[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE EIGHTH ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THE TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE

 Mr. MACK. Mr. President, on June 4, 1989, the People's 
Republic of China perpetrated a bloody massacre against her own people. 
Thousands of freedom-seeking people took to the streets only to be put 
down violently by the long arm of the Chinese Government. Today, 8 
years later, what has changed with that Government to reassure us that 
such atrocities will not happen again? Not much. Those in power remain 
in power, and they express no remorse. The only significant change is 
that every major dissident in China today is imprisoned.
  Today, those same rulers in Beijing, their princeling children, and 
the military leaders of the People's Liberation Army strengthen 
themselves through operating commercial activities in the United 
States. We allow a regime willing to use violence against its own 
people, surely capable of directing that violence outwardly, to develop 
and strengthen through profits obtained in the United States. This is 
intolerable and must be stopped.
  On the occasion of the eighth annual remembrance of the Tiananmen 
Square massacre, I call upon the President and Congress to work 
together to address this gross error in U.S. policy which threatens 
even our own national security. This must be an essential element of a 
new China policy which creates effective ways to address U.S. trade, 
human rights, and security concerns.
  We have the opportunity of the 1997 MFN debate to address our 
concerns with, and even support for, China. We must use this 
opportunity to engage in an earnest debate over the proper form of 
engagement. We should not accept the simple refrain, engagement is 
better than containment as a substitute for a substantive 
policy.

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