[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E921-E922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A MAN OF COURAGE, AN INSPIRATION FOR MANKIND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 14, 1997

  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I wish to take a moment today to remind my 
colleagues of the heroic struggle being waged by Wei Jingsheng
  Wei has spent all but one of the past 18 years in Chinese prisons, 
jailed for the crime of advocating political democracy. Released 
briefly in 1993, as China sought to tidy up its public image in an 
effort to win the 2000 Olympic Games for Beijing, Wei was rearrested in 
1994, only days after meeting with the United States Assistant 
Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and sentenced 
to 14 additional years in prison. Today, he languishes in jail while 
his health deteriorates. His requests for urgent medical attention have 
gone unanswered.

[[Page E922]]

  Mr. Speaker, I am a friend of China. I support the Clinton 
administration's policy of engagement with China. I believed that 
American interests are best served by a policy that seeks to draw China 
into the international community.
  But, Mr. Speaker, even those of us who advocate friendly ties with 
China are deeply offended by China's treatment of its own citizens. And 
in this respect unfortunately, Wei Jingsheng is only one of many 
Chinese who have been imprisoned unjustly.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish today to join my colleagues who have asked the 
Chinese leaders to release Wei Jingsheng. To halt their campaign of 
repression against their own people. To respect the promises of their 
own laws and constitution. And to live up to the glory of their 
country's past by joining the rest of the civilized world in 
recognizing that a nation's true greatness is measured by how that 
nation's government treats its dissenters.

                          ____________________