[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 118 (Thursday, September 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ON PRESIDENT CLINTON'S CHINA LEGACY

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                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 28, 2000

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, in reference to President Clinton's foreign 
policy towards China, last Wednesday's front page of the Washington 
Post Business section had the headline: ``Score One for the Legacy'' 
because of passage in the Senate of Permanent Normal Trade Relations 
(PNTR) with China.
  While it lies in the future to determine the success or failure of 
PNTR upon improving China's horrible human rights record or in bringing 
about effective change in China's communist regime, we do know certain 
facts that have to be calculated into the picture that will be 
President Clinton's legacy on China.
  We know that on this Administration's watch, more people are in 
prison because of their faith than at any time in recent memory.
  There are thousands of Muslim Uighurs in prison because of their 
faith.
  The Chinese government is pillaging Tibet, while the Clinton 
Administration remains silent and obsequious. Thousands of Tibetan 
Buddhist monks, nuns, and believers are in Chinese prisons because of 
their faith. The Chinese government has repressed, oppressed, and 
persecuted the Tibetans with impunity. There is no doubt, things have 
gotten worse in Tibet during the Clinton years. With certainty, 
President Clinton's actions and lack of action have to be figured into 
a formulation of his legacy on China.
  The 1999 State Department Human Rights Report on China states 
numerous aspects of how the situation in China has deteriorated during 
President Clinton's tenure and ought to be included in determining his 
legacy on China:
  Government interference in daily personal and family life continues 
to decline for the average person;
  The Government increased monitoring of the Internet during the year, 
and placed restrictions on information available on the Internet;
  The Government continued to implement comprehensive and often 
intrusive family planning policies;
  The [Communist] Party and Government continue to control many--and, 
on occasion, all--print and broadcast media tightly and use them to 
propagate the current ideological line; and
  The Government intensified efforts to suppress dissent, particularly 
organized dissent. By years end, almost all of the key leaders of the 
China Democracy Party were serving long prison terms or were in custody 
without formal charges, and only a handful of dissidents nationwide 
dared to remain active publicly.
  We know that the State Department's 2000 Report on International 
Religious Freedom says that the Chinese ``. . . Government's respect 
for religious freedom deteriorated markedly . . .''
  We know from this report that ``. . . unregistered groups, including 
Protestant and Catholic groups, continued to experience varying degrees 
of official interference, harassment, and repression.'' We know from 
this report that ``The Government's efforts to maintain a strong degree 
of control over religion, and its crackdown on groups that it perceived 
to pose a threat, continued.''
  We know that the Chinese regime continues to persecute, arrest, and 
imprison 80 year-old Roman Catholic bishops and priests. According to 
an article in the September 18, 2000 New York Times, while the Senate 
was preparing to vote on passage of PNTR, the Chinese government was 
busy sending back to prison 81 year-old Roman Catholic Bishop Zeng 
Jingmu. Bishop Zeng had already spent close to 30 years in Chinese 
prisons and prison labor camps, just because of his faith.
  There are some 13 Roman Catholic Bishops suffering in Chinese prisons 
and prison through labor camps because of their faith. Their 
languishing in prison is part of President Clinton's China legacy. That 
President Clinton was silent, that he bent over backwards to placate a 
regime that persecutes old and frail people of faith--this has to be 
factored into compiling President Clinton's China legacy.
  That there are hundreds of Protestant House Church leaders in prison 
or prison through labor camps because of their faith has to be included 
in assessing President Clinton's legacy.
  President Clinton used tough words about China to help get himself 
elected in 1992, criticizing President Bush's policy of engagement with 
China. It is too bad that President Clinton did not live up to his 
campaign rhetoric and campaign promises about China. Now with the 
passing of PNTR, with all of this talk about Clinton's China legacy 
being shaped by the passage of PNTR, it is imperative to focus on the 
truth and history.
  History will show, that Clinton's China legacy is that the U.S. 
government kowtowed to a Chinese regime that worsened in its 
persecution and oppression of its own people. Clinton's China legacy 
will be that more people of faith and lovers of freedom in China 
languish in forced labor camps and bear the scars of torture and 
imprisonment because of their beliefs.

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