[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11252-S11253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      UNITED STATES-CHINA SUPPORT

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to address the direction of our 
country's relationship with China. Right now, the Clinton 
administration is busy with the state visit of Chinese President Jiang 
Zemin. A state visit is the highest, most formal diplomatic event 
hosted by the United States. The champagne will flow, and flattering 
toasts will be made.
  I disagree with this red carpet treatment, Mr. President. There is no 
question that United States-Chinese relations are crucial and important 
for both countries. It is wrong, however, for the United States to host 
a state visit for President Jiang Zemin until we see significant 
progress made on human rights in China. Instead of a ceremonial visit, 
we should be holding a working visit with the Chinese leadership, 
focusing on the critical issues that exist between our two nation, like 
human rights, weapons proliferation, and trade.
  China continues to wage a war against individual freedoms and human 
rights. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of dissidents and advocates of 
political reform were detained just last year. They included human 
rights and pro-democracy activists, and members of religious groups. 
Many have been sentenced to long prison terms where they have been 
beaten, tortured, and denied medical care.
  Scores of Roman Catholics and Protestants were arrested. A crack-down 
in Tibet was carried out during the ``Strike Hard'' campaign. 
Authorities ordered the closure of monasteries in Tibet and banned the 
Dalai Lama's image. At one monastery which was closed, over 90 monks 
and novices were detained or disappeared.
  Harry Wu, a man of extraordinary courage and character, has 
documented China's extensive forced labor system. His research has 
identified more than 1,100 labor camps across China, many of which 
produce products for export to dozens of countries around the world, 
including the United States.
  Because he criticized his government, Harry Wu was also imprisoned in 
these camps. For 19 years in 12 different forced labor camps across 
China, Harry was forced to mine coal, manufacture chemicals, and build 
roads. He survived beatings, torture, and starvation. He witnessed the 
death of many of his fellow prisoners from brutality, disease, 
starvation, and suicide.
  According to Amnesty International, throughout China, mass summary 
executions continue to be carried out. At least 6,000 death sentences 
and 3,500 executions were officially recorded last year. The real 
figures are believed to be much higher.
  Our own State Department reported that in 1996: ``All public dissent 
against the party and government was effectively silenced by 
intimidation, exile, the imposition of prison terms, administration 
detention, or house arrest. No dissidents were known to be active at 
year's end.''
  Mr. President, that is a chilling, deeply disturbing statement. It 
cuts to the core values of our Nation. And it was made by our own 
Government, and this administration. Yet, this week, the administration 
will welcome President Jiang with pomp and circumstance. These actions 
indicate that, where China is concerned, what we have is not a policy 
of constructive engagement, but one of unconditional engagement.
  Let us put some names and human faces to the statistics and 
generalities we have all heard with regards to China.
  In May 1996, Wang Hui was detained. She was the wife of a jailed 
labor activist. While detained, she was denied water and other liquids. 
She tried to kill herself by hanging. According to Human Rights Watch, 
after being cut down by police, she was punished with severe beating.
  Ngawang Choephel is a Fulbright Scholar from Middlebury College. He 
studied music, and returned to his homeland to document the ancient 
music and culture of Tibet. It is disappearing under the heel of the 
Chinese Government. As a result of his work, he was convicted in 
February, and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for espionage. His 
crime--sending videotapes of ethnic Tibetan music and dancing out of 
China.
  Last year, Wang Dan was sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of 
conspiring to subvert the Chinese Government. Prior to sentencing, Wang 
had already been held 17 months in incommunicado detention. His crime: 
He was a leader of the Tiananmen movement.
  Two years ago, Beijing sentenced Wei Jingsheng to 14 more years of 
incarceration for the crime of peacefully advocating democracy and 
political reform. Wei had been arrested and sentenced after he wrote 
wall posters on the Democracy Wall outside Beijing. They argued for 
true democracy and denounced Deng Xiaoping.
  I have read Mr. Wei's work and his letter from prison. I can't tell 
you how impressed and moved I was by them. As a political scientist, I 
seldom, if ever, have read such an eloquent and intelligent espousal of 
democracy and human rights. Making the letters all the more remarkable 
is the fact that they were written while Wei was in prison or labor 
camps, mostly in solitary confinement. He has been jailed for all but 6 
months of the last 18 years.
  Wei Jingshen is not only China's most prominent dissident and 
prisoner of conscience, but ranks with the greatest fighters for 
democracy and human rights of this century. He brings to mind Martin 
Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and, of course, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I 
was honored to join many of my colleagues in nominating Wei for the 
Nobel Peace Prize.
  Last week, Mr. Wei's sister came to the United States to tell the 
administration that he is dying in jail, and that this summit may be 
his last chance of emerging from detention alive. It is urgent that the 
Chinese Government release Wei and that he be given the medical care 
that he desperately needs, but has been denied.
  By agreeing to this state visit without any significant concessions 
on human rights, like the release of Wei Jingsheng, the Clinton 
administration squandered its strongest source of leverage with 
Beijing.
  This is not to say that all dialog between the United States and 
China or that working level visits are wrong. Instead, I believe that 
the symbolism of a state level visit is inappropriate given our strong 
disagreement with China over its human rights record. That is why I 
cosponsored a resolution with Senators Feingold and Helms to urge the 
President to downgrade this event from a state visit to working visit.
  The Chinese have said they do not welcome American advice on what 
they view as a ``purely internal affair.'' Welcome or not, President 
Clinton must insist that China's leaders take specific actions on human 
rights.
  Indeed, I believe strongly that the administration has a moral duty 
to press a range of issues with the Chinese Government that it may not 
welcome, but that are of enormous important to the Chinese people, and 
the United States.
  Specifically, I call on President Clinton to demand:
  The immediate and unconditional release of Wei Jingsheng, Wang Dan, 
and other prisoners of conscience held in jails in China and Tibet.
  Improvement in the conditions under which political, religious, and 
labor dissidents are detained in China and Tibet. This includes 
providing prisoners with adequate medical care and

[[Page S11253]]

allowing international humanitarian agencies access to detention 
facilities.
  Significant progress in improving the overall human rights conditions 
in China and Tibet. The Chinese Government must take concrete steps to 
increase freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of 
association, in order to comply with the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, which it signed in 1948.
  Some say that we cannot influence what goes on in China, that the 
country is too proud, too large, and that changes take too long. I 
disagree. For years we have pressured the Chinese on human rights, and 
to let up now is tantamount to defeat for the cause of human justice. 
Dissidents who have been freed and come to the United States have 
thanked advocates for keeping them alive, by keeping the pressure on, 
and focusing attention on their plight.
  As Americans, it is our duty and in our interest to make the extra 
effort required to promote freedom and democracy in China, and to bring 
it into compliance with international standards on human rights.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________