[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 207 (Friday, December 22, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2445-E2446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FREE THE CLERGY ACT, H.R. 2829

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 22, 1995

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Free the Clergy 
Act, a bill:

       To prohibit funding by United States Government agencies of 
     the participation of certain officials of the Chinese 
     Government in international conferences, programs, and 
     activities until the Chinese Government releases certain 
     individuals imprisoned or detained on religious grounds.

  Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of people serving long prison 
sentences in China for practicing their religious faith. Let me repeat 
that for my colleagues; hundreds of people, Catholics, Protestants, and 
Buddhists are spending many years of their lives in prison for 
observing religious practices. Unfortunately, the situation is getting 
worse.
  According to a report released today by Human Rights Watch/Asia:

       The Chinese government is subjecting unauthorized Catholic 
     and Protestant groups to intensifying harassment and 
     persecution. . . .''
       During the last two years, the Chinese government broadened 
     its drive to crush all forms of dissent. . . . all religious 
     believers, and especially Christians, are seen as potential 
     security risks . . .

  How exactly does Beijing repress religious practitioners? The 
Communist government sentences a 76-year-old Protestant leader to 15 
years in prison for distributing Bibles. It sentences a 65-year-old 
evangelical elder to an 11-year prison term for belonging to an 
evangelical group outside the Government-sanctioned religious 
organizations. A 60-year-old Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to 2 
years of reeducation through labor for unknown charges. He had 
previously spent 13 years in prison because of his refusal to renounce 
ties with the Vatican. The 6-year-old Panchen Lama and his family have 
been detained since May and their whereabouts are unknown. Scores of 
Tibetan Buddhists who refused to participate in the Communist Chinese 
sham enthronement of Beijing's ``Panchen Lama'' have been sent to 
prison and one of their spiritual teachers committed suicide rather 
than take part in the Chinese charade.
  Mr. Speaker, my good friends and colleagues, there are hundreds of 
such cases. Mind you these people are not spending time in prison and 
wasting their lives away for calling for political pluralism or 
democracy. They are being severely punished for following their 
religious beliefs.
  The administration argues that economic liberalization will bring 
about political pluralism. Many policy makers articulate that position 
due to political pressure from business groups. It needs to be pointed 
out, however, that sweeping religious practitioners under the same rug 
as prodemocracy advocates for short-term economic interests could be a 
political mistake that will be a long-term liability. The American 
people are very concerned about jobs and the economy but not if it is 
at the expense of their core moral and religious beliefs.
  The Free the Clergy Act would prohibit any United States funds to be 
spent on any official in China who is involved with the repression of 
religion in China and occupied Tibet. It sends a message that we find 
religious repression repugnant and at grave odds with important 
American values.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2829 and ask that 
the full text of the bill be printed in the Record at this point.

                               H.R. 2829

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       The Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) It has been reported that at an internal Central 
     Communist Party meeting in 1994, Chinese President Jiang 
     Zemin asserted that religion is one of the biggest threats to 
     Communist Party rule in China.
       (2) On January 31, 1994, Premier Li Ping signed decrees 
     number 144 and 145 which restrict worship, religious 
     education, distribution of bibles and other religious 
     literature, and contact with foreign coreligionists.
       (3) The Chinese Government has created organizations that 
     have as their purpose controlling all religious worship, 
     activity, and association in China and supplanting the Roman 
     Catholic Church, independent Protestant churches and 
     independent Buddhist, Taoist, and Islamic associations.
       (4) In July 1995 Ye Xiaowen, a reputed atheist and rigid 
     communist, was appointed to head the Bureau of Religious 
     Affairs, an agency controlled by the United Front Work 
     Department of the Chinese Government, that has administrative 
     control over all religious worship and activity in China 
     through an official system of registering or denying rights 
     and privileges to religious congregations and leaders.
       (5) In the past year, the Chinese Government has expressed 
     great concern over the spread of Christianity and 
     particularly over the rapid growth of Christian religious 
     institutions other than those controlled by the government, 
     including the Roman Catholic Church and the evangelical 
     Christian ``house churches''.
       (6) Soon after the establishment of the People's Republic 
     of China in 1949, the Chinese Government imprisoned 
     Christians who refused to relinquish their faith to become 
     servants of Communism, charging them as ``counter-
     revolutionaries'' and sentencing them to 20 years or more in 
     labor camps.
       (7) Hundreds of Chinese Protestants and Catholics are among 
     those now imprisoned at ``reeducation through labor'' camps 
     because of their religious beliefs.
       (8) The reeducation camps are run by the Ministry of Public 
     Security and the Ministry of Justice of the Chinese 
     Government.
       (9) The Chinese Communist Government refuses to permit the 
     appointment by the Vatican of Catholic Bishops and ordination 
     of priests for China and insists on appointing its own 
     ``Catholic bishops''.
       (10) The Tenth Panchen Lama died in January 1989 at Tashi 
     Lhunpo Monastery, his traditional spiritual seat in Shigatze, 
     Tibet's second largest city.
       (11) The Dalai Lama has the right to recognize the 
     successor to the Panchen Lama, and has always done so.
       (12) On May 14, 1995, His Holiness the Dalai Lama announced 
     recognition of a 6-year old boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the 
     Eleventh Panchen Lama, according to Tibetan tradition.
       (13) The young boy recognized by the Dalai Lama and his 
     family have been brought to Beijing by Chinese authorities 
     and have not been seen in several months.
       (14) Chatrel Rimpoche, abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery and 
     head of the original search committee for the Eleventh 
     Panchen Lama, and his assistant, Champa Chung, are believed 
     to have been seized and detained by Chinese authorities in 
     May of 1995.
       (15) Chinese Government authorities subsequently detained 
     other Tibetan Buddhists in connection with selection of the 
     Eleventh Panchen Lama, including Gyatrol Rimpoche, Shepa 
     Kelsang, Lhakpa Tsering, and Ringkar Ngawang.
       (16) The Chinese Government convened a conference in 
     Beijing of Tibetan Lamas who were forcibly brought to Beijing 
     in order to select a rival candidate to the child selected by 
     the Dalai Lama as the Eleventh Panchen Lama.
       (17) On November 29, 1995, Luo Gan, Secretary General of 
     the State Council, and Ye Xiaowen, Director of the Bureau of 
     Religious Affairs, orchestrated an elaborate ceremony 
     designating a 6-year old boy selected by the Chinese 
     Government as the Eleventh Panchen Lama.
     
[[Page E2446]]

       (18) On December 8, 1995, State Councilor Li Tieying 
     presided over a ceremony in Shigatze, Tibet, in which the boy 
     selected by the Chinese Government as the Eleventh Panchen 
     Lama was enthroned.
       (19) By seeking to impose its own candidate as the Eleventh 
     Panchen Lama and detaining the 6-year old boy recognized for 
     that position in accordance with Tibetan tradition, the 
     Chinese Government is inserting itself into a purely Tibetan 
     religious matter, in blatant violation of the fundamental 
     human rights of the Tibetan people.

     SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

       The Department of State should make the release of 
     individuals imprisoned or detained on religious grounds a 
     major objective of United States foreign policy with respect 
     to China, and should raise this issue in every relevant 
     bilateral and multilateral forum.

     SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING BY AGENCIES OF THE UNITED 
                   STATES FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF CERTAIN CHINESE 
                   OFFICIALS IN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AND 
                   ACTIVITIES.

       (a) Restriction.--No funds available to the Department of 
     State, the United States Information Agency, the Agency for 
     International Development, or any other agency or entity of 
     the United States Government may be obligated or expended for 
     the participation of any of the following individuals in any 
     conference, exchange program, or activity relating to 
     education, culture, training, or any other purpose, until the 
     President submits the certification described in subsection 
     (b):
       (1) The head of any of the following Chinese Government-
     created and approved organizations:
       (A) The Chinese Buddhist Association.
       (B) The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
       (C) The Chinese Catholic Religious Affairs Committee.
       (D) The Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference.
       (E) The Chinese Protestant ``Three-Self'' Patriotic 
     Movement.
       (F) The China Christian Council.
       (G) The Chinese Taoist Association.
       (H) The Chinese Islamic Association.
       (2) Any official or employee of the United Front Work 
     Department of the Chinese Government.
       (3) Luo Gan, the Secretary General of the State Council, Li 
     Tieying, State Councilor, and any other official or employee 
     of the State Council.
       (4) Ye Xiaowen, Director of Bureau of Religious Affairs, 
     and any other official or employee of the Bureau of Religious 
     Affairs of the Chinese Government.
       (5) Any military or civilian official or employee of the 
     Ministry of Public Security or the Ministry of Justice of the 
     Chinese Government.
       (b) Certification.--The certification referred to in 
     subsection (a) is a certification by the President to the 
     Congress that the following individuals have been released, 
     unconditionally, by the Chinese Government:
       (1) Pei Zhongxun (whose Korean name is Chun Chul).
       (2) Dai Guillang.
       (3) Dai Lanmei.
       (4) Geng Minuan.
       (5) Wang Xincai.
       (6) Li Tianen.
       (7) Guo Mengshan.
       (8) Jiang Huaifeng.
       (9) Xu Funian.
       (10) Wang Yao Hua.
       (11) Chen Zhuman.
       (12) Bishop Zeng Jingmu.
       (13) Father Li Jian Jin.
       (14) Father Vincent Qin Guoliang.
       (15) Pan Kunming.
       (16) Rao Yangping.
       (17) Yu Qixing.
       (18) Yu Shuishen.
       (19) Li Qingming.
       (20) Zhang Zhiqiang.
       (21) Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family.
       (22) Chatrel Rimpoche.
       (23) Champa Chung.
       (24) Gyatrol Rimpoche.
       (25) Shepa Kelsang.
       (26) Lhakpa Tsering.
       (27) Ringkar Ngawang.

                          ____________________