[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3443-S3444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 212--RELATIVE TO THE UPCOMING UNITED STATES-CHINA
SUMMIT
Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Brownback,
and Mr. Feingold) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred
[[Page S3444]]
to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 212
Whereas Chinese dissident Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989
pro-democracy demonstrations that were crushed at Tiananmen
Square in 1989 was released on April 18, 1998, from a Chinese
jail;
Whereas Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan were released from
prison ostensibly for medical reasons, it is clear that their
release into exile was intended as a political gesture to
diminish public U.S. criticism of China's human rights
practices;
Whereas China's ``most famous dissident'' Wei Jingsheng was
released on November 16, 1997, from a Chinese jail;
Whereas, in addition to Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan,
thousands of other political, religious, and labor dissidents
are imprisoned in China and Tibet for peacefully expressing
their beliefs and exercising their internationally recognized
rights of free association and expression, including--
(1) Gao Yu, a journalist sentenced to 6 years in prison in
November 1994 and honored by UNESCO in May 1997, who has a
heart condition;
(2) Chen Longde, a leading human rights advocate now
serving a 3-year reeducation through labor sentence imposed
without trial in August 1996, who has reportedly been subject
to repeated beatings and electric shocks at a labor camp for
refusing to confess his guilt;
(3) Li Hai, sentenced to nine years in prison on December
18, 1996, for collecting information on those imprisoned
after the 1989 crackdown; he was convicted of ``prying into
and gathering . . . . information about persons sentenced for
criminal activity during the June 4, 1989, period;''
(4) Yang Qinheng, apprehended February 26, 1998, and
assigned to 3 years' ``reeducation through labor'' in March
for ``disturbing social order'', who had called for
independent trade unions;
(5) Shen Liangqing, former public prosecutor and
petitioner, who was apprehended on February 25, 1998, and
assigned to 2 years' labor on April 4, 1998, for
``unauthorized contact with foreign journalists'';
(6) Tu Guangwen, an organizer of a street protest, who was
sentenced by the Jiangxia district court on February 19,
1998, to 3 years' imprisonment after being convicted of
``gathering a crowd to disrupt orderly traffic'' during a
demonstration by laid-off workers; and
(7) Ngawang Choephel, a Tibet Fullbright scholar sentenced
to 18 years in prison by Chinese Authorities in December 1996
on charges of ``espionage;''
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China,
as detailed in successive annual reports on human rights by
the United States Department of State, routinely,
systematically, and massively violates the human rights of
its citizens, including freedom of speech, assembly, worship,
and peaceful political dissent;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
restricts the ability of religious adherents, including
Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and others, to practice
outside of state-approved religious organizations, and
detains worshipers and clergy who participate in religious
services conducted outside state-approved religious
organizations, as well as those who refuse to register with
the authorities, as required;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
routinely, systematically, and massively continues to commit
widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, including instances
of death in detention, torture, arbitrary arrest, detention
without public trial, long detention of Tibetan nationalists
for peacefully expressing their religious and political
views, and intensified controls on religion and on freedom of
speech and the press, particularly for ethnic Tibetans; and
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
engages in reprehensible, brutal, and coercive family
planning practices, including forced abortions and forced
sterilization, resulting in widespread infanticide,
particularly of female infants: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) in the upcoming, proposed summit between President
Clinton and President Jiang Zemin of China, President Clinton
should demand the immediate and unconditional release,
consistent with established international principles of human
rights, of all persons remaining imprisoned in China and
Tibet for political or religious reasons; and
(2) the President should submit a report to Congress as
soon as possible after the proposed summit in China
concerning his progress in securing the release of persons
remaining imprisoned in China and Tibet, as described in
paragraph (1); and
(3) the release of one prisoner into exile does not change
the fundamental flaws within the Chinese judicial and penal
system;
(4) the U.S. policy of granting concessions to the Chinese
government in exchange for the release of high profile
prisoners is an offense to the thousands of dissidents
remaining in prison; and
(5) the President should not offer to lift the sanctions
imposed on China after the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen
Square.
Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, yesterday's papers were replete with
stories praising the People's Republic of China for releasing Wang Dan,
a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstration at Tiananmen Square
which was crushed by China's military. This release follows, by less
than six months, the release of Wei Jingshen--arguably China's best
known human rights dissident. While these are certainly positive
developments, it is important to note that both of these releases are
tainted by the fact that neither dissident was allowed to stay in their
own country, but were instead exiled to the United States for ``medical
treatment.'' These exiles conveniently allow China to gain favor with
the United States while simultaneously allowing them to silence two of
their loudest critics by banishing them to the United States.
Mr. President, the truth is that China appears to be using its
dissidents as pawns in an international game of chess with the United
States to gain military, technological and other favors from the
Clinton Administration. In fact, the release of these two prisoners
appears to be payment for the United States decision not to support a
resolution condemning China's human rights record at the recently
completed U.N. Conference on Human Rights and for the United States
certification of China to join a pact on ballistic missile technology.
It is amazing that this great country, which has long stood beside
political prisoners around the world, is willing to be a player in
China game of siphoning out political prisoners in return for
international favors.
Let us not forget that the People's Republic of China continues to
have one of the worst human rights records in the world. A record that
includes torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and
detention, forced abortion and sterilization, crackdowns on independent
Catholic and Protestant bishops and believers, brutal oppression of
ethnic minorities and religions in Tibet and Xinjiang, absolute
intolerance of free political speech or free press, and most recently,
the harvesting and selling of human organs.
Likewise, let us not forget that China continues to threaten its
neighbors, most notably Taiwan and let us not forget that China
continues to violate international agreements on non-proliferation,
having recently been caught negotiating to sell chemicals to Iran which
could be used to produce weapons-grade uranium.
Mr. President, we must end this deadly and humiliating game with
China, and demand the immediate release of the hundreds, if not
thousands, of political, religious, and labor dissidents currently
imprisoned in China for having peacefully expressed their beliefs and
for having exercised their basic human rights. This list includes the
likes of Gao Yu, a journalist sentenced to six years in 1994; Chen
Longde, a leading human rights advocate serving a three year ``re-
education'' sentence which began in 1995; Li Qingxi, a unionist
arrested in 1998, and many, many others. While I hope that the recent
release of two of China's most notable dissidents was just the
beginning, and that the remaining political prisoners held in the
People's Republic of China will soon be released, I see little evidence
that this is the case.
Therefore, I urge my fellow Senators to support my Sense of the
Senate Resolution calling on the President to demand that China release
all such prisoners prior to their upcoming U.S.-China summit meeting,
and that the President report to this body on the progress being made
by the administration in securing the release of these prisoners
immediately following this planned summit.
Mr. President, this is a reasonable resolution--a resolution that
once again puts this body on record supporting those that would give up
their freedom in support of the freedom of their fellow countrymen. I
can think of no more important issue. I thank my Senate colleagues for
their support.
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