[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11257-S11258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CHINA

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I also rise today, as did the Senator 
from Minnesota, to discuss the visit of the President of the People's 
Republic of China, Mr. Jiang Zemin, who arrives in Washington tonight 
for a state visit.
  That Mr. Jiang and President Clinton will meet is not in itself 
extraordinary. The promotion of dialog between the United States and 
China can be a constructive use of our own diplomatic energies. Indeed, 
President Clinton has already met Mr. Jiang several times at various 
international fora.
  What strikes me is the kind of visit that is about to take place. It 
is a state visit that involves champagne toasts and 21-gun salutes--all 
the trappings of honor and prestige. While I do not oppose high-level 
contact, I feel strongly that the pomp and ceremony of a state visit is 
inappropriate at a time when the human rights situation in China and in 
Tibet remains such a serious obstacle to good relations.
  Simply put, it is my view that an official state visit is premature, 
absent a stronger commitment from China to improve human rights. I fear 
that this state visit will actually boost the legitimacy of a regime 
that brutalizes its own people and jails anyone who dares to complain.
  In other words, Mr. President, while dialog is important, you don't 
need champagne toasts and red carpets to have a dialog.
  Is the memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre so distant that we are 
willing to clink glasses with China's leaders as though nothing 
happened in Tiananmen Square? For me, the answer is no. When Jiang is 
given a 21-gun salute tomorrow, the South Lawn will sound much like the 
streets of Beijing did on the night of June 4, 1989.
  By agreeing to this state visit without receiving any kind of 
concession in the area of human rights, the administration may be 
squandering perhaps its strongest source of leverage with Beijing. 
Nevertheless, if the administration insists on hosting Jiang Zemin 
right now, the least that can be done is to accord discussion of human 
rights the same priority as the myriad other issues that confront our 
bilateral relations with China. Unfortunately, I don't think that is 
going to be the case.
  As we all know, there are many areas of disagreement between the 
United States and China, aside from human rights. The United States' 
trade deficit with China will likely reach $50 billion this year. China 
has a long and well-known record of assisting the nuclear programs of 
Iran and Pakistan and, as always, the sensitive issue of Taiwan remains 
a trouble spot.
  Arguably, there are some positive signs. China has agreed to make 
significant cuts in tariffs as a part of its bid to join the World 
Trade Organization, and Beijing has promised to tighten controls on 
nuclear exports. It is widely reported that an agreement to restart 
United States-China cooperation on nuclear power will be the 
centerpiece of the summit.
  Mr. President, on human rights there are few, if any, positive signs. 
Despite China's announcement on Saturday that it will sign the United 
Nations' Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, I see no 
evidence of real human rights improvement on the ground. The fact that 
human rights conditions in China are growing worse, not better, 
indicates that human rights needs to be given top priority.
  Three years after the President's decision to delink most-favored-
nation status from human rights, a decision that I have always said was 
a mistake, we have seen the reimprisonment of dissidents and increased 
repression in Tibet. The State Department human rights report makes 
this very clear. According to the report covering the calendar year 
1996:

       The Government continued to commit widespread and well-
     documented human rights abuses, in violation of 
     internationally accepted norms, stemming from the 
     authorities' intolerance of dissent, fear of unrest,

[[Page S11258]]

     and the absence or inadequacy of laws protecting basic 
     freedoms . . . Abuses included torture, and mistreatment of 
     prisoners, forced confessions, and arbitrary and lengthy 
     incommunicado detention. Prison conditions remained harsh. 
     The Government continued severe restrictions on freedom of 
     speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy 
     and workers rights.

  Just one year ago, we were witness to yet another example of these 
policies when Wang Dan, one of the leaders of the 1989 pro-democracy 
demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, was sentenced to 11 years in 
prison. Also last December, a Beijing court sentenced activist Li Hai 
for collecting infomation on those jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen 
massacre.
  The situation is just as bad in Tibet.
  Last year, China arrested Ngawang Choepel, a Tibetan musicologist and 
Fulbright scholar, and sentenced him to 18 years in prison on trumped-
up spy charges. China has also intensified its campaign to smear the 
Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and a Nobel 
laureate. Tibetans are not even free to display a photo of the Dalai 
Lama, much less show reverence for him. There have been numerous 
reports of Tibetan monks and nuns suffering torture at the hands of 
Chinese authorities. The State Department human rights report cites 
three recent cases of Tibetan monks who died while in jail.
  Mr. President, despite signing two formal agreements with the United 
States on prison labor, Chinese prison-labor products continue to 
appear on our shores. Tong Yi, who worked as an assistant to Chinese 
dissident Wei Jingsheng, knows the prison labor system first hand. 
Released just last year after serving a 2\1/2\-year sentence of re-
education through labor--a sentence she received, by the way, without 
the benefit of any kind of trial--Ms. Tong says she was forced to work 
endless hours making products for export.
  In the rush to reach agreements with China on WTO and proliferation, 
the United States cannot shove human rights aside. While the United 
States can and does talk tough on issues such as trade and intellectual 
property protection, we must do the same when the conversation turns to 
Tiananmen and Tibet.
  In the run-up to the summit, Mr. Jiang has given several interviews 
during which he made some disturbing comments on human rights.
  When Time magazine asked Jiang Zemin about the plight of political 
dissidents Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng, Jiang responded that Wang and 
Wei are criminals, not dissidents. Indeed, it is a crime in China to 
publicly and peacefully criticize the Government as Mr. Wang and Mr. 
Wei have done.
  Mr. Jiang is willing to dismiss questions about human rights because 
he likely thinks U.S. concerns extend to only a few high-profile 
dissidents. But, in fact, Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan are merely symbols 
of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the People's Republic 
of China who are thrown into prison cells for demanding democracy, 
organizing prayer meetings, or for simply displaying loyalty to the 
Dalai Lama. These people might not be as famous and Mr. Wang and Mr. 
Wei, but they show the same type of courage, and they are every bit as 
important.
  Mr. President, there are three key messages on human rights that 
Jiang Zemin must hear loud and clear while he is in Washington.
  First, Jiang Zemin must realize that people who care about conditions 
in China seek more than the release of a token dissident or two. China 
likes to play a game where people like Wei Jingsheng are used as 
bargaining chips in the PRC's effort to curry favor with the 
international community at key moments. We saw this in 1993, when China 
tried to win a bid to host the year 2000 Olympic Games. Just a week 
before the International Olympic Committee was to vote on the matter, 
China released Wei Jingsheng. As we all know, Beijing lost the bid and, 
a few months later, Wei Jingsheng was back in prison, on charges of 
subversion.
  We saw this again in 1995 when China suddenly decided to release 
Chinese-American human rights activist Harry Wu shortly before the 
First Lady was to arrive to address the U.N. women's conference.
  But, the United States should not get caught in this cynical game.
  For there to be true friendship between the United States and China, 
China must implement across-the-board and institutional changes such as 
strengthening the rule of law and allowing citizens to question 
government policy without fear. Jiang Zemin and other Chinese leaders 
must realize that United States-China relations will never reach their 
full potential so long as hundreds, if not thousands, of dissidents 
languish behind bars; so long as Tibetan Buddhists are subject to 
arrest and torture; and so long as citizens are not free to select 
their rulers.
  Second, the United States must make clear to Jiang Zemin that the 
United States will not allow China to redefine the concept of ``human 
rights'' in a way that makes the term meaningless.
  China's leaders have stated numerous times that the Peoples Republic 
of China is committed to upholding the 1948 Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. This document affirms the right of every human being to 
enjoy freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom of 
peaceful assembly. There is no special exception for China or any other 
country, nor should there be.
  Furthermore, article 35 of China's own Constitution states that 
``Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, 
of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of 
demonstration.''
  China's late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping was found of saying 
``seek truth from facts.'' Well, the fact is that China denies its 
citizens the very rights that the Government has vowed to protect.
  I would like to ask Mr. Jiang if his government ever intends to grant 
its citizens the rights that, according to his country's own 
Constitution, Chinese citizens should already enjoy. Or will China's 
article 35 remain a meaningless provision, subject to endless caveats 
about the need for state security, social stability, and the rights of 
the collective? Will China continue to say it upholds the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights, even though it systematically violates so 
many of the declaration's principles?
  If the United States can demand that China fulfill its obligations 
under the international arms control regime, then the United States 
should be able to demand just as strongly that Beijing keep its 
obligations under international human rights agreements.
  Third, Jiang Zemin should know that those of us--in the United States 
and around the world--who demand improvements in human rights are not 
trying to impose American or Western values on China, nor are we 
demanding that China be perfect according to some kind of American 
ideal. That would not be appropriate.
  China does often point to many flaws in American society: The high 
crime rate and the lingering problems of poverty and drugs. China's 
official media often refers to the United States political system as a 
``money bags democracy.'' Indeed, proponents of campaign finance 
reform, like myself, find some validity in that Chinese assessment.
  But what Chinese leaders do not seem to understand is that being open 
about your problems is a sign of strength, not weakness. China lacks 
even the ability to acknowledge its severe human rights problem. Those 
of us that wish to promote human rights improvements want to encourage 
China to establish the tools--a free press, open debate, and respect 
for political and religious minorities--that will ultimately make China 
a stronger society and nation.
  Mr. President, protecting human rights, respecting free speech, and 
tolerating dissent will bestow more legitimacy on China than any summit 
or White House photo-op could ever do.
  This is what Jiang Zemin needs to hear.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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