[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 10, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E185-E186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E185]]



                 HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN CHINA AND TIBET

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 10, 1999

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing H. Con. Res 28, a 
resolution expressing the sense of the Congress 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.
  In a December 22, 1998 speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of 
the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Communist Party Central 
Committee, China's President and Party Secretary Jiang Zemin stated 
that China needed to ``nip those factors that undermine social 
stability in the bud, no matter where they come from.'' In the same 
speech, Jiang emphasized that, ``the Western mode of political systems 
must never be copied.'' Soon after his remarks more arrests were made 
of key dissidents.
  We should not be surprised by the arrests and lengthy prison terms 
that have been imposed. The West abandoned the tactic of any serious 
condemnation of China at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, 
or elsewhere. It has replaced criticism of or substantive action 
against Beijing's ruthless representation of human rights with so-
called bilateral dialogues on human rights. Accordingly, China's rulers 
believe that they can act with impunity.
  Early last year, the word was out that the Administration would not 
sponsor or pursue a resolution in Geneva if China signed the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Last summer, 
President Clinton traveled to China and in October its government 
signed the Covenant.
  ``The Democracy Wall'' movement in the late 1970s and the ``Hundred 
Flowers Campaign'' in the late 1950s were also periods when citizens 
were first encouraged to express their beliefs and then subsequently 
they were severely persecuted for their criticism of the Communist 
Party and their desire for democracy.
  Similarly, the period before President Clinton visited China in June 
also saw an easing of political repression by the authorities--though 
some of us were concerned that this was only a temporary change, and 
that the government would--as it has indeed--revert to form.
  When viewed as a cyclical historical process or as a method to 
preserve power, the outcome is always the same--a brutal suppression of 
the people's thirst for freedom and democracy in China. Regrettably, 
the policy of this Administration remains unchanged despite this latest 
wave of repression.
  In December, the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and 
Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China 
released a report stating that China has been stealing weapons designs 
from American nuclear laboratories and obtaining sensitive computer 
missile and satellite technologies. The Select Committee confirmed 
Pentagon and State Department findings that two American companies not 
only helped the Chinese space industry and may have helped improve the 
reliability of China's missiles.
  And yet every year billions of dollars of more goods from Chinese 
labor camps made by imprisoned democracy advocates come into our 
country and adds to our growing trade deficit with China.
  In a few months, China, flush with foreign currency reserves, will 
receive SS-N-22 ``Sunburn'' missiles that it bought from Russia. These 
missiles are designed to be able to destroy our most sophisticated 
naval ships. If in the future China blockades democratic Taiwan for 
refusing to reunify, how effective will our Seventh Fleet be?
  We question why our assistance to Russia has not been tied to the 
sale of these missiles and what has the Administration done to prevent 
the Chinese from purchasing them?
  When President Clinton was in China last year, he urged President 
Jiang to negotiate the future of Tibet with His Holiness the Dalai 
Lama. His Holiness once again publicly met Beijing's preliminary 
demands to the beginning of negotiations and stated that he only wants 
some genuine autonomy for his nation and not independence. His efforts 
were rebuffed.
  On January 11th, Administration officials met with representatives of 
the People's Republic of China for a dialogue on human rights. We were 
pleased to learn that Harold Koh, our new Assistant Secretary for Human 
Rights, strongly pressured the Beijing delegation to end its repression 
of the democracy movement in China.
  In general though, we have a pattern and failure in our China policy 
that has stretched for many years through many Administrations and has 
permitted our Nation's security to be weakened and our moral stand to 
be questioned. Hopefully, the Administration and the Congress will 
begin to confront this problem and ``nip in the bud'' this failed 
policy and those who benefit from it. Our economy and security are at 
stake. We need no stronger motivation.
  This week we received the findings of an Amnesty International Report 
that was designed to determine whether President Clinton's visit to 
China last summer to bestow a formal state visit upon the Chinese 
leadership had resulted in any significant improvement in the human 
rights situation. According to Amnesty International, ``The President 
gave the Chinese leaders a propaganda coup, and, so far, has virtually 
nothing to show for it. The fact is that, while there has been minor, 
and mostly symbolic, progress in a few areas, in most areas the 
situation has actually gotten worse in the last three months.''
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 28.

                            H. Con. Res. 28

       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     has signed two important United Nations human rights 
     treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
     Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, 
     and Cultural Rights;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     recognizes the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human 
     Rights, which calls for the protection of the rights of 
     freedom of association, press, assembly, religion, and other 
     fundamental rights and freedoms;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     demonstrates a pattern of continuous, serious, and widespread 
     violations of internationally recognized human rights 
     standards, including violations of the rights described in 
     the preceding clause and the following:
       (1) restricting nongovernmental political and social 
     organizations;
       (2) cracking down on film directors, computer software 
     developers, artists, and the press, including threats of life 
     prison terms;
       (3) sentencing poet and writer, Ma Zhe, to seven years in 
     prison on charges of subversion for publishing an independent 
     literary journal;
       (4) sentencing three pro-democracy activists, Xu Wenli, 
     Wang Youcai, and Qing Yongmin, to long prison sentences in 
     December 1998 for trying to organize an alternative political 
     party committed to democracy and respect for human rights;
       (5) sentencing Zhang Shanguang to prison for ten years for 
     giving Radio Free Asia information about farmer protests in 
     Hunan province;
       (6) putting on trial businessman Lin Hai for providing e-
     mail addresses to a pro-democracy Internet magazine based in 
     the United States;
       (7) arresting, harassing, and torturing members of the 
     religious community who worship outside of official Chinese 
     churches;
       (8) refusing the United Nations High Commissioner on Human 
     Rights access to the Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nyima;
       (9) continuing to engage in coercive family planning 
     practices, including forced abortion and forced 
     sterilization; and
       (10) operating a system of prisons and other detention 
     centers in which gross human rights violations, including 
     torture, slave labor, and the commercial harvesting of human 
     organs from executed prisoners, continue to occur;
       Whereas repression in Tibet has increased steadily, 
     resulting in heightened control on religious activity, a 
     denunciation campaign against the Dalai Lama unprecedented 
     since the Cultural Revolution, an increase in political 
     arrests, and suppression of peaceful protests, and the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China refuses direct 
     dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives on a 
     negotiated solution for Tibet;
       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 performance;
       Whereas during his July 1998 visit to the People's Republic 
     of China, President Clinton correctly affirmed the necessity 
     of addressing human rights in United States-China relations; 
     and

[[Page E186]]

       Whereas the United States did not sponsor a resolution on 
     China's human rights record at the 1998 session of the United 
     Nations Commission on Human Rights: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring, That it is the sense of the Congress that the 
     United States--
       (1) 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; and
       (2) should immediately contact other governments to urge 
     them to cosponsor and support such a resolution.

     

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