[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 97 (Monday, July 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8565-S8567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

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             HUTCHINSON (AND WELLSTONE) AMENDMENT NO. 3128

  (Ordered to lie on the table.)
  Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself and Mr. Wellstone) submitted an amendment 
intended to be proposed by them to the bill (S. 2132) making 
appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 1999, and for other purposes; as follows:

       On page 99, between lines 17 and 18, insert the following:

                                TITLE IX

                         HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA

                 Subtitle A--Forced Abortions in China

       Sec. 9001. This subtitle may be cited as the ``Forced 
     Abortion Condemnation Act''.
       Sec. 9002. Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Forced abortion was rightly denounced as a crime 
     against humanity by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.
       (2) For over 15 years there have been frequent and credible 
     reports of forced abortion and forced sterilization in 
     connection with the population control policies of the 
     People's Republic of China. These reports indicate the 
     following:
       (A) Although it is the stated position of the politburo of 
     the Chinese Communist Party that forced abortion and forced 
     sterilization have no role in the population control program, 
     in fact the Communist Chinese Government encourages both 
     forced abortion and forced sterilization through a 
     combination of strictly enforced birth quotas and immunity 
     for local population control officials who engage in 
     coercion. Officials acknowledge that there have been 
     instances of forced abortions and sterilization, and no 
     evidence has been made available to suggest that the 
     perpetrators have been punished.
       (B) People's Republic of China population control 
     officials, in cooperation with employers and works unit 
     officials, routinely monitor women's menstrual cycles and 
     subject women who conceive without government authorization 
     to extreme psychological pressure, to harsh economic 
     sanctions, including unpayable fines and loss of employment, 
     and often to physical force.
       (C) Official sanctions for giving birth to unauthorized 
     children include fines in amounts several times larger than 
     the per capita annual incomes of residents of the

[[Page S8566]]

     People's Republic of China. In Fujian, for example, the 
     average fine is estimated to be twice a family's gross annual 
     income. Families which cannot pay the fine may be subject to 
     confiscation and destruction of their homes and personal 
     property.
       (D) Especially harsh punishments have been inflicted on 
     those whose resistance is motivated by religion. For example, 
     according to a 1995 Amnesty International report, the 
     Catholic inhabitants of 2 villages in Hebei Province were 
     subjected to population control under the slogan ``better to 
     have more graves than one more child''. Enforcement measures 
     included torture, sexual abuse, and the detention of 
     resisters' relatives as hostages.
       (E) Forced abortions in Communist China often have taken 
     place in the very late stages of pregnancy.
       (F) Since 1994 forced abortion and sterilization have been 
     used in Communist China not only to regulate the number of 
     children, but also to eliminate those who are regarded as 
     defective in accordance with the official eugenic policy 
     known as the ``Natal and Health Care Law''.
       Sec. 9003. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     the Secretary of State may not utilize any funds appropriated 
     or otherwise available for the Department of State for fiscal 
     year 1999 to issue any visa to any national of the People's 
     Republic of China, including any official of the Communist 
     Party or the Government of the People's Republic of China and 
     its regional, local, and village authorities (except the head 
     of state, the head of government, and cabinet level 
     ministers) who the Secretary finds, based on credible 
     information, has been involved in the establishment or 
     enforcement of population control policies resulting in a 
     woman being forced to undergo an abortion against her free 
     choice, or resulting in a man or woman being forced to 
     undergo sterilization against his or her free choice.
       (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Attorney General may not utilize any funds appropriated or 
     otherwise available for the Department of Justice for fiscal 
     year 1999 to admit to the United States any national covered 
     by subsection (a).
       (c) The President may waive the prohibition in subsection 
     (a) or (b) with respect to a national of the People's 
     Republic of China if the President--
       (1) determines that it is in the national interest of the 
     United States to do so; and
       (2) provides written notification to Congress containing a 
     justification for the waiver.

                Subtitle B--Freedom on Religion in China

       Sec. 9011. (a) It is the sense of Congress that the 
     President should make freedom of religion one of the major 
     objectives of United States foreign policy with respect to 
     China.
       (b) As part of this policy, the Department of State should 
     raise in every relevant bilateral and multilateral forum the 
     issue of individuals imprisoned, detained, confined, or 
     otherwise harassed by the Chinese Government on religious 
     grounds.
       (c) In its communications with the Chinese Government, the 
     Department of State should provide specific names of 
     individuals of concern and request a complete and timely 
     response from the Chinese Government regarding the 
     individuals' whereabouts and condition, the charges against 
     them, and sentence imposed.
       (d) The goal of these official communications should be the 
     expeditious release of all religious prisoners in China and 
     Tibet and the end of the Chinese Government's policy and 
     practice of harassing and repressing religious believers.
       Sec. 9012. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     no funds appropriated or otherwise made available for the 
     Department of State for fiscal year 1999 for the United 
     States Information Agency or the United States Agency for 
     International Development may be used for the purpose of 
     providing travel expenses and per diem for the participation 
     in conferences, exchanges, programs, and activities of the 
     following nationals of the People's Republic of China:
       (1) The head or political secretary of any of the following 
     Chinese Government-created or approved organizations:
       (A) The Chinese Buddhist Association.
       (B) The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
       (C) The National Congress of Catholic Representatives.
       (D) The Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference.
       (E) The Chinese Protestant ``Three Self'' Patriotic 
     Movement.
       (F) The China Christian Council.
       (G) The Chinese Taoist Association.
       (H) The Chinese Islamic Association.
       (2) Any military or civilian official or employee of the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China who carried out 
     or directed the carrying out of any of the following policies 
     or practices:
       (A) Formulating, drafting, or implementing repressive 
     religious policies.
       (B) Imprisoning, detaining, or harassing individuals on 
     religious grounds.
       (C) Promoting or participating in policies or practices 
     which hinder religious activities or the free expression of 
     religious beliefs.
       (b)(1) Each Federal agency subject to the prohibition in 
     subsection (a) shall certify in writing to the appropriate 
     congressional committees, on a quarterly basis during fiscal 
     year 1999, that it did not pay, either directly or through a 
     contractor or grantee, for travel expenses or per diem of any 
     national of the People's Republic of China described in 
     subsection (a).
       (2) Each certification under paragraph (1) shall be 
     supported by the following information:
       (A) The name of each employee of any agency of the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China whose travel 
     expenses or per diem were paid by funds of the reporting 
     agency of the United States Government.
       (B) The procedures employed by the reporting agency of the 
     United States Government to ascertain whether each individual 
     under subparagraph (A) did or did not participate in 
     activities described in subsection (a)(2).
       (C) The reporting agency's basis for concluding that each 
     individual under subparagraph (A) did not participate in such 
     activities.
       Sec. 9013. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     the Secretary of State may not utilize any funds appropriated 
     or otherwise available for the Department of State for fiscal 
     year 1999 to issue a visa to any national of the People's 
     Republic of China described in section 9012(a)(2) (except the 
     head of state, the head of government, and cabinet level 
     ministers).
       (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
     Attorney General may not utilize any funds appropriated or 
     otherwise available for the Department of Justice for fiscal 
     year 1999 to admit to the United States any national covered 
     by subsection (a).
       (c) The President may waive the prohibition in subsection 
     (a) or (b) with respect to an individual described in such 
     subsection if the President--
       (1) determines that it is vital to the national interest to 
     do so; and
       (2) provides written notification to the appropriate 
     congressional committees containing a justification for the 
     waiver.
       Sec. 9014. In this subtitle, the term ``appropriate 
     congressional committees'' means the Committee on Foreign 
     Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International 
     Relations of the House of Representatives.

         Subtitle C--Monitoring of Human Rights Abuses in China

       Sec. 9021. This subtitle may be cited as the ``Political 
     Freedom in China Act of 1998''.
       Sec. 9022. Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Congress concurs in the following conclusions of the 
     United States State Department on human rights in the 
     People's Republic of China in 1996:
       (A) The People's Republic of China is ``an authoritarian 
     state'' in which ``citizens lack the freedom to peacefully 
     express opposition to the party-led political system and the 
     right to change their national leaders or form of 
     government''.
       (B) The Government of the People's Republic of China has 
     ``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, and the absence or inadequacy of laws 
     protecting basic freedoms''.
       (C) ``[a]buses include torture and mistreatment of 
     prisoners, forced confessions, and arbitrary and 
     incommunicado detention''.
       (D) ``[p]rison conditions remained harsh [and] [t]he 
     Government continued severe restrictions on freedom of 
     speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy, 
     and worker rights''.
       (E) ``[a]lthough the Government denies that it holds 
     political prisoners, the number of persons detained or 
     serving sentences for `counterrevolutionary crimes' or 
     `crimes against the state', or for peaceful political or 
     religious activities are believed to number in the 
     thousands''.
       (F) ``[n]onapproved religious groups, including Protestant 
     and Catholic groups * * * experienced intensified 
     repression''.
       (G) ``[s]erious human rights abuses persist in minority 
     areas, including Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia[, and] 
     [c]ontrols on religion and on other fundamental freedoms in 
     these areas have also intensified''.
       (H) ``[o]verall in 1996, the authorities stepped up efforts 
     to cut off expressions of protest or criticism. All public 
     dissent against the party and government was effectively 
     silenced by intimidation, exile, the imposition of prison 
     terms, administrative detention, or house arrest. No 
     dissidents were known to be active at year's end.''.
       (2) In addition to the State Department, credible 
     independent human rights organizations have documented an 
     increase in repression in China during 1995, and effective 
     destruction of the dissident movement through the arrest and 
     sentencing of the few remaining pro-democracy and human 
     rights activists not already in prison or exile.
       (3) Among those were Li Hai, sentenced to 9 years in prison 
     on December 18, 1996, for gathering information on the 
     victims of the 1989 crackdown, which according to the court's 
     verdict constituted ``state secrets''; Liu Nianchun, an 
     independent labor organizer, sentenced to 3 years of ``re-
     education through labor'' on July 4, 1996, due to his 
     activities in connection with a petition campaign calling for 
     human rights reforms; and Ngodrup Phuntsog, a Tibetan 
     national, who was arrested in Tibet in 1987 immediately after 
     he returned from a 2-year trip to India, where the Tibetan 
     government in exile is located, and following a secret trial 
     was convicted by the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China of espionage on behalf of the ``Ministry of Security of 
     the Dalai clique''.

[[Page S8567]]

       (4) Many political prisoners are suffering from poor 
     conditions and ill-treatment leading to serious medical and 
     health problems, including--
       (A) Gao Yu, a journalist sentenced to 6 years in prison in 
     November 1994 and honored by UNESCO in May 1997, has a heart 
     condition; and
       (B) Chen Longde, a leading human rights advocate now 
     serving a 3-year reeducation through labor sentence imposed 
     without trial in August 1995, has reportedly been subject to 
     repeated beatings and electric shocks at a labor camp for 
     refusing to confess his guilt.
       (5) The People's Republic of China, as a member of the 
     United Nations, is expected to abide by the provisions of the 
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
       (6) The People's Republic of China is a party to numerous 
     international human rights conventions, including the 
     Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or 
     Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
       Sec. 9023. (a) The Secretary of State, in all official 
     meetings with the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China, should request the immediate and unconditional release 
     of Ngodrup Phuntsog and other prisoners of conscience in 
     Tibet, as well as in the People's Republic of China.
       (b) The Secretary of State should seek access for 
     international humanitarian organizations to Drapchi prison 
     and other prisons in Tibet, as well as in the People's 
     Republic of China, to ensure that prisoners are not being 
     mistreated and are receiving necessary medical treatment.
       (c) The Secretary of State, in all official meetings with 
     the Government of the People's Republic of China, should call 
     on that country to begin serious discussions with the Dalai 
     Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, on the 
     future of Tibet.
       Sec. 9024. (a) There is authorized to be appropriated for 
     fiscal year 1999, $1,100,000 for support personnel to monitor 
     political repression in the People's Republic of China in the 
     United States Embassies in Beijing and Kathmandu, as well as 
     the American consulates in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, 
     Chengdu, and Hong Kong.
       (b) Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of 
     appropriations in subsection (a) are in addition to any other 
     amounts appropriated or otherwise available in fiscal year 
     1999 for the personnel referred to in that subsection.
       Sec. 9025. (a)(1) There is authorized to be appropriated 
     for fiscal year 1999 for the National Endowment for 
     Democracy, $2,500,000 for the promotion of democracy, civil 
     society, and the development of the rule of law in China.
       (2) Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of 
     appropriations in subsection (a) are in addition to any other 
     amounts appropriated or otherwise made available in fiscal 
     year 1999 for the National Endowment for Democracy.
       (b) The Secretary of State shall, in fiscal year 1999, 
     utilize funds available in the East Asia-Pacific Regional 
     Democracy Fund to provide grants to nongovernmental 
     organizations to promote democracy, civil society, and the 
     development of the rule of law in China.
       Sec. 9026. (a) The Secretary of State shall utilize funds 
     appropriated or otherwise available for the Department of 
     State for fiscal year 1999 submit to the International 
     Relations Committee of the House of Representatives and the 
     Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, in that fiscal 
     year, a report on human rights in China, including religious 
     persecution, the development of democratic institutions, and 
     the rule of law. The report shall provide information on each 
     region of China.
       (b)(1) The Secretary of State shall utilize funds referred 
     to in subsection (a) to establish a Prisoner Information 
     Registry for China which shall provide information on all 
     political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and prisoners 
     of faith in China.
       (2) Such information shall include the charges, judicial 
     processes, administrative actions, use of forced labor, 
     incidences of torture, length of imprisonment, physical and 
     health conditions, and other matters related to the 
     incarceration of such prisoners in China.
       (3) The Secretary may make funds available to 
     nongovernmental organizations presently engaged in monitoring 
     activities regarding Chinese political prisoners to assist in 
     the creation and maintenance of the registry.
       Sec. 9027. It is the sense of Congress that Congress, the 
     President, and the Secretary of State should work with the 
     governments of other countries to establish a Commission on 
     Security and Cooperation in Asia which would be modeled after 
     the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
       Sec. 9028. It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the people of Hong Kong should continue to have the 
     right and ability to freely elect their legislative 
     representatives; and
       (2) the procedure for the conduct of the elections of the 
     first legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative 
     Region should be determined by the people of Hong Kong 
     through an election law convention, a referendum, or both.
       Sec. 9029. It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the Government of the People's Republic of China should 
     stop the practice of harvesting and transplanting organs for 
     profit from prisoners that it executes;
       (2) the Government of the People's Republic of China should 
     be strongly condemned for such organ harvesting and 
     transplanting practice;
       (3) the President should bar from entry into the United 
     States any and all officials of the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China known to be directly involved in 
     such organ harvesting and transplanting practice;
       (4) individuals determined to be participating in or 
     otherwise facilitating the sale of such organs in the United 
     States should be prosecuted to the fullest possible extent of 
     the law; and
       (5) the appropriate officials in the United States should 
     interview individuals, including doctors, who may have 
     knowledge of such organ harvesting and transplanting 
     practice.

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