[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 18 (Monday, March 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1206-S1208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 187--CONCERNING THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  Mr. MACK (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Helms, Mr. Thomas, Mr. 
Feingold, Mr. Abraham, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Moynihan, and Mr. Ashcroft) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

[[Page S1207]]

                              S. Res. 187

       Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission 
     on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, provides a forum for 
     discussing human rights and expressing international support 
     for improved human rights performance;
       Whereas according to the United States Department of State 
     and international human rights organizations, the Government 
     of the People's Republic of China engages in widespread human 
     rights violations; and
       Whereas President Clinton pledged that the United States 
     would step up its efforts in cooperation with other states to 
     insist that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 
     pass a resolution dealing with the serious human rights 
     abuses in the People's Republic of China: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 
     United States should introduce and make all efforts necessary 
     to pass a resolution criticizing the People's Republic of 
     China for its human rights abuses in China and Tibet at the 
     annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human 
     Rights.

  Mr. MACK. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a resolution calling 
for the United States to introduce and make all efforts necessary to 
pass a resolution at the annual meeting of the United Nations 
Commission on Human Rights criticizing the People's Republic of China 
(PRC) for its atrocious human rights record in China and Tibet. This 
commission will meet on March 16, so I am here today with a sense of 
urgency.
  Mr. President, President Clinton reversed his position in 1993 and 
chose to de-link trade and human rights in 1993. This decision 
sacrificed important leverage in our relationship with the PRC to 
address America's human rights concerns. At the time of the President's 
decision, however, he promised the American people that he would 
strengthen his efforts to obtain an international condemnation of 
Beijing's violation of international human rights standards in China 
and Tibet. Specifically, he pledged that the United States would step 
up its efforts in cooperation with other states in insisting that the 
United Nations Commission on Human Rights pass a resolution dealing 
with the serious human rights abuses in the People's Republic of China.
  Mr. President, this Human Rights Commission meets in Geneva on March 
16, and to date, the President has not demonstrated his commitment to 
keep his pledge to the American people. It appears that no other nation 
on the Commission will initiate this resolution without U.S. support 
and leadership. It is time for the United States to provide that 
leadership--the leadership which the people of China depend upon. We 
must take action to introduce the China resolution at the Human Rights 
Commission and build international support for its passage.
  The U.N. Human Rights Commission is the only international body which 
oversees the human rights conditions of all states. Even though the 
resolution may not pass, simply the debate of human rights in China and 
Tibet at the U.N. Commission makes a difference.
  I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Wei Jingsheng in 
February. Mr. Wei is a Chinese dissident who has spent most of his life 
in Chinese prisons for his pro-democratic political writings. He was 
recently exiled from his country, and is now living in the United 
States. Unfortunately, while he considers this exile cruel, some want 
to give the government in Beijing credit for releasing Mr. Wei; they 
call this an example of ``progress.''
  Mr. President, Mr. Wei articulates clearly and convincingly our call 
to action. His words are appropriate today, and every day we come to 
work here in the Senate of the United States. In an article by Patrick 
Tyler in the New York Times on November 22, 1997, Mr. Wei states, 
``Democracy and freedom are among the loftiest ideals of humanity, and 
they are the most sacred rights of mankind. Those who already enjoy 
democracy, liberty and human rights, in particular, should not allow 
their own personal happiness to numb them into forgetting the many 
others who are still struggling against tyranny, slavery and poverty, 
and all of those who are suffering from unimaginable forms of 
oppression, exploitation and massacres.''
  Mr. President, the United States must not take our freedom for 
granted. We must take action. We must not shy away from leadership in 
the world when our leadership is so badly needed. The United States 
must sponsor and lead the international effort to condemn the human 
rights situation in China and Tibet. I hope that my colleagues will 
join me in passing this resolution calling upon the President to keep 
his promise to the American people, and insist that the United Nations 
Commission on Human Rights pass a resolution dealing with the serious 
human rights abuses in the People's Republic of China.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, my colleague, Senator Connie Mack from 
Florida, and I have submitted a resolution that deals with the upcoming 
U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in March and the position that our 
country needs to take in relation to human rights, or lack of human 
rights in China. This resolution, my understanding is, will be marked 
up tomorrow in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
  Senator Mack and I submitted a resolution urging the Clinton 
administration to make every effort to pass a resolution on China at 
the U.N. Commission on Human Rights gathering which meets this month in 
Geneva. For the past 30 years, this Commission has monitored the 
compliance of different countries with human rights standards. It has 
investigated violations in countries in all parts of the world, rich 
and poor, weak and powerful alike.
  Almost 4 years ago, the Clinton administration announced its decision 
to renew most-favored-nation status for China and laid out a new human 
rights policy toward China. At the heart of this policy was the United 
States commitment, at least in words, to step up efforts to ``insist 
that the U.N. Human Rights Commission pass a resolution dealing with 
serious human rights abuses in China.'' Since that time, the Clinton 
administration has made it clear that only significant, concrete 
improvements in the human rights conditions would justify a 
reconsideration of that commitment.
  China has failed to improve their human rights record, and, in fact, 
as we turn a blind eye to abuses, the situation appears to be 
deteriorating. China continues to wage war against individual freedoms 
and human rights. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of dissidents and 
advocates of political reform were detained just this past year. They 
included human rights and prodemocracy activists and members of 
religious groups. Many have been sentenced to long prison terms where 
they have been beaten, tortured, and denied medical care.
  Harry Wu, a man of extraordinary courage and character, has 
documented China's extensive prison-enforced labor system. 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 in 1996 alone. The real figures, 
colleagues, are believed to be much higher.
  According to the New York Times last week, with the help of Harry Wu, 
the FBI conducted an uncover investigation, which confirmed claims that 
the Chinese are selling organs from executed prisoners for transplant.
  Furthermore, repression has increased steadily. Scores of Roman 
Catholics and Protestants were arrested. Crackdowns continue in Tibet. 
Authorities ordered the closure of monasteries in Tibet and banned the 
Dalai Lama's image, and arrests of political dissidents continue. China 
continues to violently threaten the unique culture, religious, and 
linguistic identity of the Tibetan people. Taking a firm stand against 
human rights abuses in China, and around the world, is an expression of 
our solidarity with people who risk their personal safety to champion 
these principles.
  As an aside, in what travels I have been able to do around the 
world--and I wish I could do more of it, Mr. President--I do not think 
that I have ever been more moved in my life than by the courage of 
people who live in countries with repressive governments, whether they 
be left or right, and who have the courage to stand alone, and the 
courage to speak up, even when it could mean they could end up serving 
long prison sentences, or their loved ones, their wives, husbands, and 
children, can be rounded up, tortured, raped or murdered. These 
citizens throughout the world continue to have the courage to speak up 
for basic freedom. Our country ought to be there

[[Page S1208]]

supporting these courageous individuals.
  One such person is Kalsang Lhamo, a Tibetan exile living in my home 
State of Minnesota. I recently met her. She told me how her parents 
were both detained and tortured by the Chinese PLA when she was a 
child. Their crime? What was the crime of her parents? As she was 
speaking to me, Mr. President, there were tears in her eyes. She was 
crying. The crime of her parents was the possession of photographs of 
their religious leader. The crime of her parents in Tibet was the 
possession of photographs of their religious leader. After watching her 
parents starve to death in detention and her neighbors executed, she, 
too, was beaten nearly to the point of death by Chinese soldiers during 
a demonstration.
  China's release of Wei Jingsheng and its invitations to the U.N. High 
Commission for Human Rights to visit are welcome steps. A Commission 
resolution can certainly acknowledge these developments.
  Mr. President, our Government can lead the way. The resolution that 
we must pass at this Commission meeting on human rights can acknowledge 
this. But they are not in themselves enough to bring about real changes 
in the lives of the people in China and Tibet, and the human rights 
situation their remains urgent.
  Also, while we are thankful that Wei Jingsheng is out of prison and 
safely in the United States, it would be a cruel irony if his release 
were used as a justification for giving up the fight for human rights 
in China and for our Government not taking a strong position at this 
U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. First, of course, Mr. 
Wei's release does not represent systematic change. Second, he was not 
released unconditionally from his unlawful imprisonment, and he can be 
rearrested, if he ever returns to China. He can't go back to his 
country.
  Mr. President, as an aside, though I think it is relevant, my father 
fled persecution, was born in Odessa, Ukraine, but he grew up in 
Siberian Russia, and then he fled the country when he was 17 years old, 
in 1914. Then, after the revolution, he thought he would go back. Then 
his parents told him not to and the Bolsheviks took over, or the 
Communists took over, and he never saw his family again.
  My father and my mother both had advanced Parkinson's at the end of 
their lives, and so we used to spend a lot of time staying over at 
their apartment taking care of them. My father had lived in the United 
States, now, for 65 years. He had no accent at all. He spoke 10 
languages fluently, as a matter of fact. He was an amazing man. And 
yet, when I would spend the night in his room with him, all of his 
dreaming was in Russian. Talk about the child being the father of the 
man or the child being the mother of the woman, all of his dreaming was 
in Russian. And the terrible thing was that it was shouting and it was 
screaming and it was anguish. I just had to believe that the reason for 
this, which many Americans can't experience, is how traumatic it must 
be when you can never go back to your homeland. How traumatic it must 
be when you can never go back to your country, never see your mother or 
father.
  My father, at 17, was separated from his family. I am absolutely 
convinced that his mother and father and sister were murdered by 
Stalin. All correspondence ended during the Stalin years. Wei Jingsheng 
has been released, but he can never go back to China. He would be 
immediately arrested and imprisoned. That hardly represents a standard 
of human rights.
  One of the reasons I speak on the floor of the Senate about human 
rights is to honor the memory of my father. He could never go back, 
never saw his family again. And at the end of his life, his dreams, I 
think, were full of anguish, all in Russian, because of that.
  Finally, Mr. Wei has told me personally that he believes in the 
critical importance of our effort to push for a resolution at the 
session of the Commission this month. Let me repeat that for 
colleagues. It's a sort of sleepy Monday afternoon on the floor of the 
U.S. Senate. We will mark this resolution up tomorrow in committee. One 
way or another, I certainly am going to bring this out as an amendment 
and we are going to pass it with an overwhelming vote, giving direction 
to the President and direction to the administration to, at this human 
rights Commission in Geneva, be sure to pass a resolution which will 
strongly pressure China on human rights. For God's sake, if Wei 
Jingsheng--who spent, I don't know, 16 or 17 years in prison because he 
had the courage to speak up--can put to us this small request that we 
speak about this on the floor of the Senate, that we try to pass some 
resolution supporting human rights in his country, we ought to be able 
to do that. That's the least we ought to be able to do.
  For years we have pressured the Chinese on human rights, though I 
don't think with nearly as much force and commitment as we should have. 
But to let up now, as the U.N. Commission meets, would be tantamount to 
defeat for the cause of human justice. Dissidents like Wei Jingsheng, 
who have been freed and have come to the United States, have thanked 
advocates for keeping them alive by keeping the pressure on and by 
focusing attention on their plight. As Senators and as Americans, it is 
our duty and in our interest to make the extra effort to promote 
democracy in China and, for that matter, in countries throughout the 
world, and to bring China in compliance with international standards of 
human rights.
  So, I just want to say today that I am proud to introduce this 
resolution with my colleague, Senator Connie Mack from Florida. This 
will be marked up tomorrow. One way or another, I will get this to the 
floor of the Senate as an amendment. I want us to vote as a Senate. I 
want us to give direction to the administration. I want our Government 
at this U.N. Commission on Human Rights to talk about human rights and 
to have a resolution which really puts the pressure on China for all of 
us. Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we ought to at least, 
through resolutions and through amendments and through votes and 
through speaking--it is the very least we can do, to support these very 
courageous people. That is the purpose of this resolution.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to add as cosponsors to the 
resolution that I have submitted with Senator Mack, Senator Helms, 
Senator Ashcroft, Senator Thomas, Senator Abraham, Senator Boxer and 
Senator Feingold.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, those Senators will be 
added as original cosponsors.

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