[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 78 (Thursday, May 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6445-S6447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of 
S. Res. 103 and the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 103) concerning the tenth anniversary 
     of the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, in the 
     People's Republic of China.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.


                           Amendment No. 537

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) proposes and 
     amendment numbered 537:


                           amendment no. 537

                  (Purpose: To improve the resolution)

       On page 3, strike line 15 and all that follows through page 
     4, line 5.
       On page 4, line 6, strike ``(C)'' and insert ``(A)''.
       On page 4, line 14, strike ``(D)'' and insert ``(B)''.
       On page 4, line 19, strike ``(E)'' and insert ``(C)''.

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I rise today in support of S. Res. 
103, a resolution concerning the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen 
Square Massacre on June 4, 1999. This bipartisan resolution expresses 
sympathy for the families of those killed in the Tiananmen protests, 
and calls on the government of China to live up to international 
standards by releasing prisoners of conscience, ending harassment of 
Chinese citizens, and ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights.
  Mr. President, we must never forget. For the past ten years, the 
Tiananmen Square massacre has been a dark cloud hanging over China. 
Hundreds of democracy activists still languish in prison for their 
involvement in the demonstrations of 1989. We must not forget because 
to this very day, the U.S. is dealing with a regime that will not 
release these prisoners of conscience.
  The Beijing protests began in April 1989 as a call for the government 
to explain itself--to explain its 1987 dismissal of Hu Yaobang, 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. Their demands eventually 
came to include freedom of the press, more money for education, and 
democratic reforms. Students of Beijing University and 40 other 
universities, as well as Beijing residents, protested in and around 
Tiananmen Square. They held hunger strikes and defied martial law. They 
were met with brutal repression.
  Mr. President, we must never forget that heroic young man who stood 
in the path of a column of PLA tanks.
  We must never forget the brave men like Wang Dan who spent years in 
prison for daring to exercise his inalienable right to self-expression.

[[Page S6446]]

  We must never forget those students who were so inspired by our own 
experiment in self-government that they erected a 37 foot model of our 
statue of liberty.
  We must never forget those who still languish in prison in China 
today for their democratic aspirations, for their religious 
convictions, for their desire to be free.
  We must never forget men like Wang Wenjiang and Wang Zechen, members 
of the Chinese Democracy Party, detained for circulating a petition 
calling for a reassessment of the Tiananmen verdict. We must not forget 
prodemocracy activist, Yang Tao, who was arrested for planning a 
commemoration to mark the 10th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. We must 
not forget Jiang Qisheng, taken from his home in Beijing on May 18th 
for urging Chinese to light candles in commemoration of those killed in 
Tiananmen Square.
  According to the Wall Street Journal, over 50 dissidents have been 
detained in the days leading up to the 10th anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre, and at least fourteen are still being held.
  The Chinese government knows what is has done and it is afraid--
afraid of its own people. Otherwise, these series of arrests would not 
occur.
  This resolution asks the Chinese government to face reality, to 
listen to its people, to release prisoners of conscience.
  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. They sent convoys of tanks to Tiananmen Square 
to absolutely crush the demonstrators. Their armored vehicles rammed 
the Goddess of Democracy, a 37 foot plaster likeness of the Statue of 
Liberty, 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.
  The simple fact is that the Chinese government is a totalitarian 
regime. President Clinton would do well to recognize this simple fact 
and recognize the failures of his engagement policy, rather than simply 
decrying any criticism as isolationism. If the hundreds of prisoners of 
conscience still languishing in prison today is not telling enough of 
the character of this regime, then perhaps the Chinese reaction to the 
embassy bombing is.
  NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was a tragic 
accident. And the Chinese people had a reason to be upset. But there 
was no accident in the Chinese government's control of the media and 
manipulation of Chinese citizens to stir up anti-American sentiment. 
The Chinese government blocked reports of President Clinton's repeated 
apologies for the bombing. They bused students out from universities to 
orchestrated protests, pelting rocks at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, 
holding Ambassador Sasser and his staff hostage in the embassy, burning 
the American consulate in Chengdu.

  It was no accident that after several days, the Chinese government 
made sure that the protests came to an end when they were no longer 
useful for the government's purposes.
  Ethan Gutmann, a television producer living in Beijing, witnessed the 
protests.
  ``After a while, when the chanting lost its steam, the megaphone 
leader would strike up a short sing-along of the national anthem. This 
was the signal to leave, to shuffle along and give the next university 
its chance to demonstrate. The cycle continued, fresh waves of 
students, monotony. Several British journalists discussed the 
numbers.'' They felt it was low, about 3,000; in a kind of Chinese 
scarf trick, the same student groups kept reappearing after an hour or 
so. The students, when isolated and interviewed, were naively 
forthcoming; the university authorities had told them to come, told 
them to make banners, arranged the buses. The whole demonstration was 
canned . . .''
  It was no accident that the Chinese government played the victim, 
trying to squeeze the Administration for concessions, trying to get the 
U.S. to exclude Taiwan from any defense umbrella in Asia.
  It was no accident that the Chinese government called off its human 
rights dialogue and nonproliferation talks.
  Mr. President, the moral high ground that the Chinese regime 
attempted to seize from the accidental bombing has no equivalency to 
its own treatment of its citizens, to the massacre of the students in 
Beijing ten years ago.

  We must never forget the nature of the regime in China. The leaders 
may be different, but the treatment of Chinese citizens is the same.
  Even this week, pro-democracy activist, Yang Tao, was arrested for 
planning a commemoration to mark the 10th anniversary of Tiananmen 
Square.
  This week it was reported that police took Jiang Qisheng (chee sheng) 
from his home in Beijing on May 18 for urging Chinese to light candles 
in commemoration of those killed in Tiananmen Square.
  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 thank the Senator from Arkansas again 
for his leadership on this critical issue.
  S. Res. 103 marks the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
massacre, when a still unknown number of Chinese--some say hundreds, 
others, thousands--died at the hands of the People's Liberation Army.
  Despite the significance of this tragedy, China's leaders remain 
unwilling to re-examine the events of June 4, 1989. Indeed, they would 
like nothing more than to have Tiananmen fade from the world's memory.
  But today, the memory of Tiananmen remains vivid in our minds. In 
particular, we remember one man who defined the spirit of the day as he 
stood, with only freedom at his side, and faced down an army tank. We 
saw him then, and as we think of Tiananmen Square today, we see him 
still.
  The memory of Tiananmen refuses to fade because the human rights 
situation in China remains abysmal. According to Amnesty International 
more than 200 individuals may remain in Beijing prisons for their role 
in the 1989 demonstrations. And hundreds, if not thousands, of 
individuals continue to be detained or imprisoned for their political 
or religious beliefs.
  We face many issues with China--the recent embassy bombing, accession 
to the WTO, charges of espionage--but we can not let these issues 
silence our voices on the subject of human rights.
  China's human rights practices continue to be abhorrent, and we 
should not allow recent events to diminish our continued vigilance on 
such practices.
  It is noteworthy that the recent demonstrations in China against the 
United States are perhaps the largest since the Tiananmen Square 
protests exactly 10 years ago. 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.
  In fact, since the end of the bombing-related anti-U.S. 
demonstrations, China has resumed its crackdown on dissidents who could 
attempt to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
massacre.
  The failure to adopt a resolution condemning China's human rights 
practices at last month's UN Commission on Human Rights makes it all 
the more urgent that we continue to demand improvements in China's 
policies.
  We cannot betray the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives in 
Tiananmen Square by tacitly condoning through our silence the abuses 
that continue to this day.
  This resolution reminds the leaders in Beijing that we will not 
forget what was done 10 years ago and will not look the other way when 
they again deny the Chinese people their rights.
  Until we see genuine progress on human rights, the memory of 
Tiananmen Square will continue to haunt us.
  We must not forget. And we must never let the rulers in Beijing 
forget.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I want to speak briefly in support of 
S.

[[Page S6447]]

Res. 103, a resolution concerning the tenth anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre which occurred on June 4, 1989. This 
bipartisan resolution expresses sympathy for the families of those 
killed in the peaceful protests, calls on the Government of China to 
live up to international standards by releasing prisoners of 
conscience, ending the harassment of Chinese citizens, and calls upon 
the Chinese Government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights.
  We must never forget the heroic young man who stood in the path of a 
column of PLA tanks 10 years ago. We must never forget the brave men 
like Wang Dan, who spent years in prison for daring to exercise his 
inalienable rights to self-expression. We must never forget those 
students who were so inspired by our own experiment in self-government 
and freedom and democracy that they erected a 37-foot model of our 
Statue of Liberty. We must never forget those who still languish in 
prison in China today, simply because they have democratic aspirations, 
because they have religious convictions, because they have a desire to 
be free.
  We must never forget men like Wang Wenjiang and Wang Zechen, members 
of the Chinese Democracy Party, who were detained for circulating a 
petition calling for a reassessment of the Tiananmen verdict. We must 
never forget pro democracy activist Yang Tao arrested for planning a 
commemoration tomorrow of the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
massacre. We must not forget Jiang Qisheng, who was taken from his home 
in Beijing on May 18 for urging the Chinese to light candles in 
commemoration of those killed in the massacre ten years ago. For asking 
for a peaceful memorial, the lighting of candles, he has been arrested.

  According to the Wall Street Journal today, over 50 dissidents have 
been detained in recent days leading up to the tenth anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre, and at least 14 are currently being held. 
The Chinese government knows what it has done. It is afraid of its own 
people. Otherwise, these series of arrests would not have occurred. 
This resolution asks the Chinese government to face reality, listen to 
its people, and to release prisoners of conscience.
  Mr. President, I am just afraid that in the midst of all of our talk 
of the espionage of the Chinese government--which well we should pay 
attention to--with all of the talk of the unfortunate, tragic bombing 
of the Chinese embassy, with all of the talk about accession of China 
to the WTO and a permanent normal trading status for China, we will 
forget that there are tens of thousands today who are oppressed, and 
hundreds remain in prison, and there are multitudes who desire freedom 
and want a better political system for their country, who want 
democracy, and I am afraid they will be forgotten in all of the milieu 
concerning our relationship with China.
  So this resolution calls upon us to remember. And I will--if no one 
else does--offer this resolution year after year. It is a special 
anniversary. It is the tenth anniversary of the tragedy that occurred.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
amendment be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the 
preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and finally, that any additional statements appear at this point 
in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 103), as amended, was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:
       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 
     reported 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) 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;
       (B) 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
       (C) 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.

                          ____________________