[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
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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
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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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