[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 52 (Tuesday, May 2, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3269-S3270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S 
    REPUBLIC OF CHINA SHOULD IMMEDIATELY RELEASE RABIYA KADEER, HER 
                         SECRETARY, AND HER SON

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 514, S. Con. 
Res. 81.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the concurrent 
resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 81) expressing the 
     sense of the Congress that the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China should immediately release Rabiya Kadeer, 
     her secretary, and her son, and permit them to move to the 
     United States if they so desire.


[[Page S3270]]


  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the amendments to the preamble be agreed to, 
and the preamble, as amended, be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and any statements relating to this resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 81) was agreed to.
  The amendments to the preamble were agreed to.
  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, as amended, reads as 
follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 81

       Whereas Rabiya Kadeer, a prominent ethnic Uighur from the 
     Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People's 
     Republic of China, her secretary, and her son were arrested 
     on August 11, 1999, in the city of Urumqi;
       Whereas Rabiya Kadeer's arrest occurred outside the Yindu 
     Hotel in Urumqi as she was attempting to meet a group of 
     congressional staff staying at the Yindu Hotel as part of an 
     official visit to China organized under the auspices of the 
     Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program of the 
     United States Information Agency;
       Whereas Rabiya Kadeer's husband Sidik Rouzi, who has lived 
     in the United States since 1996 and works for Radio Free 
     Asia, has been critical of the policies of the People's 
     Republic of China toward Uighurs in Xinjiang;
       Whereas Rabiya Kadeer was sentenced on March 10 to 8 years 
     in prison ``with deprivation of political rights for two 
     years'' for the crime of ``illegally giving state information 
     across the border'';
       Whereas the Urumqi Evening Paper of March 12 reported 
     Rabiya Kadeer's case as follows: ``The court investigated the 
     following: The defendant Rabiya Kadeer, following the request 
     of her husband, Sidik Haji, who has settled in America, 
     indirectly bought a collection of the Kashgar Paper dated 
     from 1995-1998, 27 months, and some copies of the Xinjiang 
     Legal Paper and on 17 June 1999 sent them by post to Sidik 
     Haji. These were found by the customs. During July and August 
     1999 defendant Rabiya Kadeer gave copies of the Ili Paper and 
     Ili Evening Paper collected by others to Mohammed Hashem to 
     keep. Defendant Rabiya Kadeer sent these to Sidik Haji. Some 
     of these papers contained the speeches of leaders of 
     different levels; speeches about the strength of 
     rectification of public safety, news of political legal 
     organisations striking against national separatists and 
     terrorist activities etc. The papers sent were marked and 
     folded at relevant articles. As well as this, on 11 August 
     that year, defendant Rabiya Kadeer, following her husband's 
     phone commands, took a previously prepared list of people who 
     had been handled by judicial organisations, with her to 
     Kumush Astana Hotel [Yingdu Hotel] where she was to meet a 
     foreigner'';
       Whereas reports indicate that Ablikim Abdyirim was sent to 
     a labor camp on November 26 for 2 years without trial for 
     ``supporting Uighur separatism,'' and Rabiya Kadeer's 
     secretary was recently sentenced to 3 years in a labor camp;
       Whereas Rabiya Kadeer has 5 children, 3 sisters, and a 
     brother living in the United States, in addition to her 
     husband, and Kadeer has expressed a desire to move to the 
     United States;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China stripped Rabiya 
     Kadeer of her passport long before her arrest;
       Whereas reports indicate that Kadeer's health may be at 
     risk;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China signed the 
     International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 
     October 5, 1998;
       Whereas that Covenant requires signatory countries to 
     guarantee their citizens the right to legal recourse when 
     their rights have been violated, the right to liberty and 
     freedom of movement, the right to presumption of innocence 
     until guilt is proven, the right to appeal a conviction, 
     freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of 
     opinion and expression, and freedom of assembly and 
     association;
       Whereas that Covenant forbids torture, inhuman or degrading 
     treatment, and arbitrary arrest and detention;
       Whereas the first Optional Protocol to the International 
     Covenant on Civil and Political Rights enables the Human 
     Rights Committee, set up under that Covenant, to receive and 
     consider communications from individuals claiming to be 
     victims of violations of any of the rights set forth in the 
     Covenant; and
       Whereas in signing that Covenant on behalf of the People's 
     Republic of China, Ambassador Qin Huasun, Permanent 
     Representative of the People's Republic of China to the 
     United Nations, said the following: ``To realize human rights 
     is the aspiration of all humanity. It is also a goal that the 
     Chinese Government has long been striving for. We believe 
     that the universality of human rights should be respected . . 
     . As a member state of the United Nations, China has always 
     actively participated in the activities of the organization 
     in the field of human rights. It attaches importance to its 
     cooperation with agencies concerned in the U.N. system . . 
     .'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress calls on the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China--
       (1) immediately to release Rabiya Kadeer, her secretary, 
     and her son; and
       (2) to permit Kadeer, her secretary, and her son to move to 
     the United States, if they so desire.

                          ____________________