[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5500-S5502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 103--CONCERNING THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE OF JUNE 4, 1989, IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF 
                                 CHINA

  Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Smith 
of New Hampshire, Ms. Collins, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Abraham, Mr. 
Sessions, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Jeffords, and Mr. Brownback) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 103

        Whereas the United States was founded on the democratic 
     principle that all men and women are created equal and 
     entitled to the exercise of their basic human rights;
       Whereas freedom of expression and assembly are fundamental 
     human rights that belong to all people and are recognized as 
     such under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and 
     the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
       Whereas the death of the former General Secretary of the 
     Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, Hu 
     Yaobang, on April 15, 1989, gave rise to peaceful protests 
     throughout China calling for the establishment of a dialogue 
     with government and party leaders on democratic reforms, 
     including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the 
     elimination of corruption by government officials;
       Whereas after that date thousands of prodemocracy 
     demonstrators continued to protest peacefully in and around 
     Tiananmen Square in Beijing until June 3 and 4, 1989, when 
     Chinese authorities ordered the People's Liberation Army and 
     other security forces to use lethal force to disperse 
     demonstrators in Beijing, especially around Tiananmen Square;
       Whereas nonofficial sources, a Chinese Red Cross report 
     from June 7, 1989, and the State Department Country Reports 
     on Human Rights Practices for 1989, gave various estimates of 
     the numbers of people killed and wounded in 1989 by the 
     People's Liberation Army soldiers and other security forces, 
     but agreed that hundreds, if not thousands, were killed and 
     thousands more were wounded;
       Whereas 20,000 people nationwide suspected of taking part 
     in the democracy movement were arrested and sentenced without 
     trial to prison or reeducation through labor, and many were 
     reportedly tortured;
       Whereas human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, 
     Human Rights in China, and Amnesty International have 
     documented that hundreds of those arrested remain in prison;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues to suppress dissent by imprisoning prodemocracy 
     activists, journalists, labor union leaders, religious 
     believers, and other individuals in China and Tibet who seek 
     to express their political or religious views in a peaceful 
     manner; and
       Whereas June 4, 1999, is the tenth anniversary of the date 
     of the Tiananmen Square massacre: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed as a 
     result of their participation in the democracy protests of 
     1989 in the People's Republic of China, as well as to the 
     families of those who have been killed and to those who have 
     suffered for their efforts to keep that struggle alive during 
     the past decade;
       (2) commends all citizens of the People's Republic of China 
     who are peacefully advocating for democracy and human rights; 
     and
       (3) condemns the ongoing and egregious human rights abuses 
     by the Government of the People's Republic of China and calls 
     on that Government to--
       (A) reevaluate the official verdict on the June 4, 1989, 
     Tiananmen prodemocracy activities and order relevant 
     procuratorial organs to open formal investigations on the 
     June fourth event with the goal of bringing those responsible 
     to justice;
       (B) establish a June Fourth Investigation Committee, the 
     proceedings and findings of which should be accessible to the 
     public, to make a just and independent inquiry into all 
     matters related to June 4, 1989;
       (C) release all prisoners of conscience, including those 
     still in prison as a result of their participation in the 
     peaceful prodemocracy protests of May and June 1989, provide 
     just compensation to the families of those killed in those 
     protests, and allow those exiled on account of their 
     activities in 1989 to return and live in freedom in the 
     People's Republic of China;

[[Page S5501]]

       (D) put an immediate end to harassment, detention, and 
     imprisonment of Chinese citizens exercising their legitimate 
     rights to the freedom of expression, freedom of association, 
     and freedom of religion; and
       (E) demonstrate its willingness to respect the rights of 
     all Chinese citizens by proceeding quickly to ratify and 
     implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
     Rights which it signed on October 5, 1998.

 Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, today I, along with Senators 
Wellstone, Feingold, Bob Smith, Bunning, Collins, Kyl, Sessions, 
Grassley, Abraham, Snowe, and Jeffords, am submitting a resolution 
commemorating the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Ten 
years ago, the Chinese Communist government unleashed lethal force on 
peaceful demonstrators in Beijing. For ten years, demonstrators from 
Tiananmen have been suffering in prison.
  The resolution that I am submitting today simply calls on the 
government of the People's Republic of China to make amends. To 
reevaluate the verdict of Tiananmen Square. To release the prisoners. 
To stop harassing Chinese citizens seeking freedom. It says that if 
they are serious about being a respected member of the international 
community, then they will implement and ratify the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They will respect universal 
standards and they will respect their own citizens.
  At the moment, there is a great deal of tension between the U.S. and 
China. Chinese espionage of sensitive technology, allegations of 
illegal campaign donations, competing security interests in the Asia-
Pacific region, and disagreements over Kosovo are just a few problems--
problems that illuminate the adversarial behavior of the Chinese 
Communist government.
  Most recently, there has been a great deal of Chinese furor over the 
mistaken bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. I do not take 
lightly this egregious error and this tragic loss of life. But as 
regrettable as this mistake was, the Chinese government has been using 
this event as a catch-all refutation of the United States. It was no 
accident that the human rights dialogue and the ongoing arms talks were 
other casualties of the embassy bombing--the two areas where the 
Chinese government refuses to be responsible. It was no accident that 
the Chinese government bused demonstrators from universities to the 
U.S. embassy where they pelted rocks at American property, breaking 
windows, keeping Ambassador Sasser and his staff hostage at the 
embassy. It was no accident that the Chinese government used propaganda 
to inflame the emotions of the Chinese people.
  But Mr. President, there is no moral equivalency in the accidental 
bombing of the embassy and the Tiananmen Square massacre. I the midst 
of the high stack of issues surrounding U.S.-China relations, I hope 
that human rights does not tumble to the bottom. The well-being of the 
Chinese people, the ability to express themselves, is fundamental to 
any future relationship between the U.S. and China. That is why I am 
submitting this resolution.
  Mr. President, the Beijing protests began in April 1989 as a call for 
the government to explain itself--to explain its dismissal of an 
official who had been sympathetic to students demanding political 
reform in 1986. The demonstrators, students and workers, asked that the 
government take action against corruption. They asked for freedom for 
the independent press. They asked for democratic reforms. These 
students from Beijing University and 40 other universities, these 
Beijing residents protested in and around Tiananmen Square. They held 
hunger strikes. They defied martial law. They were met with brutal 
repression.
  On May 30, after almost a month of student demonstrations in support 
of increased democratization in the Peoples Republic of China, the 
protest leaders erected a symbol of their growing movement--a symbol to 
be a ``powerful cementing force to strengthen our resolve'' and to 
``declare to the world that the great awakening of the Chinese people 
to democratic ideas has reached a new stage.'' The symbol these 
students chose was the Goddess of Democracy--a thirty-seven foot high 
monument of foam and plaster with a striking resemblance to the Statute 
of Liberty. This symbol of democracy gave those thousands of onlookers 
a hope for a future free of communism.
  But on June 3, 1989, police officers attacked students with tear gas, 
rubber bullets, and electric truncheons. People's Liberation Army (PLA) 
officers armed with AK-47s opened fire on the innocent people who would 
dare stand in their way. But that was not enough for the government. 
They sent convoys of tanks to Tiananmen Square to absolutely crush the 
demonstrators. Their armored vehicles rammed the Goddess of Democracy, 
knocking it down, flattening it beneath their steel treads. They killed 
a symbol of democracy and massacred their own people. On June 4, the 
PLA and security forces killed 1,500 and wounded 10,000. By June 7, the 
Chinese Red Cross reported 2,600 people aspiring to democracy dead, In 
the end, the Chinese government killed and wounded thousands of 
demonstrators. They imprisoned thousands more for their participation.
  But the nightmare did not end there. For the hundreds that remain in 
prison, for their families, each passing day is a living horror. This 
ten year terror must stop. The resolution that we are introducing today 
simply calls on the government of the People's Republic of China to do 
what is right--to do what is consistent with their constitution and 
international standards. It is a message to those fighting for 
democracy--we will not forget the massacre of pro-democracy 
demonstrators by police and PLA forces on June 3 and 4. We will not 
forget the suffering of those who saw their friends die for freedom. We 
will not forget that with each passing day, hundreds of prisoners still 
languish in prison simply because they desire freedom in China.
  Mr. President, I believe that it is time to move to a post-Tiananmen 
era. But this cannot happen without the release of Tiananmen Square 
prisoners. And it will not happen until we shed the scales of the 
Clinton Administrations' blind China policy and open our eyes.
  Let me suggest four tenets for an open-eye China policy. First, we 
must re-engage our allies. Our relationship with China has come at the 
expense of our relationships with Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. We 
need to rebuild a realistic picture of security in the Asia-Pacific and 
recognize China's aggressive military aims in the region--aims that 
will only be reached at the expense of our allies.
  Second, we must protect our sensitive technology. Recent 
investigations show that we need increased security at our national 
labs and other facilities, common sense background checks, controls on 
technology transfers, and a Justice Department that does not hinder its 
own FBI's investigations. While espionage may be a fact of life, we can 
still take comprehensive measures to minimize foreign spying. Serious 
theft of nuclear and technological secrets have already increased 
China's military prowess.
  Third, we must engage the people of China, rather than the Communist 
regime. We need sustained engagement, not just one time, highly 
publicized political visits. I therefore advocate increased funding for 
Radio Free Asia, the Voice of America, democracy building programs, and 
rule of law initiatives.
  Finally, businesses must do their part and aggressively advocate 
human rights. The door for China's entry to the WTO is still open, but 
a WTO deal is not just a deal between the U.S. and China. It is also a 
deal between the U.S. government and American businesses. A WTO deal 
must include an understanding that American businesses in China must 
not be complicit with slave labor or other human rights violations. 
Instead, American businesses must be advocates for human rights, to the 
Beijing government and to the people. The simple fact is that China 
desperately wants American trade and American business. U.S. companies 
must use this leverage to advance more than profits.
  Mr. President, I urge all of my colleagues to join with me in 
supporting this bipartisan resolution--to recognize this regime for 
what it truly is and to never forget the tragedy that occurred ten 
years ago on June 3 and June 4, 1989.
 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today as an original co-
sponsor of S. Res. 103, which marks the tenth anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, in China.

[[Page S5502]]

  The resolution conveys the sense of the Senate that the United States 
expresses its sympathy for those killed at Tiananmen Square and 
commends the Chinese citizens who have continued over the last decade 
to peacefully advocate greater democracy and respect for human rights 
in China. This resolution further calls on the authorities in China to 
reevaluate the events of June 1989, establish a commission to 
investigate what happened, release those still being held in connection 
with the democratic rally, and cease current harassment and detention 
of those still seeking democratic reform. This resolution makes a 
simple, clear request, one that the Senate has made many times before--
free the Tiananmen Square democratic protesters and accept the 
legitimacy of the voices that still cry out for peaceful democratic 
reform in China.
  Mr. President, first I would like this opportunity to express my deep 
regret at the unfortunate, and unintentional, bombing of the Chinese 
Embassy in Belgrade. Regardless of my continuing concerns with some of 
China's practices, I certainly feel great sorrow that innocent 
civilians were hurt under these circumstances.
  Nevertheless, we can not, we will not, let this tragic accident, nor 
the impact it may have on our relations with China, silence our voices 
on the subject of democracy and human rights in China, or cause us to 
overlook the continuing ramifications of the events in Tiananmen Square 
ten years ago. China's human rights practices remain abhorrent, and we 
will not allow recent events to dampen our continued vigilance and 
willingness to condemn such practices. It is noteworthy that the 
demonstrations in China in reaction to the bombing are perhaps the 
largest since the Tiananmen Square protests. It is ironic that public 
protest is OK when it serves the government's interest, and not OK when 
it threatens the government's hold on power. This is an unacceptable 
double standard, and I believe we would be derelict in our duties if we 
did not keep our attention focused on the lack of freedom in China.
  As we all know, this April, under considerable pressure from the 
Congress, the United States sponsored a resolution at the United 
Nations Commission on Human Rights to condemn China's ongoing abuses of 
human rights. As in past years, China's leaders aggressively lobbied 
against efforts at the Commission earlier and more actively than the 
countries that supported the resolution. Once again, Beijing's vigorous 
efforts have resulted in a ``no action'' motion at the Commission. 
While I commend the Administration's actions this year, I question 
whether our late and halfhearted support for condemnation of China 
doomed that resolution to failure. We must not allow China to believe 
that its human rights practices are acceptable. We must remember that 
if was only under the pressure of previous Geneva resolutions that 
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. We should also not overlook the fact that neither of 
these important international documents has yet been ratified or 
implemented.
  Mr. President, while recent attention has been drawn to the Embassy 
bombing, repeated allegations of espionage and of efforts to influence 
our elections, and the negotiations for China's entrance to the WTO, 
these current concerns should not obscure our views of the ongoing 
human rights abuses that abound throughout China and Tibet. According 
to 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 a 
decade ago are also still in prison. By China's own statistics, there 
are nearly a quarter of a million Chinese people imprisoned under the 
``re-education through labor'' system. This situation demonstrates that 
China has yet to learn the lesson of Tiananmen Square--that the 
aspiration of the Chinese people for human rights and democratic reform 
will not disappear with time or repression.
  On this, the tenth anniversary of the traumatic Tiananmen Square 
massacre, we must remember the brave Chinese citizens who stood before 
the tanks and gave their lives to express their hopes for freedom. They 
breathed their last on the bloody pavement of Tiananmen, hoping that 
their sacrifice would help bring democratic reform and respect for 
human rights to their fellow countrymen. We must continue to honor 
those who made such dramatic sacrifices for their beliefs. In this 
momentous year in which China marks not only the tenth anniversary of 
Tiananmen Square, but also the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of 
the People's Republic of China, we must not choose silence on this 
issue. Only by repeating our demands for change, can we appropriately 
honor those who were willing to sacrifice all to achieve a better life 
for the people of China.
  Mr. President, I strongly commend my friends, the Senator from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) and the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. 
Wellstone) for their leadership on this important, longstanding 
issue.

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