[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1433-S1434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 22--URGING THE APPROPRIATE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE 
   UNITED STATES TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO 
INTRODUCE AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COMMISSION A RESOLUTION CALLING 
UPON THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO END ITS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 
              IN CHINA AND TIBET, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

  Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Helms, Mr. 
Torricelli, Ms. Collins, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. 
Kyl, Mr. Specter, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Harkin, and Mr. Santorum) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations.

                               S. Res. 22

       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 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;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China has yet to 
     demonstrate its willingness to abide by internationally 
     accepted norms of freedom of belief, expression, and 
     association by repealing or amending laws and decrees that 
     restrict those freedoms;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues to ban and criminalize groups it labels as cults or 
     heretical organizations;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     has repressed unregistered religious congregations and 
     spiritual movements, including Falun Gong, and persists in 
     persecuting persons on the basis of unauthorized religious 
     activities using such measures as harassment, prolonged 
     detention, physical abuse, incarceration, and closure or 
     destruction of places of worship;
       Whereas authorities in the People's Republic of China have 
     continued their efforts to extinguish expressions of protest 
     or criticism, have detained scores of citizens associated 
     with attempts to organize a peaceful opposition, to expose 
     corruption, to preserve their ethnic minority identity, or to 
     use the Internet for the free exchange of ideas, and have 
     sentenced many citizens so detained to harsh prison terms;
       Whereas Chinese authorities continue to exert control over 
     religious and cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing human 
     rights through instances of torture, arbitrary arrest, and 
     detention of Tibetans without public trial for peacefully 
     expressing their political or religious views;
       Whereas bilateral human rights dialogues between several 
     nations and the People's Republic of China have yet to 
     produce substantial adherence to international norms; and
       Whereas the People's Republic of China has signed the 
     International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but has 
     yet to take the steps necessary to make the treaty legally 
     binding: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) at the 57th Session of the United Nations Human Rights 
     Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, the appropriate 
     representative

[[Page S1434]]

     of the United States should solicit cosponsorship for a 
     resolution calling upon the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China to end its human rights abuses in China and 
     Tibet, in compliance with its international obligations; and
       (2) the United States Government should take the lead in 
     organizing multilateral support to obtain passage by the 
     Commission of such resolution.

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a 
resolution, along with my colleague Senator Wellstone, calling on the 
Administration to introduce a resolution at the upcoming meeting of the 
United Nations (U.N.) Human Rights Commission highlighting China's 
human rights abuses. This Senate resolution makes a simple statement. 
The U.S.should lead the effort in Geneva to speak for freedom in China, 
both by introducing a resolution and by garnering the support of key 
cosponsors.
  Mr. President, in a report issued just two days ago, Amnesty 
International documented the extensive use of torture in China. 
According to the report, ``Torture is widespread and systemic, 
committed in the full range of state institutions, from police stations 
to `re-education through labour' camps, as well as in people's homes, 
workplaces, and in public . . . Victims can be anyone from criminal 
suspects, political dissidents, workers and innocent bystanders to 
officials.'' The common occurrence of torture points to a wider trend--
China's human rights record is appalling. The Chinese government 
continues to repress any voice it perceives to be a threat to its 
power--religious groups, democracy activists, people trying to expose 
corruption, people trying to use the Internet for the free exchange of 
ideas--anyone who will not bow to the government. I expect that the 
State Department's annual report on human rights, which will be issued 
soon, will once again confirm this trend.
  The destruction of places of worship is nothing new in China. But in 
recent months, scores of churches have been destroyed, in what some 
experts have described as the most destructive crackdown since the 
Cultural Revolution. Beginning in November, in counties around Wenzhou, 
over 700 churches have been destroyed. Over two hundred others have 
either been banned or taken for other purposes. I am disturbed by this 
worsening campaign against religious believers in China. The Chinese 
government has also stepped up its campaign against spiritual movements 
like the Falun Gong and Zhong Gong, not only imprisoning leaders but 
also sentencing marginal followers to lengthy terms and penalizing 
family members of practitioners.
  Pro-democracy activists, including Xu Wenli, one of the founders of 
the China Democracy Party, are still languishing in prison for legally 
and peacefully expressing their views. Huang Qi, a middle class 
computer user and an Internet webmaster, is on trial for subverting 
state power simply because he posted information about topics like the 
democracy movement and the Tiannanmen Square Massacre. He could face 
ten years in prison. This attempt to control Internet usage should be 
of great concern to the international community, especially those who 
have touted the Internet as a revolutionizing force in China.
  Mr. President, all of these human rights abuses point to a much 
needed response--a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Commission. 
There is no more appropriate place for highlighting these abuses in a 
multilateral setting, because this multilateral forum was established 
just for this purpose. If we do not use this forum for bringing up 
obvious abuses, then we undercut its very viability. The U.S. has 
traditionally led the effort on China's human rights abuses. This year 
should be no different. China is already intensely lobbying other 
countries to defeat any such resolution. We must begin as soon as 
possible to obtain support for a resolution.
  I understand that the Administration is in the process of deciding 
whether to advance a resolution at Geneva. I hope that they will look 
to the Congress and understand that there is broad support for a Geneva 
resolution. This Administration has the opportunity to set a tone for 
its approach to China and all of Asia. If the mistake of the Clinton 
Administration was bowing to China's demands and centering its efforts 
in Asia around China, then the Bush Administration has the chance to 
stand firm, to be skeptical of the Chinese government's offers and 
promises. I urge the Administration not to look at China's offer of 
ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural 
Rights, as anything an empty promise--a distraction that will quickly 
fade away once the Commission meeting is over.
  Finally, Mr. President, last year when the Senate and Congress as a 
whole passed PNTR for China, proponents argued that passage of PNTR in 
no way signified a diminished concern for human rights. I believe that 
now is the time to demonstrate this continuing concern for human 
rights. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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