[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 26 (Friday, February 12, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1652-S1655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 44--RELATING TO THE CENSURE OF WILLIAM JEFFERSON 
                CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Moynihan, Mr. Chafee, 
Mr. Kohl, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. 
Daschle, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Reid, Mr. Gorton, Mr. Bryan, Mr. McConnell, Mr. 
Cleland, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. 
Lincoln, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kerrey, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Murray, 
Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Breaux, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Baucus, Mr. 
Reed, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Levin, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Robb, 
Mr. Inouye, and Mr. Akaka) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration:

                               S. Res. 44

       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United 
     States, engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a 
     subordinate employee in the White House, which was shameful, 
     reckless and indefensible;
       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United 
     States, deliberately misled and deceived the American people, 
     and people in all branches of the United States government;
       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United 
     States, gave false or misleading testimony and his actions 
     have had the effect of impeding discovery of evidence in 
     judicial proceedings;
       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton's conduct in this matter 
     is unacceptable for a President of the United States, does 
     demean the Office of the President as well as the President 
     himself, and creates disrespect for the laws of the land;
       Whereas President Clinton fully deserves censure for 
     engaging in such behavior;
       Whereas future generations of Americans must know that such 
     behavior is not only unacceptable but also bears grave 
     consequences, including loss of integrity, trust and respect;
       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton remains subject to 
     criminal actions in a court of law like any other citizen;
       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton's conduct in this matter 
     has brought shame and dishonor to himself and to the Office 
     of the President; and
       Whereas William Jefferson Clinton through his conduct in 
     this matter has violated the trust of the American people;
       Resolved
       The United States Senate does hereby censure William 
     Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, and does 
     condemn his wrongful conduct in the strongest terms; and
       The United States Senate recognizes the historic gravity of 
     this bipartisan resolution, and trusts and urges that future 
     congresses will recognize the importance of allowing this 
     bipartisan statement of censure and condemnation to remain 
     intact for all time; and
       The Senate now move on to other matters of significance to 
     our people, to reconcile differences between and within the 
     branches of government, and to work together--across party 
     lines--for the benefit of the American people.

[[Page S1653]]

SENATE RESOLUTION 45--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
        HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Mack, Mr. Feingold, 
Mr. Abraham, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Helms, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Lott, Mr. 
Inhofe, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Brownback, 
and Mr. Lugar) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

                               S. Res. 45

       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 continues to commit 
     widespread and well-documented human rights abuses in China 
     and Tibet and continues the coercive implementation of family 
     planning policies and the sale of human organs taken from 
     executed prisoners;
       Whereas such abuses stem from an intolerance of dissent and 
     fear of unrest on the part of authorities in the People's 
     Republic of China and from the absence or inadequacy of laws 
     in the People's Republic of China that protect basic 
     freedoms;
       Whereas such abuses violate internationally accepted norms 
     of conduct;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China is bound by the 
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recently signed the 
     International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but has 
     yet to take the steps necessary to make the covenant legally 
     binding;
       Whereas the President decided not to sponsor a resolution 
     criticizing the People's Republic of China at the United 
     Nations Human Rights Commission in 1998 in consideration of 
     commitments by the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to sign the International Covenant on Civil and 
     Political Rights and based on a belief that progress on human 
     rights in the People's Republic of China could be achieved 
     through other means;
       Whereas authorities in the People's Republic of China have 
     recently escalated efforts to extinguish expressions of 
     protest or criticism and have detained scores of citizens 
     associated with attempts to organize a legal democratic 
     opposition, as well as religious leaders, writers, and others 
     who petitioned the authorities to release those arbitrarily 
     arrested; and
       Whereas these efforts underscore that the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China's has not retreated from its 
     longstanding pattern of human rights abuses, despite 
     expectations to the contrary following two summit meetings 
     between President Clinton and President Jiang in which 
     assurances were made regarding improvements in the human 
     rights record of the People's Republic of China: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that at the 
     55th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 
     Geneva, Switzerland, 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.

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, today I, along with Senators 
Wellstone, Mack, and Feingold, submit a simple sense of the Senate 
resolution. This resolution urges the Administration to take the 
necessary steps to introduce and pass a resolution criticizing the 
People's Republic of China for its human rights abuses in China and 
Tibet at this year's meeting of the United Nations Human Rights 
Commission. With this resolution, we send a clear signal to the 
Administration that the U.S. must not be silent on the human rights 
abuses perpetrated by the government of the People's Republic of China.
  The U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, will 
take place in March and April this year. The Commission is the most 
valuable multilateral forum for monitoring and investigating human 
rights abuses around the world. Resolutions offered at the Commission 
both highlight human rights abuses and pressure governments to correct 
them. The U.S. has appropriately supported resolutions critical of 
China eight times in recent years.
  The Communist government of China has long committed a litany of 
human rights abuses. Thousands of political prisoners remain in prison, 
many sentenced after unfair trials, others without any trial. At least 
two hundred of these prisoners are still suffering because of their 
participation in or support of the 1989 Tiananmen Square 
demonstrations. Religious persecution runs rampant in China. People who 
dare to worship outside the aegis of officially sponsored religious 
organizations face fines, detention, arrest, imprisonment, and torture. 
Thousands of peaceful monks and nuns have been detained and tortured in 
Tibet, where the Chinese government is imposing a harsh patriotic 
education campaign. Under China's one family, one child policy, couples 
face punitive fines and loss of employment for having unapproved 
children. But it doesn't stop with monetary penalties. Local 
authorities, with or without the approval of the Communist Party cadre, 
forcibly perform abortions or sterilizations on women who are pregnant 
with their second child. Relatives are held hostage until couples 
submit to this coercion. Furthermore, prisoners are executed after 
grossly unfair trials, their organs sold on the black market. What do 
these people all have in common? They oppose the Chinese Communist 
government or its policies. Opposition bears a high price.
  What has been the Administration's response? Last year, President 
Clinton decided not to pursue a resolution critical of China at the 
U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, citing China's 
commitment to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights (ICCPR), as well as other avenues for change. In July, President 
Clinton granted the Communist government undeserved legitimacy by 
making a state visit to China. China did sign the ICCPR, a covenant 
which affirms free speech and free assembly, in October, only to turn 
around and violate its every principle.
  Since July 1998, the Communist government of China has renewed its 
crackdown on all who would dare to oppose the Communist Party. Some 100 
members of the fledgling Chinese Democracy Party (CDP) have been 
detained. Some have been released, others await trial, and the most 
unfortunate have been sentenced to long prison sentences. Three visible 
leaders of the CDP, Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin, and Wang Youncai were 
sentenced to 13, 12 and 11 years in prison, respectively, on charges of 
subversion and endangering state security, after dubious trials. In 
reality, these democracy activists exercised their legal rights under 
Chinese law to form a political party. There true crime, in the eyes of 
the Communist Party, was their love of democracy.

  But the crackdown does not end there. In fact, incidents of 
harassment and imprisonment are almost too numerous to list here. I 
will highlight a few examples. The Communist government sentenced 
businessman Lin Hai to prison for two years for providing email 
addresses to a pro-democracy internet magazine based in the U.S. Zhang 
Shanguang is in prison for ten years for providing Radio Free Asia with 
information about farmer protests in Hunan province. The government 
sentenced poet and writer, Ma Zhe, to seven years in prison on charges 
of subversion for publishing an independent literary journal. In 
addition, the Communist government has cracked down on film directors, 
artists, computer software developers, and the press, and continues to 
harass and detain religious activists. In November 1998, police 
imprisoned 70 worshipers from house churches in Henan province. The 
pattern of human rights violations is undeniable. It must be stopped.
  In light of these abuses, it is critical that the U.S. push for a 
resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Commission highlighting these 
abuses. Last year, the Administration chose not to pursue a resolution, 
despite clear signals from Congress. In this body, we passed a 
resolution similar to the one before us today by a 95 to 5 vote. We 
cannot afford to stand by idly as the Chinese Communist government 
thumbs its nose at internationally accepted norms--norns to which it 
claims to subscribe.
  There are some in the Administration who argue that a resolution 
critical of China at the Human Rights Commission is pointless because 
it is certain to fail. This very sentiment is self-fulfilling. The more 
half-hearted the Administration is in its attempts to advance such a 
resolution, the less chance it has to pass. The longer the 
Administration refrains from exercising leadership in the international 
community on this matter, the less likely it is that the resolution 
will be successful.

[[Page S1654]]

  Bringing forth a resolution at the Commission is a matter of 
principle. Success will be measured by the statements of truth that 
flow from debate at the Commission. A resolution at the Commission will 
proclaim boldly that the human rights abuses in China are an affront to 
the international community.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this bipartisan sense of the 
Senate resolution.
  I further ask unanimous consent that any statements by Senators 
Wellstone, Mack, or Feingold regarding this resolution be inserted at 
the conclusion of my remarks.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today as an original co-sponsor 
of S. Res. 45 with regard to human rights in China.
  The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the United 
States should initiate active lobbying at the United Nations Commission 
on Human Rights for a resolution condemning human rights abuses in 
China. It calls specifically for the United States to introduce and 
make all efforts necessary to pass a resolution on China and Tibet at 
the upcoming session of the Commission, which is due to begin in March 
in Geneva.
  This resolution makes a simple, clear statement of principle: The 
Senate believes that there should be a China resolution in Geneva, 
period.
  Mr. President, the Commission on Human Rights first met in 1947, 
spending its first year drafting the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights. Over the next two decades, the Commission was responsible for 
drafting an impressive body of international human rights law and set 
the global standards for human rights. In the 1990s, the Commission has 
increasingly turned its attention to assisting states in overcoming 
obstacles to securing human rights for their citizens. It has been a 
focal point for protection of human rights for vulnerable groups in 
society, and as such, the Commission serves as an ideal multilateral 
forum for a resolution and debate on China's human rights practices.
  The effort to move a resolution is particularly important this year, 
in light of the Administration's decision, contrary to the nearly 
unanimous sentiment of the Senate, not to sponsor such a resolution 
last year. Their misguided belief that progress could be achieved by 
other means was clearly not borne out by events in 1998, when, 
particularly in the last quarter, China stepped up its repression.
  As we all know, for the past few years, China's leaders have 
aggressively lobbied against efforts at the Commission earlier and more 
actively than the countries that support a resolution. Last year, 
Chinese officials basically succeeded in getting the European Union 
Foreign Ministers to drop any European cosponsorship of a resolution. 
In the past, China's vigorous efforts have resulted in a ``no action'' 
motion at the Commission, however, in 1995 a ``no action'' motion was 
defeated and a resolution almost adopted, losing by only one vote. I 
sincerely hope we will not have the same results again at this year's 
meeting.
  It is essential to have a resolution on China under the auspices of 
the Commission on Human Rights. The multilateral nature of the 
Commission makes it a very appropriate forum to debate and discuss the 
human rights situation in China. The Commission's review has led to 
proven and concrete progress on human rights in other countries, and 
the expectation is that such scrutiny could also lead to progress on 
human rights in China. Under the pressure of previous Geneva  
resolutions, China signed in 1997 the UN Covenant of Social, Economic 
and Cultural Rights and in October 1998 the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights. Neither has yet been ratified or 
implemented.

  Nearly five years after the President's decision, which I deeply 
regretted, to delink most-favored-nation status from human rights, we 
cannot forget that the human rights situation in China and Tibet 
remains abysmal. While the State Department has not yet provided its 
most recent human rights report, I have no doubt it will be as critical 
of China as the 1997 report was when it noted that ``the Government of 
China continued to commit widespread and well-documented human rights 
abuses in violation of internationally accepted norms, including 
extrajudicial killings, the use of torture, arbitrary arrest and 
detention, forced abortion and sterilization, the sale of organs from 
executed prisoners, and tight control over the exercise of the rights 
of freedom of speech, press, and religion.''
  According to testimony to Congress by Amnesty International, the 
human rights situation in China shows no fundamental change, despite 
the recent promises from the government of China. At least 2,000 people 
remain in prison for counter-revolutionary crimes that are no longer 
even on the books in China. At least 200 individuals detained or 
arrested for Tiananmen Square activities nearly a decade ago are also 
still in prison. By China's own statistics, there are nearly a quarter 
of a million people imprisoned under the ``re-education through labor'' 
system. One of these, Yang Qinheng, received a three year term in March 
after he was arrested for reading an open letter on Radio Free Asia 
citing workers' right to unionize.
  The litany of specific violations of human rights also has continued 
unabated in the last several months. Attempts to register the fledgling 
opposition China Democratic Party resulted in at least six arrests of 
opposition political leaders. In December, Wang Youcai, a student 
leader during Tiananmen Square protests, Xu Wenli, and Qin Yongmin were 
each sentenced to over 10 years in prison allegedly for ``attempting to 
overthrow state power'' because of their roles in the Democratic Party.
  China took great strides to keep overseas dissidents out of China. In 
April, less than an hour after her arrival at her parents home, Li 
Xiaorong, a research scholar at University of Maryland, who was 
traveling on a US passport with a valid visa, was taken into custody. 
Her crime, according to police, was that her work in the US on behalf 
of human rights in China was unacceptable. Similarly, in October, Shi 
Binhai, a journalist at the state-run China Economic Times and co-
editor of a book on political reform was indicted for collusion with 
overseas dissident organizations. As recently as February 4, Wang Ce 
was sentenced to four years in prison for illegally reentering China 
and providing financial support to the banned Democratic Party.
  Demonstrating that the range of potential crimes has moved into the 
computer era, this year in late January, Lin Hai received the 
distinction of being sentenced to two years in prison for providing e-
mail addresses to an Internet pro-democracy magazine. These are but a 
few of the many detentions, arrests, and assignments to  forced labor 
that befell individuals for expressing their views since the 
President's human rights dialogue at the June 1998 summit in Beijing.

  Mr. President, the situation is just as bad in Tibet, where, 
according to Human Rights Watch, at least ten prisoners reportedly died 
following two protests in a prison in the Tibetan capital in May. In 
the weeks following, scores of prisoners were interrogated, beaten and 
placed in solitary confinement. Other deaths in prison reportedly 
occurred in June, with Chinese authorities claiming that many were 
suicides. Further, during the 1998, Chinese officials continued the 
``patriotic education campaign''' designed to force Tibetans, 
especially Buddist monks and nuns, to denounce the Dalai Lama and to 
attest that Tibet has always been a part of China. As a result of the 
campaign, authorities reported that 76 percent of Tibetan monasteries 
and nunneries had been ``rectified''.
  In a December speech Secretary Albright said, ``As we look ahead to 
the new century, we can expect that, perhaps, the greatest test of 
democracy, human rights and the rule of law will be in China.'' If the 
Administration believes this, perhaps it should use the time left in 
this century to take positive steps to encourage international 
condemnation of China's human rights practices.
  In January, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights 
and Labor, Harold Koh held a bilateral human rights dialogue with the 
Chinese, the first such discussions in four years, and notified them of 
the possibility that the United States would sponsor a resolution in 
Geneva. In testimony to Congress following these discussions, he 
further promised that

[[Page S1655]]

``The Administration supports the Geneva process, and intends to 
participate vigorously in this year's Commission activities.'' I was 
encouraged to hear these words and I hope they will translate into 
determination by the Administration actively to pursue this issue, in 
this forum, this year.
  I urge the Administration to make a decision to sponsor a resolution 
and to begin high level lobbying of governments around the world to 
support a resolution before Secretary of State Albright travels to 
Beijing on March 1 and 2.
  Mr. President, the situation in China indeed remains troubling. The 
United States has a moral responsibility to take the lead in sponsoring 
and pushing for a resolution at the United Nations Commission on Human 
Rights. I believe that there is a strong bipartisan consensus in the 
Foreign Relations Committee--and I predict on the floor--that we must 
send a message to China and that this is the appropriate time and place 
in which to do it.
  I strongly commend my friends, the Senator from Arkansas and the 
Senator from Minnesota, for their leadership on this terribly important 
issue.

                          ____________________