[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 3, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1368-H1374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   URGING INTRODUCTION OF U.N. RESOLUTION CALLING UPON THE PEOPLE'S 
REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO END ITS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CHINA AND TIBET

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 56) 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, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H. Res. 56

       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

[[Page H1369]]

     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 the House of Representatives--
         (1) strongly supports the decision of the United States 
     Government to offer and solicit cosponsorship for a 
     resolution at the 57th Session of the United Nations Human 
     Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, 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) urges the United States Government to take the lead 
     in organizing multilateral support to obtain passage by the 
     Commission of such resolution.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution now 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, as a cosponsor of House Resolution 56, I rise in 
support of the manager's amendment and urge my colleagues to vote in 
favor of this important resolution, which urges the passage of a U.S.-
sponsored resolution at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights which calls 
upon the Chinese Government to end its human rights violations in China 
and Tibet.
  During committee consideration, the chairman requested unanimous 
consent that the Chair be authorized to seek consideration of House 
Resolution 56 on the House suspension calendar.

                              {time}  1530

  No objection was heard. The manager's amendment includes an amendment 
by the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) updating the resolution 
to reflect the fact that the Bush administration has introduced a 
resolution at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva concerning the 
deplorable human rights condition in the People's Republic of China. 
The title will be amended to reflect the modifications made by the 
manager's amendment.
  This resolution is a statement of fact outlining that China is an 
authoritarian state which continues to systematically violate the human 
rights of everyone, and the civil and political liberties of all of its 
citizens. State security personnel are responsible for numerous abuses, 
such as political and other extrajudicial killings, lengthy 
incommunicado detentions, and the use of torture.
  National, racial, and ethnic minorities remain subject to intense 
persecution and discrimination. The authorities frequently launch 
campaigns to crack down on opposition and pro-democracy groups. Freedom 
of movement, speech, assembly, and association are severely restricted. 
The controls on religious worship have intensified, with harassment of 
church leaders and other faithful, including fines, detentions, 
physical abuse, and torture. Many houses of worship have been 
destroyed.
  Trafficking in persons, mainly women and children, for forced 
prostitution or illegal forced labor continues, placing this segment of 
the population in constant risk of slavery.
  Recently, we have seen how their blatant disregard for the universal 
rights and liberties of human beings extends to foreign visitors, as 
reflected by the detention of academics by the Chinese regime. Dr. Xu 
Zerong, a Ph.D. from Oxford University, was detained last fall; and to 
date the Chinese authorities have not offered any explanation for his 
continued detention. His family still does not know where he is being 
held.
  Professor Li Shaomin, a U.S. citizen who teaches business at the City 
University of Hong Kong, was arrested on February 25. The Chinese have 
yet to present any information regarding charges against him.
  There is the case of Dr. Gao Zhan, a research scholar based at 
American University, detained last month by Chinese authorities.
  Just today, Human Rights Watch's Academic Freedom Committee sent the 
letter to the Chinese leader to protest these detentions, and calling 
on the Chinese leadership to follow internationally recognized 
standards of due process to protect the lives and the rights of these 
scholars.
  Further, there is the grim situation that the U.S. is facing of 
protecting and securing the safe return of 25 Americans being held 
hostage by the PRC. This picture paints a profound and widespread 
violation of internationally recognized human rights norms.
  The People's Republic of China must be held accountable for its 
action. Constant pressure from the U.S. and the international community 
is vital if any improvements are to take place in China. The 
resolutions before us are an important part of that strategy.
  I am proud that the Bush administration has rejected the view that 
Beijing is our strategic partner and considers passage of the China 
human rights resolution one of its top priorities in Geneva.
  As the U.S. delegation works to ensure debate on human rights 
conditions in China and to secure the votes for a resolution calling on 
China to end its terrible human rights practices, let us show them our 
full support by voting in favor of the manager's amendment to House 
Resolution 56.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. It was 
with sincere sadness that I introduced this resolution a month ago, and 
that I now ask my colleagues to strongly support this resolution.
  When I introduced this resolution, Madam Speaker, 24 American airmen 
were not held captive on a Chinese island, contrary to all provisions 
of international law, and it is a sheer coincidence that we are 
considering this resolution at the very time when the attention of the 
United States and, indeed, much of the world is directed at Beijing to 
see how they will function in this self-induced and self-created 
crisis.
  When I introduced my resolution a month ago, as all Americans, I also 
was hoping optimistically that the Chinese government would take at 
least a few minimal steps to improve the abominable human rights record 
of the People's Republic of China. Unfortunately, the State 
Department's Human Rights Report indicates that the human rights 
situation in China this past year has become worse.
  As the report demonstrates, the government of China continues to use 
torture, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, and the 
general denial of due process. The government of China restricts 
freedom of speech. It restricts the freedom of the press. It denies 
freedom of religion, including the most brutal crackdown on the Falun 
Gong spiritual movement, Tibetan Buddhists, Muslims, and, of course, 
Christians.
  The Chinese government continues to subject vast numbers of political 
prisoners to forced labor, and it prevents the formation of independent 
trade unions or independent nongovernmental organizations.
  The resolution before the House today indicates strong support for 
the decision of our administration to offer a resolution at the Human 
Rights Commission in Geneva calling on the Chinese government to end 
its human rights abuses, both in China and in Tibet.
  In the past, Congress has passed similar resolutions, but 
unfortunately, the Chinese government usually prevails in

[[Page H1370]]

Geneva on a so-called no-action motion. Under this devious 
parliamentary tactic, the Chinese government successfully prevents even 
the consideration of our resolution.
  The Chinese prevail in this vote not because the international 
community recognizes its performance in the human rights field, but 
because the Chinese government systematically threatens commercial 
contracts with the developed world and threatens to deny foreign aid to 
poor nations.
  I am under no illusion, Madam Speaker, that it will be anything but 
an uphill battle to prevail in Geneva this year and to win passage of 
the China human rights resolution.
  I commend the President and the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, for 
moving forward with this effort. I will do whatever I can to urge other 
governments to support our effort.
  In all candor, let me state, Madam Speaker, that I am particularly 
disappointed in the countries of the European Union as they continue to 
shirk their responsibilities to promote internationally recognized 
human rights. The European Union ministers have already announced that 
they will not cosponsor the American resolution.
  Ultimately, some of them will vote with us, but it is a shame that 
the Europeans continue to bury their heads in the sand, desperately 
hoping that trade with China will magically bring about the creation of 
a Chinese civil society based on internationally recognized human 
rights.
  I would like to take just one specific example of the intensity and 
flavor of human rights violations in China. Recently, Madam Speaker, as 
we know, the Chinese government imprisoned an American University 
researcher, Gao Zhan, and her family on the phony charge of espionage. 
Now, Gao Zhan is an academic who has conducted research related to the 
status of women. She and her husband are permanent residents of the 
United States, and their son, Andrew, 5 years old, is an American 
citizen.
  Gao and her family had gone to China to visit her family. They were 
standing in line at the Beijing airport preparing to get on the plane 
to come back to their home in the United States. Out of nowhere, 
Chinese officials emerged and pulled all three family members out of 
line and hustled them into separate cars.
  Gao was put in prison, we do not know where. As of today, her 
whereabouts are unknown. Her husband was blindfolded and driven 2 hours 
to an unknown location, and their 5-year-old son was taken to a 
government facility, even though his grandparents live in the city, 
where they happened to be.
  One of my grandchildren is 5 years old. I can imagine the fear and 
the horror and the pain and the nightmare a 5-year-old must go through 
as out of the blue his mother and father are arrested, taken to 
separate government police cars, and taken away. This little boy for 26 
days, 26 consecutive days, did not see his mother, his father, or his 
grandparents.
  This degree of insensitivity to fundamental human rights of a little 
5-year-old child is an index of the degree to which the Chinese 
government respects human rights today.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution. There is 
nothing I would like to see more than good relations with China. I have 
the highest regard for the Chinese people. They represent one of the 
great civilizations on the face of this planet. They have all the 
opportunity of building an advanced, civilized society, but they must 
not do it by trampling on the human rights of their citizens, or on the 
fundamental human rights of a little 5-year-old American citizen who 
was deprived for 26 days from contact with his family.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this resolution, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to 
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman emeritus of our 
committee.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time 
to me.
  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in strong support of this 
resolution, House Resolution 56, a resolution urging our Nation's 
representative to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to move ahead 
with this resolution at the annual meeting of the Commission in Geneva, 
a resolution calling upon the People's Republic of China to end its 
human rights violations in China and in Tibet.
  I commend our ranking minority member, the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Lantos), for crafting this resolution. I thank our chairwoman, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for swiftly bringing it to 
the floor at this time.
  Recently, Madam Speaker, our State Department announced it is going 
to introduce such a resolution. On February 26, the same day its Human 
Rights Report was released, the State Department spokesman, Phillip 
Reeker, said the U.S. decision to go forward with the resolution is 
based upon the fact that the Chinese government's abysmal human rights 
record has continued to deteriorate over the past year.
  We commend the administration for this decision. Regrettably, Beijing 
has managed year after year to muzzle the Human Rights Commission by 
passing a no-action motion on similar resolutions. Accordingly, there 
is usually no debate on the resolution, and as a result, it almost 
never comes up for a vote before the Commission.
  Unless the international community, our Nation included, finally 
manages to take a strong stand against Beijing's abuses of human 
rights, then its leaders will only become more emboldened to take 
further repressive action against Christians, against Buddhists, 
Muslims, and other religious groups within that Nation.
  Past failure to condemn China has undoubtedly led to the severe 
crackdown against Christian house churches, against Buddhists in Tibet, 
Muslims in east Turkistan, and millions of Chinese Falun Gong 
followers.

                              {time}  1545

  Madam Speaker, I am particularly concerned that Beijing has continued 
to stonewall any possible meeting with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama; 
and unless they reach out and grasp the olive branch that His Holiness 
offers, the regional instability will continue to grow worse.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to fully support this resolution, 
and I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 
yielding the time to me.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), my good friend.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I have great respect for my colleagues 
here on the floor who have put this resolution forward. However, I 
seriously question the decision to bring this bill to the House for 
debate today.
  I know the decision was made last week. It was made before the events 
of the weekend have occurred, and it seems to me that in choosing to 
bring such a resolution to the floor at a time when the Chinese 
Government is holding 24 American servicemen in Hainan incommunicado 
even after repeated requests by our embassy to visit with them is an 
unnecessary step for us to be taking.
  Madam Speaker, I called the White House today and asked them what 
position they had on this resolution; they do not have one. I do not 
know what that says about the 24 people from the State of Washington 
who are being held in Hainan Island.
  It is not that I am unsympathetic with this bill. I have traveled to 
Dharmasala. I talked to the Dalai Lama in his own place. I have 
discussed with him at length the Tibetan problems.
  I visited Nepal and talked with refugees from Chinese rule there. I 
have many of them living in my own city. And I do not come frivolously 
to this floor to discuss this issue, but I do believe that we could 
easily postpone it until we have resolved whatever is happening on 
Hainan.
  I think we have American diplomats even at this moment negotiating 
for the release of the crew of the EP-3 and trying to get negotiations 
started for the freedom of those servicemen; and either we believe this 
resolution means something and therefore will have an impact, and I 
think most of us who

[[Page H1371]]

have traveled abroad have seen the impact of resolutions on the floor 
of the House in the newspapers and on television of other countries, or 
you do not believe this resolution has any impact at all, and I think 
we must consider very carefully what the impact of this kind of a 
resolution is when we are going to be back here in a couple of weeks 
and we could deal with it.
  Madam Speaker, I understand the conference is on now, but I really 
think that we have to think long and hard about timing. The timing was 
not one we made, and I am not blaming anybody here for choosing to put 
it up today. I would be supporting it wholeheartedly if I did not know 
what had gone on this weekend.
  I think for that reason we ought to consider seriously whether or not 
we want to go forward with this.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the vice chairman of our Committee on 
International Relations.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), my good friend, for yielding the time to 
me.
  Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Lantos) on his sponsorship of this very important resolution.
  I am very proud to be one of the cosponsors, and I want to thank the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) the distinguished and 
effective chair of the International Operations and Human Rights 
Committee for her work and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) the 
Chairman of the Full Committee for moving this legislation to the 
floor.
  I would just say to the previous speaker, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott), that this resolution simply tells the 
truth, and it seems to me that truth-telling should always be in 
season; but there is also the timeliness issue. The U.N. Human Rights 
Commission is currently meeting in Geneva, and Members should be aware 
that decisions are being made by various delegations and by various 
diplomats right now.
  A postponement of this resolution could mean the loss of a vote or 
two from delegates who might think that we are ducking the issue or 
having second thoughts that perhaps we are not as serious as we have 
said we are. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. We are 
indeed very, very serious.
  Time is not on our side. There is only a few weeks left for 
deliberations by the U.N. Commission on human rights.
  Madam Speaker, I have been there. I lobbied delegations on behalf of 
human rights in the past. We need to send this message right now that 
we are very serious about human rights in China. No if, ands or buts, 
about it!
  Madam Speaker, just let me say that the new tension created by the 
holding of 24 American servicemen by the People's Republic of China--a 
crisis situation that all of us want to see resolved immediately--only 
underscores anew how the policies of the Beijing dictatorship are harsh 
and unreasonable and how those policies have continued to worsen and to 
deteriorate with each and every passing year.
  Sadly, universally recognized norms and international laws have no 
meaningful application to the dictatorship. The dictatorship in Beijing 
mocks the rule of law.
  Madam Speaker, any honest assessment of China's record on human 
rights makes it abundantly clear that the leaders who rule China with 
an iron fist have no respect whatsoever for human life, especially the 
lives of their own citizens, especially the lives of women and 
children.
  Madam Speaker, forced abortion is an unspeakable cruelty to women and 
babies, and was properly construed to be a crime against humanity at 
the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunals when the Nazis were held to account. 
Today, the crime of forced abortion in China is pervasive, it is 
systematic, and it is common place.
  Forced abortion in China is state-sponsored violence against women 
and children. As I think many Members know, as a means of enforcing 
what they call their one-child-per-couple policy, first announced back 
in 1979, the Chinese Government routinely coerces mothers in China, to 
have abortions often late in pregnancy or to undergo forced 
sterilization or mandatory birth control.
  Over the past decade, Madam Speaker, I have led three human rights 
trips to China. I have met with Li Peng. The gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Wolf) and I raised human rights issues; face to face he just 
dismissed it out of hand as if it was all exaggerated and fabricated. 
There was no engagement--constructive or otherwise.
  I have chaired over 18 hearings and markups on legislation pertaining 
to Chinese human rights abuses; and in the 1980s and the 1990s, I and 
many others in this Chamber have repeatedly spoken out against forced 
abortion and forced sterilization in China as well as other egregious 
abuses.
  To my shock and to my dismay, many family planning organizations like 
Planned Parenthood have decided to either look the other way, as 
millions of Chinese women are cruelly forced to undergo abortion, or in 
the case of the U.N. Population Fund to aggressively defend it, to 
whitewash these abuses as ``nonexistent'' or as the ``exception'', 
rather than the rule.
  Madam Speaker, at one of my hearings we heard from a woman by the 
name of Mrs. Gao. Mrs. Gao ran one of the family planning programs in 
Fukien Province. She made the point that during the course the decade 
that she ran the program, they literally would take women and put them 
or their relatives behind bars until they acceded to the so-called 
``voluntary'' abortion.
  She finally summed up her testimony by saying, by day, I was a 
monster; by night, a wife and mother.
  It seems to me, Madam Speaker, that the Chinese Population Control 
Program is a ``monster''--a monstrous abuse of women; and the 
indifference of both the East and the West makes us, however 
unwittingly, complicit in these crimes.
  Madam Speaker, just let me say that I encourage Members to read the 
country reports on human rights practices, all 59 pages dedicated to 
what is going on in the People's Republic of China. That report is very 
accurate; and it makes the point in the declarative sentence near the 
beginning and I quote,

       The government's poor human rights record worsened, and it 
     continued to commit numerous serious abuses. The government 
     intensified crackdowns on religion and in Tibet, intensified 
     its harsh treatment of political dissent and suppressed any 
     person or group perceived to be a threat to the government.

  The State Department report goes on to say that by the end of the 
year 2000, and I quote,

       Thousands of unregistered religious institutions have 
     either been closed or destroyed, and hundreds of Falun Gong 
     leaders have been imprisoned, thousands have been sent to the 
     lao gai, or mental institutions.

  The report notes, and I think Members need to take note of this, that 
more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners were tortured to death in 
Chinese prisons. Death by torture is often a long, exceedingly painful 
ordeal. It does not happen overnight. After daily beatings and 
deprivations of food and sleep, finally the victum succumbs to death as 
a result of those beatings and abuse.
  Madam Speaker, the United Nations has documented and numerous human 
rights groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty and, of course, our 
own Country Reports on Human Rights Practices that torture is endemic 
in China. If you are arrested as a political prisoner, a religious 
dissenter or even a common criminal, they beat you black and blue, 
sometimes to death. That is the reality of what is going on in the 
People's Republic of China.
  Let me just finally say something about truth-telling. Some years 
back, President Clinton invited Chu Haotien to the United States--the 
Butcher of Beijing, the man who literally ordered the crackdown on the 
students at Tiananmen Square, and said, go and bayonet and kill and 
maim and hunt down those individuals.
  After he was invited here, he was at the U.S. War College and gave a 
speech and made the outrageous claim--a big lie--that no one died at 
Tiananmen Square.
  My staff and I quickly put together a hearing and invited 
eyewitnesses to that massacre; and we invited Chu Haotien to come and 
testify, or anyone else from the Chinese Government, including 
Ambassador Li. We had an empty chair because nobody showed up.

[[Page H1372]]

  We heard from an editor from the People's Daily in China, who 
accurately reported on the killing--and paid a big price--and we heard 
from a Time Magazine correspondent and a host of others, others who 
gave witness to the big lie uttered by General Chu.
  I see I'm out of time--I have so much more to say. Suffice to say, 
this resolution puts us on record in favor of the oppressed, and the 
persecuted, and encourages the Bush administration to continue its work 
on behalf of human rights.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank all of my colleagues on the other side 
for their eloquent and strong support.
  I would like to comment briefly on the observation of the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. McDermott) about timing. I have the highest regard 
for my colleague from Washington, and his statement was a carefully 
thought through and serious one.
  Upon reflection, it seems to me that it would be unconscionable for 
this body not to deal with the issue of human rights violations in 
China as the U.N. Commission is dealing with the question of whether or 
not to support this resolution.
  It will be interesting to see whether the Chinese Government will add 
to the human rights violations of its own people, human rights 
violations of 26 American servicemen. I hope and pray that they will 
not, but it would be singularly unacceptable to be intimidated by the 
current situation on that island.
  The Chinese are illegally holding 26 American servicemen. This is a 
fact. It is also a fact that millions of Chinese are deprived day in 
and day out of their fundamental human rights, and this body will have 
to speak out on that subject.
  Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), one of the strongest 
champions of human rights in this body.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos) for his unending commitment and as well to the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the other speakers that 
have spoken here.
  This is a time, Madam Speaker, that one might pause and offer to 
tread lightly. We do know that there are American citizens, military 
personnel, our men and women, who have offered themselves for our 
freedom now held incognito, without opportunity to speak in China. I 
respect that and would want to be cautious in saying to this body that 
we are respectful of the negotiations, and we want our loved ones, our 
Americans, the Americans that are held illegally and against all 
international agreements, back immediately.
  At the same time, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) 
for recognizing that as we speak, the U.N. conference is being held, 
and we would be shamed if our voices were silent.
  I come wearing a particularly difficult hat, because I was convinced 
about 6 months ago to vote for the PNTR. I spoke with President Carter 
who spoke about the energy and democracy that was occurring in the 
villages. I was excited about that.
  I spoke with many others who felt that if you opened the doors of 
dialogue and communication that we would bring to China the sense of 
the world ownership or membership, if you will, owning into the world's 
desire for opportunities for all of the world's people.
  Madam Speaker, I was very troubled by the debate in PNTR, because the 
human rights issues were of great concern. At that time the Falun Gong 
attacks were continuing. Suicides in the squares were going on. People 
were mutilating themselves or burning themselves out of protest.

                              {time}  1600

  But yet there was this discussion that religion was rising in 
enthusiasm and that we should give China the opportunity.
  I am somewhat saddened that we now speak in the month of April 2001 
and that we can list a litany of infractions or violations, more so for 
people who are incarcerated, it is their life, that we see ongoing in 
China.
  During the debate, it was said that China does not move as fast as 
the world does; that we do not understand its culture; that we have to 
understand what its place is in the world. And, frankly, some of that 
was appealing or attractive. Yet we find ourselves today longing for 
China to have made the commitment that we wished it had made and had 
turned the corner on some of the acceptance of the various religious 
groups and as well the right to be free.
  As the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) knows, because I spoke 
to him earlier today, I am so struck by the words of Gao Zhan's 
husband, the professor who is now held in China, along with many other 
academicians. It is well known that she has gone to China on many 
occasions visiting her family. It is well known that her lawyer says 
she is not a spy. Her husband just received his citizenship. She was 
separated from her husband some 26 or so days. She is being held.
  How can any one of us not be frightened and appalled and outraged 
about the family separation, even while they were in China, to the 
extent that the 5-year-old boy was separated from his father and his 
mother, and still today remains without a mother. This seems to be an 
incident that was not provoked, that China did not have to engage in. 
The family was on their way out of the country; not in the country, 
trying to get in.
  What merciful reason, what reason can they give to explain the 
stopping of this family at that time? What reason can they give for not 
stopping them and questioning them and releasing them? Absolutely none.
  So I rise to support this resolution because I hope as the 
proceedings are going on, there will be a vote that expresses the 
United States' outrage of China's behavior.
  Madam Speaker, we will offer a bill tomorrow to give Gao the 
citizenship that she deserves, because we believe that the voices of 
reason are not being heard in China, and that they continuously 
renounce, reject the hand of friendship, the hand of peace, the hand of 
understanding that many of us have tried to give in the United States 
Congress.
  I applaud the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for his 
leadership on this legislation, and my prayers go out to the men and 
women that are detained, both Chinese and American, and to their 
families I say that we will work every day to secure their safe return.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H. Res. 96, Direct 
U.S. To Condemn Chinese Human Rights Violations. This resolution says 
that China cannot suppress religious and cultural institutions and 
expect to pursue the economic reforms it must pursue for its 
development and prosperity. As Victor Hugo wrote in 1887, ``An invasion 
of armies can be resisted; an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted.''
  According to the U.S. State Department and international human rights 
organizations, the Chinese government continues to commit widespread 
and well-documented human rights abuses in China and Tibet. They also 
say 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 that restrict those freedoms. 
Finally, China continues to ban and criminalize groups that it labels 
as cults or heretical organizations, such as Falon Gong. Practitioners 
of Falon Gong are persecuted for no reason other than being well 
organized as a religious group in China.
  This resolution expresses the sense of the House that at the upcoming 
annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the 
United States should solicit cosponsorship for a resolution calling 
upon the Chinese government to end its human rights abuse in Cuba and 
Tibet, in compliance with its international organization; and that the 
U.S. government should take the lead in organizing multilateral support 
to obtain passage by the commission of such a resolution.
  This measure states that Chinese authorities have committed to 
suppress protest criticism. The Chinese leadership is plainly 
uncomfortable with organized dissent. Furthermore, H. Res. 56 states 
that Chinese citizens have been detained for peaceful opposition, 
attempting to expose corruption, trying to preserve ethnic minorities 
and using the Internet.
  H. Res. 56 makes clear that China continues--with impunity--to exert 
control over religious and cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing 
human rights through instances of torture, arbitrary arrests and 
detentions of Tibetans, without public trials, for peacefully 
expressing their political or religious views; that

[[Page H1373]]

bilateral talks with several nations and China have yet to produce 
substantial adherence to international norms; and that 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.
  Despite the recent crackdown against religious and cultural 
institutions in China, some progress has been made through a commitment 
to normalize relations between our nations. But we must be vigilant, 
nevertheless, in speaking out for those who cannot speak. Madam 
Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the resolution.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), who will be in Geneva carrying forth 
the message of the United States for freedom for the Chinese people.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida 
(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for yielding me this time.
  With regard to some confusion that may have arisen based on some 
comments made previously from the other side of the aisle, I wish to 
say that it is the Bush administration, Madam Speaker, which has 
demonstrated their possession of the dignity as well as the vision to 
introduce precisely the resolution in Geneva that this resolution 
before us today is in support of.
  The regime in mainland China is a brutal, totalitarian, cowardly, 
rogue regime that tortures men and women due to their religious and 
political beliefs. It is a regime that brutally forces abortion on its 
women once they have met Orwellian quotas of birth control. The least 
that we can do in this Congress today to be true to the values, 
beliefs, and aspirations that gave birth to these United States of 
America is to support this resolution.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I do not believe we have any additional 
speakers, but I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), a longtime staffer of the Committee on 
International Relations and now a Member of our institution.
  Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this 
time.
  Madam Speaker, China is a powerful nation, but not yet a great 
nation. Powerful nations muster armies and command territory, but great 
nations lead mankind and advance human values. China stands on the 
brink of being either powerful or great, and the events of the recent 
days disappoint us all and keep China from her own potential.
  With regard to the Hainan incident, I speak as a Naval Reserve 
officer and call on China to return our servicemen and women. Our 
aircraft was in international waters, unarmed and a danger to no one. 
China is a party to the Incidents-at-Sea Treaty, an agreement she 
signed but does not appear to abide by. China must return our 
servicemen and women and the aircraft and end this incident now.
  A nation like China is measured by how its treats people of different 
languages and religions. China's record on Tibet is disappointingly 
clear, and in human rights in general one of abuse and imprisonment for 
prisoners of conscience. Li Shaomin, recognized in China as a key 
leader, was jailed for sending e-news to her husband; Gao Zhan was 
detained February 11, along with her 5-year-old American son; Xu 
Zerong, an academician, was jailed last fall and still is held 
incommunicado; and Rabiya Kadir was jailed March 10 for giving her 
husband newspaper articles.
  Children in Tibet today are taught that religion is backward 
behavior. Nuns and monks make up 74 percent of China's political 
prisoners, and China regularly jams Radio Free Asia broadcasts designed 
to keep people informed. We must speak out.
  Chun-gua, China, and Mai-gua, the United States, can live in peace 
and become friends, but this depends on China adhering to international 
agreements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
Incidents-at-Sea agreements, both agreements China signed, and shared 
values.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  This was an eloquent debate, Madam Speaker, and I want to thank all 
my colleagues. The American people stand united in demanding that our 
servicemen be released unconditionally and immediately, and we are 
calling on China to improve its human rights record.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  To close, Madam Speaker, I would like to remind my colleagues that 
the State Department has given us vote counts and cost sheets. They 
have come up to the Hill to ensure congressional support and help for 
the Bush administration's priorities in Geneva. When we talk to the 
State Department officials, they tell us what their directives have 
been from the President and the White House. We have been meeting with 
them for the last 3 months, and they clearly stated that the Secretary 
of State and the White House ask for daily briefings on the status of 
the China resolution in Geneva.
  Madam Speaker, if Congress does not speak today by voting in favor of 
the resolution before us, House Resolution 56, the Chinese regime will 
be able to prevent any discussion on its human rights record in Geneva. 
Year after year they intimidate members of the Human Rights Commission 
for a vote of no action on China, silencing the dissidents and the 
opposition further, removing one critical vehicle for the voices of the 
oppressed to be tortured in China, and they must be heard.
  Again, without U.S. leadership and the full weight of our U.S. 
Congress behind this resolution and behind the democratic forces in 
China, the PRC will once again manipulate the U.N. Commission on Human 
Rights in Geneva to continue its reign of subjugation and terror over 
the Chinese people.
  Let us force the PRC to abide by the covenants and the declarations 
it has signed. We must stand firm in the face of Chinese aggression 
against its own people, against foreign visitors and against American 
citizens.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to please vote ``yes'' on the 
resolution before us.
  Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong 
support of House Resolution 56, 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.
  Tibet is a country and culture that has garnered international 
attention in the past several decades. Since 1959, China has 
implemented a relentless policy and program to erase Tibet from history 
and existence. The former religious leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, 
was forced to leave Tibet, and now lives in exile in India. There are 
many other Tibetans who chose to follow him and thus, remain in exile 
today.
  I am particularly concerned with China's human rights record with 
respect to Tibet, such as repression of freedom of speech, religion, 
and expression. The Chinese government's policy of suppressing 
religious, political, and cultural freedom in Tibet in highly 
disturbing.
  I am deeply troubled that monks and nuns make up seventy-four percent 
of over 250 political prisoners incarcerated in Tibet. While there has 
been a slight decline in new detentions since 1997 in Tibet, this may 
be attributed to the implementation and intensification of the 
Patriotic Education campaign, which requires monks, nuns, and lay 
persons to denounce the Dalai Lama. However, the number of monks and 
nuns known to have been detained as a result of opposing the Patriotic 
Education campaign is a small fraction of those who have been expelled 
from their monasteries or who have fled from Tibet.
  Recently, it has come to my attention that Chinese authorities have 
increased the jamming of foreign radio broadcasts in Tibet following 
the allocation of increased resources by Beijing in an attempt to 
prevent ``infiltration'' of the airwaves by ``foreign hostile forces.'' 
It is my understanding that Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Voice 
of Tibet, which all cover both international news and news of the 
activities of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community in exile, have 
encountered intensified jamming of their broadcasts into Tibetan areas 
over the past four to six months. The Chinese authorities have also 
announced an expansion of state-run Tibetan language broadcasting, 
including the training of more Tibetan journalists and new programs in 
Kham and Amdo dialects, in order to counter foreign

[[Page H1374]]

radio broadcasters. It is my belief that this intensified focus to jam 
such broadcasts is a result of the Chinese government's recent emphasis 
on propaganda work in Tibet, an important element of Beijing's campaign 
to develop the western regions of China.
  The United States has a moral obligation to pursue strong diplomatic 
pressures which assert an end to civil persecutions not only in Tibet 
but all countries where individual liberties are routinely repressed. I 
join by colleagues in voicing every American's opposition to these 
atrocities and acts of repression.
  I commend Congressman Frank Wolf from Virginia for his leadership in 
bringing attention to the plight of the Tibetan people and Tibetan 
culture, and I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to 
support this important resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shays). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 56, as 
amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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