[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S18927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF CHINESE HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST WEI JINGSHENG

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, the Government of China announced 
last week that it had ``tried'' and convicted Wei Jingsheng of the 
crime of subversion and had sentenced him to 14 years in prison. The 
Chinese regime also stripped Wei Jingsheng of his political rights for 
3 years.
  I put quotation marks around the word ``tried,'' Mr. President, 
precisely because the action taken against Wei Jingsheng is a travesty 
and a mockery of the concept of due process of law. The 6-hour court 
proceeding clearly had a pre-ordained result: to severely punish Wei 
Jingsheng for daring to speak out--as he has since 1978--against the 
Chinese Government's repression of its own people.
  Wei Jinsheng is no stranger to harsh, unjust punishments; he has 
spent most of the past 16 years of his life in Chinese prisons. Yet, 
when he was released in 1993, he immediately resumed his efforts to 
shine a light on Chinese Government human rights abuses. Wei 
Jingsheng's tenacity as leader of China's small, albeit admirably 
tenacious democracy movement led again to his 20-month detention since 
April 1994. The abominable sentence handed down today is yet another 
attempt to muzzle a brave man and to warn any others against dissent.
  The administration issued a condemnation of the Chinese Government's 
action and called on it to exercise clemency. While I join in 
denouncing the sentence and in urging Wei Jingsheng's immediate 
release, it is also my view--repeated often and publicly--that 
administration policies toward China have helped pave the way for such 
cavalier abuse of basic human rights.
  In 1994, over the strenuous objections of those of us concerned over 
China's atrocious and repeated violations of international standards of 
human rights, the administration delinked granting of most-favored-
nation trade status to China to improvements in its human rights 
record. The administration argued then that through ``constructive 
engagement'' on economic matters, as well as dialog on other issues, 
including human rights, the United States could better influence 
Chinese behavior.
  It was my view then--and it remains so today--that the correct way to 
influence the Chinese regime is by hitting them in the pocketbook. They 
want our trade and easy access to our markets. Their economic well-
being depends on that access; if we condition our economic relations on 
their improvement of human rights conditions and movement toward real 
democratic change, I am convinced they will come around.
  Certainly, Mr. President, the callous disregard for human rights 
exhibited by today's action against Wei Jingsheng demonstrates that, 
after nearly 2 years, dialog and constructive engagement has made no 
impact on Chinese behavior. We should make it clear that human rights 
are of real--as opposed to rhetorical--concern to this country. Until 
such time as Wei Jingsheng and others committed to reform in China are 
allowed to speak freely their voice and work for change, American-
Chinese relations should not be based on a business-as-usual basis. I 
hope the administration will take this latest sad episode to heart and 
modify current policy toward China.

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