[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 11, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7519-S7520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 128--CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S 
REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO IMMEDIATELY AND UNCONDITIONALLY RELEASE LI SHAOMIN 
   AND ALL OTHER AMERICAN SCHOLARS OF CHINESE ANCESTRY BEING HELD IN 
 DETENTION, CALLING ON THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONTINUE 
  WORKING ON BEHALF OF LI SHAOMIN AND THE OTHER DETAINED SCHOLARS FOR 
                 THEIR RELEASE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. TORRICELLI (for himself, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Allen, Mr. 
Wellstone, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Brownback) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 128

       Whereas in recent months the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China has arrested and detained several scholars 
     and intellectuals of Chinese ancestry with ties to the United 
     States, including at least 2 United States citizens and 3 
     permanent residents of the United States;
       Whereas according to the Department of State's 2000 Country 
     Reports on Human Rights Practices in China, and international 
     human rights organizations, the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China ``has continued to commit widespread and 
     well-documented human rights abuses, in violation of 
     internationally accepted norms'';
       Whereas the harassment, arbitrary arrest, detention, and 
     filing of criminal charges against scholars and intellectuals 
     has created a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the 
     People's Republic of China, in contravention of 
     internationally accepted norms, including the International 
     Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the People's 
     Republic of China signed in October 1998;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     frequently uses torture and other human rights violations to 
     produce coerced ``confessions'' from detainees;
       Whereas the Department of State's 2000 Country Reports on 
     Human Rights Practices in China has extensively documented 
     that human rights abuses in the People's Republic of China 
     ``included instances of extrajudicial killings, the use of 
     torture, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, 
     the mistreatment of prisoners, lengthy incommunicado 
     detention, and denial of due process'', and also found that 
     ``[p]olice and prosecutorial officials often ignore the due 
     process provisions of the law and of the Constitution . . . 
     [f]or example, police and prosecutors can subject prisoners 
     to severe psychological pressure to confess, and coerced 
     confessions frequently are introduced as evidence'';
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     has reported that some of the scholar detainees have 
     ``confessed'' to their ``crimes'' of ``spying'', but it has 
     yet to produce any evidence of spying, and has refused to 
     permit the detainees to confer with their families or 
     lawyers;
       Whereas the Department of State's 2000 Country Reports on 
     Human Rights Practices in China also found that ``police 
     continue to hold individuals without granting access to 
     family or a lawyer, and trials continue to be conducted in 
     secret'';
       Whereas Dr. Li Shaomin is a United States citizen and 
     scholar who has been detained by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China for more than 100 days, was 
     formally charged with spying for Taiwan on May 15, 2001, and 
     is expected to go on trial on July 14, 2001;
       Whereas Dr. Li Shaomin has been deprived of his basic human 
     rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, has not been 
     allowed to contact his wife and child (both United States 
     citizens), and was prevented from seeing his lawyer for an 
     unacceptably long period of time;
       Whereas Dr. Gao Zhan is a permanent resident of the United 
     States and scholar who has been detained by the Government of 
     the People's Republic of China for more than 114 days, and 
     was formally charged with ``accepting money from a foreign 
     intelligence agency'' on April 4, 2001;
       Whereas Dr. Gao Zhan has been deprived of her basic human 
     rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, has not been 
     allowed to contact her husband and child (both United States 
     citizens) or Department of State consular personnel in China, 
     and was prevented from seeing her lawyer for an unacceptably 
     long period of time;
       Whereas Wu Jianmin is a United States citizen and author 
     who has been detained by the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China, has been deprived of his basic human 
     rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, has been denied 
     access to lawyers and family members, and has yet to be 
     formally charged with any crimes;
       Whereas Qin Guangguang is a permanent resident of the 
     United States and researcher who has been detained by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China on suspicions of 
     ``leaking state secrets'', has been deprived of his basic 
     human rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, has been 
     denied access to lawyers and family members, and has yet to 
     be formally charged with any crimes;
       Whereas Teng Chunyan is a permanent resident of the United 
     States, Falun Gong practitioner, and researcher who has been 
     sentenced to three years in prison for spying by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China, apparently for 
     conducting research which documented violations of the human 
     rights of Falun Gong adherents in China, has been deprived of 
     her basic human rights by being placed on trial in secret, 
     and her appeal to the Beijing Higher People's Court was 
     denied on May 11, 2001;
       Whereas Liu Yaping is a permanent resident of the United 
     States and a businessman who was arrested and detained in 
     Inner Mongolia in March 2001 by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China, has been deprived of his basic 
     human rights by being denied any access to family members and 
     by being denied regular access to lawyers, is reported to be 
     suffering from severe health problems, was accused of tax 
     evasion and other economic crimes, and has been denied his 
     request for medical parole;
       Whereas because there is documented evidence that the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China uses torture to 
     coerce confessions from suspects, because the Government has 
     thus far presented no evidence to support its claims that the 
     detained scholars and intellectuals are spies, and because 
     spying is vaguely defined under Chinese law,

[[Page S7520]]

     there is reason to believe that the ``confessions'' of Dr. Li 
     Shaomin and Dr. Gao Zhan may have been coerced; and
       Whereas the arbitrary imprisonment of United States 
     citizens and residents by the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China, and the continuing violations of their 
     fundamental human rights, demands an immediate and forceful 
     response by Congress and the President of the United States: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That
       (1) the Senate--
       (A) condemns and deplores the continued detention of Li 
     Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Qin Guangguang, Teng Chunyan, 
     and other scholars detained on false charges by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China, and calls for 
     their immediate and unconditional release;
       (B) condemns and deplores the lack of due process afforded 
     to these detainees, and the probable coercion of confessions 
     from some of them;
       (C) condemns and deplores the ongoing and systematic 
     pattern of human rights violations by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China, of which the unjust detentions of 
     Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Qin Guangguang, and Teng 
     Chunyan, are only important examples;
       (D) strongly urges the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China to consider carefully the implications to the 
     broader United States-Chinese relationship of detaining and 
     coercing confessions from United States citizens and 
     permanent residents on unsubstantiated spying charges or 
     suspicions;
       (E) urges the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     to consider releasing Liu Yaping on medical parole, as 
     provided for under Chinese law; and
       (F) believes that human rights violations inflicted on 
     United States citizens and residents by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China will reduce opportunities for 
     United States-Chinese cooperation on a wide range of issues; 
     and
       (2) it is the sense of the Senate that the President--
       (A) should make the immediate release of Li Shaomin, Gao 
     Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Qin Guangguang, and Teng Chunyan a top 
     priority of United States foreign policy with the Government 
     of the People's Republic of China;
       (B) should continue to make every effort to assist Li 
     Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Qin Guangguang, and Teng 
     Chunyan, and their families, while discussions of their 
     release are ongoing;
       (C) should make it clear to the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China that the detention of United States 
     citizens and residents, and the infliction of human rights 
     violations upon United States citizens and residents, is not 
     in the interests of the Government of the People's Republic 
     of China because it will reduce opportunities for United 
     States-Chinese cooperation on other matters; and
       (D) should immediately send a special, high ranking 
     representative to the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to reiterate the deep concern of the United States 
     regarding the continued imprisonment of Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, 
     Wu Jianmin, Qin Guangguang, Teng Chunyan, and Liu Yaping, and 
     to discuss their legal status and immediate humanitarian 
     needs.

                          ____________________