby they are killing these 
black Christians who have no food, no weapons, nothing? Or do we want 
to stand with the Catholic bishops who support this bill?

                              {time}  1500

  I think history sometimes repeats itself, and sometimes each 
generation has to learn a lesson. But I just wondered what the debates 
would have been like in 1993 or 1934 if we had gone back and had the 
same circumstances. I would hope looking back that we would have said 
that Adlof Hitler was evil. I would have hoped that we would have 
sanctioned the Nazi army and the SS. I would have hoped that we would 
have done it, and I would hope that we will do the same thing next week 
when this Congress has an opportunity to come and to vote on whether or 
not you should stand with those of Amnesty International, the Catholic 
Bishops, the persecuted, the Dalai Lama from Tibet, the Buddhist monks, 
those people who are fighting for human rights in Belize, the people 
who want to keep these Chinese assault weapons out, who want to stop 
the intelligence and foreign espionage by the People's Liberation Army, 
or do you want to help stand with the people who want to appease the 
People's Liberation Army. It would be my prayer and hope that as we 
develop this issue through the weeks that the Congress will stand for 
human rights.
  I want to add several things. There have been a number of Chinese who 
have been arrested since the President delinked MFN. As Members know, 
we used to have MFN, and every year we would say to the Chinese 
Government, ``If you have not made improvement in your human rights, we 
are going to take away MFN.''
  President Clinton delinked it. He took it away, and since that time 
the conditions for the Christians, the non-Christians, the Buddhists, 
all people, human rights in China have gotten worse.
  Second, it was somewhat amusing because they said the President 
Clinton said, and I can remember President Clinton criticizing 
President Bush so much during the campaign, and if we recall, he 
criticized Bush on Haiti and now he has flip-flopped five different 
times on Haiti. I do not know what his policy is. But he criticized 
President Bush on Bosnia, and now he has been on very side of that 
issue in Bosnia. He criticized President Bush on the arms embargo and 
said that he would lift the arms embargo during the campaign. He said 
he wanted to lift the arms embargo and criticized President Bush in 
some very dramatic statements. Now he had done a 180-degree turn, and 
flip-flopped, and do you know what he got for it? Several weeks after 
Clinton delinked FMN, the President of the United States, President 
Clinton, tried to call the President of China and the President of 
China would not even take his telephone call, would not even take his 
telephone call.
  So we are going to have an opportunity hopefully to reverse that 
policy, not again on all of the human rights or on all of the MFN. We 
will be dealing next week solely with the Pelosi bill that deals solely 
with the People's Liberation Army that justifiably we know have done 
all of these bad things, and government-run industry in China.
  I would like to add one additional thing so that Members will know 
it. We now have conclusive proof that in China they have what they call 
an organ sale program. When they kill religious dissidents and people 
in prison, they shoot them, and when they fall down the doctors are 
there, and they operate, and they take their kidneys out, they take 
their corneas out and things like that, and then they sell them. This 
is the type of group that we are dealing with.
  Our opposition would argue that the Declaration of Independence says, 
``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Americans are 
created equal.'' But our Founding Fathers had a more noble vision of 
American values.
  Our opposition would conduct a foreign policy that says, ``Pull up 
the ladder, I'm aboard.'' But our Founding Fathers held deeper 
principles than protecting the almighty dollar when what same dollar 
strengthens regimes which oppress their own people.
  And this debate is really about people. People who are suffering 
persecution, imprisonment, and even death for the sake of their faith 
or political beliefs. People like Bishop Su, a Catholic leader in China 
imprisoned for 15 years and beaten so hard with a board that the board 
was left in splinters.
  People like Father Calciu, imprisoned under the brutal Romanian 
Dictator Ceausescu for more than 20 years--rearrested one Easter after 
delivering a powerful series of Lenten sermons on freedom. The leverage 
of most-favored-nation status for Romania led to Father Calciu's 
release and eventually led to the downfall of Ceausescu.
  And people like Wei Jingsheng. Wei is China's most prominent 
democracy advocate whom you will remember as the prisoner released just 
months before the end of his 15-year sentence in a public relations 
ploy by Beijing to gain the Olympics. During his 6 months outside of 
prison, Wei spoke out boldly for human rights, writing op. eds. for the 
New York Times and daring to meet with Assistant Secretary of State 
John Shattuck in February. In the face of Beijing's renewed repression 
against democracy activists, Wei openly told Western reporters that the 
United States must keep its word and revoke MFN without true progress 
on human rights. ``If you retreat, you lose,'' he said. For his 
courage, he was rearrested on April 1 and his whereabouts remain 
unknown.
  The people like Wei who have the most to lose were urging the United 
States to remain firm before President Clinton's MFN decision. They, 
like those of us supporting either partial or full MFN revocation 
today, believed that the time to change U.S. foreign policy is after we 
have kept our word, not before. They told me repeatedly that their 
brothers and sisters suffering in China were depending on us. They 
wondered out loud in my office why we are tempted to ally ourselves 
with China's past instead of China's future. A prominent Chinese 
democracy leader told me he strongly believes that upon Deng's 
impending death, the student and worker-led democratic movement will 
ally with a large segment of the military to usher democracy into 
China. He marveled that Chinese leaders are investing their significant 
sums in the West--foreseeing the changes to come--while American 
corporations are seeking billion-dollar contracts supporting a 
political system that may be about to change drastically.
  In Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and, most recently South Africa, 
United States trade leverage eventually worked--bringing down 
repressive Governments, encouraging the oppressed, and emboldening the 
future leaders of those countries in their struggles for democracy.
  Ask South Africa's Nelson Mandela, Poland's Lech Walesa, or the Czech 
Republic's Vaclav Havel--all former prisoners turned Presidents--
whether they appreciated the pressure of United States trade leverage 
on their oppressive Governments.
  In particular, I'd love to hear Nelson Mandela's response to the 
other side's argument that the United States must not forgo profits to 
advance the cause of freedom. Of course, you'd have trouble reaching 
him right now. He has the burden of crafting his own foreign policy, 
precisely because we stayed the course in South Africa.
  But, at our deepest gut level, we must ask ourselves as a nation if 
trade at any price is worth more to us than our American values? What's 
at stake here is the credibility of our moral leadership on the world 
stage.
  The height of American hypocrisy is to preach our cherished values of 
freedom of religion and speech, while we prize the lost dollar over the 
lost life.

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