[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 2, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3684-H3689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING THE CRACKDOWN ON DEMOCRACY PROTESTORS IN TIANANMEN SQUARE,
BEIJING, IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THAT TRAGIC MASSACRE
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 655) condemning the crackdown on
democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People's
Republic of China on the 15th anniversary of that tragic massacre.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 655
Whereas the United States was founded on the principle that
all men and women are created equal and entitled to the
exercise of their basic human rights;
Whereas freedom of expression, assembly, association, and
religion are fundamental human rights that belong to all
people and are recognized as such under the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights;
Whereas the horrific events of June 3-4, 1989, in Tiananmen
Square, Beijing, in the People's Republic of China, reminded
the world that these universal human rights are denied to the
citizens of the most populous nation on earth by the
Communist Party that rules in China;
Whereas in recent days the Communist Government of China
has stepped up harassment of the relatives of people who lost
their lives in the 1989 crackdown on democracy protestors in
Tiananmen Square, in an apparent effort to control dissent
ahead of the 15th anniversary of that tragic massacre;
Whereas in recent weeks China's Communist Party leaders
have been working to eliminate the residual influence of Zhao
Ziyang, who was purged as Communist Party chief for opposing
the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen protests, and are trying
to erase his name from history;
Whereas Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when
he tearfully begged student protesters to leave Tiananmen
Square, and was then promptly put under house arrest and
purged;
Whereas the Communist Government of China declared martial
law the next day and troops backed by tanks crushed the
student movement on June 3-4, 1989;
Whereas the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square were the
manifestation of a democratic movement that had begun to
spread across China following the death of the former General
Secretary of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of
China on April 15, 1989, and that had given rise to peaceful
protests throughout China calling for the establishment of a
dialogue with government and party leaders on democratic
reforms, including freedom of expression, freedom of
assembly, and the elimination of corruption by government
officials;
Whereas after that date thousands of pro-democracy
demonstrators continued to protest peacefully in and around
Tiananmen Square in Beijing until June 3 and 4, 1989, when
Chinese authorities ordered the People's Liberation Army and
other security forces to use lethal force to disperse
demonstrators in Beijing, especially around Tiananmen Square;
Whereas the report of the Chinese Red Cross on June 7,
1989, and the United States Department of State Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1989, gave various
estimates of the numbers of people killed and wounded in 1989
by the People's Liberation Army soldiers and other security
forces, and it is now believed by many that thousands were
killed;
Whereas 20,000 people nationwide suspected of taking part
in the democracy movement were arrested and sentenced without
trial to prison or reeducation through labor, and many were
reportedly tortured;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues to
suppress dissent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists,
journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, and
other individuals in China and Tibet who seek to express
their political or religious views in a peaceful manner;
Whereas credible sources estimate that the Communist
Government of China continues to imprison as many as 2,000
Tiananmen Square activists, such as Yang Jianli, and denies
such activists their basic human rights, such as access to
legal counsel, contact with their families, and trials within
reasonable times;
Whereas security agents of the People's Republic of China
have detained Chinese citizens who were planning activities
to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square
massacre, including the preparation of a video for
presentation at this year's United Nations Human Rights
Commission meeting in Geneva on the deaths of their relatives
and other victims who perished in Tiananmen Square;
Whereas coincident with the 15th anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square massacre, the Communist Government of China
has frustrated the efforts of Chinese citizens in Hong Kong
to establish a gradual and orderly process toward universal
suffrage and the democratic election of the legislature and
chief executive in Hong Kong as promised at the time of the
reversion of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and as envisioned by
the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
Whereas despite an unprecedented public protest in Hong
Kong on July 1, 2003, reminiscent of protests in Beijing
shortly before June 4, 1989, the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China
declared on April 26, 2004, that universal suffrage would not
apply to the selection of the Chief Executive in Hong Kong in
2007 or to the selection of members of the Legislative
Council in Hong Kong in 2008; and
Whereas June 4, 2004, is the 15th anniversary of the date
of the Tiananmen Square massacre: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed,
tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their participation
in the democracy protests of June 3-4, 1989, in Tiananmen
Square, Beijing, in the People's Republic of China, and to
all those persons who have suffered for their efforts to keep
that struggle alive during the past 15 years, and to all the
people of China who lack fundamental human rights;
(2) commends all persons who are peacefully advocating for
democracy and human rights in China;
(3) calls upon those nations participating in the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing to use opportunities created by the
Games to urge China to fully comply with the United Nations
Declaration on Human Rights;
(4) calls upon the Communist Government of China, its
National People's Congress, and any other groups appointed by
the Communist Government of China to honor its pledge of a
``high degree of autonomy'' made at the time of the Hong Kong
reversion in 1997, by permitting immediate elections for the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong according to rules approved
by the Hong Kong people through an election-law convention,
referendum, or both, and by leaving all revisions of Hong
Kong law to a legislature elected by universal suffrage; and
(5) condemns the ongoing and egregious human rights abuses
by the Communist Government of China and calls on that
Government to--
(A) reevaluate the official verdict on the June 4, 1989,
Tiananmen pro-democracy activities and order formal
investigations into the reported killing, torture, and
imprisonment of democracy activists with the goal of bringing
those responsible to justice;
(B) establish a June Fourth Investigation Committee, the
proceedings and findings of which should be accessible to the
public, to make a just and independent inquiry into all
matters related to June 4, 1989;
(C) release all prisoners of conscience, including those
persons still in prison as a result of their participation in
the peaceful pro-democracy protests of 1989, provide just
compensation to the families of those killed in those
protests, and allow those exiled on account of their
activities in 1989 to return and live in freedom in China;
and
(D) release Dr. Yang Jianli, an organizer of the Tiananmen
Square protests of 1989, who has been illegally detained
incommunicado by the Communist Government of China since
April 26, 2002, and whose wife and 2 children are United
States citizens, and put an immediate end to the harassment,
detention, and imprisonment of all Chinese citizens
exercising their legitimate freedoms of expression,
association, and religion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
[[Page H3685]]
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos) for yielding me time and for his exceptional service and
leadership as chair of the Human Rights Caucus of the House. I also
want to acknowledge the great work and leadership of the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. Smith). He has been a champion for human rights, and it
has been my privilege to work with him over the years to promote
international human rights. I thank him for his accommodation this
evening.
Mr. Speaker, the forward march of freedom has often been advanced by
brave souls who defied the powers of their day to demand the liberties
and human rights to which all people everywhere are entitled.
This week the world pays tribute to the brave souls of Tiananmen
Square who 15 years ago stood up for freedom, only to be met with a
hail of bullet and a new era of repression.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with my colleague, the gentleman
from California (Mr. Cox), as well as the distinguished chairman, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and our ranking member, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) in sponsoring this resolution
that remembers and reaffirms.
We remember the courage of the heroes of Tiananmen, and we reaffirm
our Nation's commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy of
which they dreamed. In doing so, this resolution keeps alive the spirit
of Tiananmen Square. The spirit of Tiananmen lives in the hearts of all
freedom-loving people.
We remember how millions of ordinary students, workers and citizens
marched in peace. How they raised the Goddess of Democracy and the
image of our own Statue of Liberty. How they quoted our own Founding
Fathers. We remember with sadness and outrage how the so-called
People's Liberation Army was unleashed on its own defenseless people,
slaughtering thousands and searing into our consciences forever one of
the most enduring images of the 25th century, the picture of a lone man
before a tank, bringing a line of tanks to a grinding halt.
Fifteen springs later, the spirit of Tiananmen lives on in the prison
cells across China. Today, we once again call on Beijing to release the
thousands of Tiananmen activists held to this day and all the prisoners
of conscience whose only crime was to demand their basic human rights.
The spirit of Tiananmen lives on in the exiles who fled their beloved
homeland and who today carry on the struggle. In San Francisco, which I
have the privilege of sharing representation with the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos), we are proud that many of these talented young
people have enriched our community. But even as we observe their
celebrations to our Nation, we work for a day when they may return if
they so choose to their own nation, a free and democratic China.
For too long the United States has pursued a policy of trickle-down
liberty. First, economic freedom and then they said political freedom
will follow. The 15 years since Tiananmen have exposed this policy as
the illusion that it is. For a billion Chinese, freedom remains a dream
deferred. After all these years, journalists, activists, academics,
workers and religious believers are still persecuted and, Mr. Speaker,
tortured. As this 15th anniversary nears, Beijing is still harassing
and arresting dissidents and families of the Tiananmen victims.
Meanwhile, Chinese elites are enriched by global trade. And despite
more than a decade of concessions from Washington, our trade deficit
with China has grown from $2 billion a year to over $2 billion a week,
to a dangerous $124 billion a year.
The highest tribute we could pay on this anniversary would be to use
our political and economic influence to advance the reforms advocated
15 years ago.
Finally, the spirit of Tiananmen lives on in the hearts of the
Chinese people, especially those in Hong Kong who have tasted freedom.
In taking to the streets to demand democracy, the brave people of Hong
Kong have been a stirring example to the world. On this anniversary,
U.S. resolve in facing Beijing would send a clear message to democratic
reformers throughout Asia. Democracy in Asia is as crucial there as it
is in the rest of the world.
So it is that the spirit of Tiananmen endures and inspires. Tanks and
troops may crush a protest, but they can never extinguish the flame of
freedom that burns in every human heart.
Mr. Speaker, on this day with this resolution we say to the people of
China, including the people of Hong Kong and freedom-loving people
everywhere, your cause is our cause. We will never forget. We will
never forget. And in doing so we reaffirm our commitment to a common
dream: the day when the world's most populous nation can at last be
called the world's largest democracy.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments and for her
leadership on this, and the prime sponsor of this resolution, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Cox). The Cox-Pelosi resolution before
us is extremely important and very timely.
Mr. Speaker, in December of 1996 here in Washington, at the
invitation of President Bill Clinton, General Chi Haotian, the Defense
Minister of the People's Republic of China, the general who was the
operational commander of the soldiers who slaughtered pro-democracy
demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square in June of 1989, said,
``Not a single person lost his life in Tiananmen Square.'' According to
General Chi, the Chinese Army did nothing more violent than, and I
quote him, ``pushing of people.''
General Chi not only met with Mr. Clinton in the White House but was
accorded full military honors, including a 19-gun salute and visits to
military bases. Rather than getting the red carpet, Mr. Speaker, I
would respectfully submit that General Chi should have been held to
account for his crimes against humanity.
Mr. Speaker, to counter the big lie that he proffered right here in
Washington, D.C., I quickly put together and chaired a hearing of
eyewitnesses to Tiananmen Square, to the massacre, including several
Chinese, a former editor of the People's Daily, and Time Magazine's
Beijing bureau chief. We also invited General Chi or anyone else to
testify before our committee from the government of China. They were no
shows, although we left a chair for them.
One of our witnesses, a man by the name of Xuecan Wu, the former
editor of the People's Daily, was singled out by Li Peng for punishment
and got 4 years in prison for trying to tell the truth to his readers
in Beijing. Mr. Wu called General Chi's lie about no one being killed
``shameless'' and told my subcommittee that he personally saw at least,
and I quote him here, ``at least 30 carts carrying dead and wounded
people.''
Eyewitness Jian-Ki Yang, Vice President of the Alliance for a
Democratic China, testified, and I quote, ``I saw trucks of soldiers
who got out and started firing automatic weapons at the people. Each
time they fired the weapons, three or four people were hit, and each
time the crowd went down to the ground. We were there for about an hour
and a half. I saw 13 people killed. We saw four tanks coming from the
square, and they were going very fast at a very high speed. The two
tanks in front were chasing students.''
Imagine that, Mr. Speaker, tanks chasing students.
He went on to say, ``They ran over the students. Everyone was
screaming. We counted 11 bodies.''
Mr. Speaker, Time Magazine's David Aikman, another eyewitness said,
and I quote, ``Children were killed holding hands with their mothers. A
9-year-old boy was shot seven or eight times in the back, and his
parents placed the corpse on a truck and drove through the streets of
northwest Beijing on Sunday morning. `This is what the government has
done,' the distraught mother kept telling crowds of passersby through a
makeshift speaker system.''
Mr. Aikman went on to say in his testimony that ``officials at the
Chinese Red Cross reported 2,600 people dead, but then they too were
ordered to keep silent and to deny that they had ever given out such
figures.''
[[Page H3686]]
Today, Mr. Speaker, 15 years after Tiananmen Square, after a brutal
massacre, the Chinese government perpetuates General Chi's Orwellian
fabrication that no one died. It is now clear that thousands died and
approximately 7,000 were wounded. Fifteen years after Tiananmen Square,
some 2,000 people remain incarcerated for peacefully advocating human
rights. To be jailed by the Chinese, as we all know, means torture,
humiliation, and severe deprivations.
Mr. Speaker, in the early 1990s, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Wolf) and I visited Beijing Prison Number 1, a bleak gulag where 40
Tiananmen Square prisoners were being unjustly detained. We saw
firsthand the price paid by brave and tenacious individuals for
peacefully petitioning their government for freedom. And it was not
pretty. They looked like the walking skeletons of Auschwitz.
Mr. Speaker, we do not know how many of those are still languishing
in prison. Some, perhaps all of them, are still there; but of the
20,000 originally arrested and detained, like I said, approximately
2,000 continue in the gulags and in the Laogai of China.
Mr. Speaker, let me say that, despite the hopes and expectation of
some that robust trade with China would usher in at least a modicum of
respect for human rights and fundamental liberties, the simple fact of
the matter is that the dictatorship in China oppresses, tortures and
mistreats millions of its own citizens. Moreover, China is the land of
the one-child-per-couple policy, a barbaric policy that makes brothers
and sisters illegal. Forced abortion, force sterilization and ruinous
fines are routinely deployed to ensure compliance with this Draconian
and utterly cruel family planning policy.
Mr. Speaker, according to the U.S. Department of State, the
government's human rights record remains poor. They start off with that
in this year's report. And the government continues, the State
Department goes on to say, to commit numerous and serious abuses. The
Country Reports of Human Rights Practices also went on to say that
there was backsliding. It was already bad and now it is even getting
worse, and the word backsliding was used. And abuses including killing,
torture, mistreatment of prisoners and forced confessions are among
those that have gotten worse.
Finally, let me say in April the Chinese government openly gloated
over the defeat once again of a U.S.-sponsored resolution at the U.N.
Human Rights Commission. I would say parenthetically, given the makeup
of the Commission, the outcome came as no surprise. Rogue nations
proliferate and are all over that Commission. They make a beeline for
that Commission to mitigate human rights adherence and enforcement and
bringing rogue nations to confront these abuses.
In one stunningly absurd statement, Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang
said the U.S. proposal and the resolution was done out of, and this is
his words, ``disappointment and jealousy.''
I would just like to say to the Chinese government and to Ambassador
Sha Zukang, we proposed it because we care and we are in solidarity
with the oppressed and we want to hold the oppressor to account.
Disappointment and jealousy? I do not think so. This is all about
trying to help those who are under the cruel boot of the Chinese
dictatorship.
Mr. Speaker, I participated in the meetings in Geneva, and I
confronted the Chinese leadership in an open forum. I have to say they
were amazingly inept, and they were unprofessional. All they could do
during the course of the debate was to deny, to deny, and to deny and
to question our motives. And then, when things were not going well for
them, they abruptly ended the meeting.
Mr. Speaker, someday the good and honorable people of China will live
in freedom; and I believe the martyrs of Tiananmen who have suffered
unspeakable horrors at the hands of a government and were jailed and
were wounded and murdered will be even more revered and honored for
their sacrifice than they are today. This resolution honors those
courageous champions of freedom and democracy. I urge its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1845
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me first pay tribute to my good friend, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Smith), who has been such an indefatigable fighter for
human rights across the globe and particularly with respect to China
and Tibet.
Let me also recognize the enormous contributions to this fight of the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader, my
friend and neighbor and colleague, representing San Francisco, and our
distinguished colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox).
Listening to my friend from New Jersey, I am reminded of a picture I
have in my office as one enters, and that picture, one of the most
precious photos of all times, shows a lone young Chinese man standing
up to a line of tanks, defying totalitarian tyranny with courage and
devotion to the principles that our Constitution was built on.
Mr. Speaker, 15 years ago today, China's senior leaders huddled
behind the walls of their compound near the Forbidden City. They had a
critically important decision to make, whether to reach out to the
students and workers gathered in Tiananmen Square and address their
concerns about party corruption and lack of democracy or seek to squash
the movement with force, if necessary.
Sadly for the cause of freedom and justice and for the lives of
thousands of young Chinese citizens, the leadership of China made the
wrong decision. Instead of entering into a meaningful dialogue with
those gathered in the Square, they launched a brutal crackdown on the
democracy movement, killing thousands and imprisoning many more.
China's leaders hoped that the world would forget the tragedy of
Tiananmen Square, but fortunately for the cause of truth the victims of
Tiananmen had mothers, mothers who have kept alive the memory of their
slain children and demanded an apology from their government.
For the past 10 years, Mr. Speaker, the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign
has worked to document the brutal 1989 crackdown by collecting the
names of real victims and recording their individual stories. In the
face of enormous pressure from the Chinese Government, the Tiananmen
Mothers have respectfully requested a government investigation into the
massacre and a formal apology for this gross violation of human rights.
For their bravery alone, these women deserve the Nobel Peace Prize,
which I earnestly urge the Nobel Committee to award them.
The Chinese Government has responded by putting the Tiananmen Mothers
under house arrest and prohibited them from marking the June 4
anniversary in an appropriate manner. Once again, the government has
made a shortsighted decision, repression, not dialogue.
I am proud, Mr. Speaker, that the Congress of the United States
stands today united with the victims of the Tiananmen massacre and with
the families of the victims who will one day be feted as heroes in a
free and democratic China. I wish that Europe would stand with the
Tiananmen victims as well.
Instead, the European Union is running headlong towards lifting the
arms embargo it imposed on China, along with the United States, after
the Tiananmen killings. In their desperate quest to earn some euros
from the arms trade, France and Germany are pressuring the rest of the
European Union to open the floodgates of weapons sales to China.
Mr. Speaker, the weapons that the Europeans will sell to the Chinese
will be used to intimidate those who wish to speak out for freedom and
to kill those who refuse to be intimidated. These weapons may also be
used against American forces some day if we are ever called on to
defend Taiwan against an unprovoked attack by the mainland.
Mr. Speaker, the member states of the European Union appear to have
lost their moral compass; and they have forgotten that developed,
democratic nations must make policy decisions which benefit human
rights and international security but may harm mercantile interests
back at home. It is my hope that this June 4th the European Union
remembers those who were sacrificed in and around Tiananmen
[[Page H3687]]
Square 15 years ago and will refuse to yield to Chinese pressure.
With passage of our resolution, we will tell those who continue to
battle for truth, justice and freedom in China that we have not
forgotten their cause. I strongly support the passage of this
resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of our time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), the chairman of the
Select Committee on Homeland Security. He is the prime sponsor of this
resolution, and we appreciate his leadership on this issue and on human
rights in China.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for the time.
I thank the gentleman from California and the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Pelosi), who is the cosponsor of this resolution
commemorating the 15th anniversary of Tiananmen Square.
That day in June of 1989 is, of course, remembered for the tragedy,
but it should also be remembered as one of the high points in the
progress towards democracy in human rights in the People's Republic of
China. Because prior to the troops crushing the demonstrators and their
message, the message had already spread all over China, and looked at
in a grander scale of time, there is no question what ultimately can
and must happen here. The troops may have won the battle that day
against the Chinese people, but they will not win the war so long as we
remember, and we will never forget. So we are today commemorating this
anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
At the same time, we are supporting the people of China in their
struggle for human rights. These democracy demonstrations that began in
Beijing in April of 1989 spread quickly to other major cities and
provinces throughout China. They were an inspiration to the world.
As Communist regimes were falling in Russia and East Germany and
Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, across Eurasia,
the people of China were also seizing the moment to move to the next
step in the development of their astounding civilization.
The statue of the Goddess of Democracy showed the world that China's
glorious civilization and their extraordinary and wonderful culture for
which we all owe a great debt of gratitude would advance still further
in the 21st century so that the Chinese people would have a form of
government worthy of that culture and that civilization. Finally, after
centuries of feudalism, colonialism and foreign interference, the
people of China would have genuine human rights, the freedom of
association, the freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of
religion, and the freedom to choose their own leaders.
When the Chinese Army injured or killed hundreds of unarmed
civilians, some people insisted that this showed the true face of
China, but, of course, it did not. The true face of China was shown in
the statue of the Goddess of Democracy. The true face of China was
shown in those demonstrations throughout the provinces and all the
major cities in the country.
We want China to become a trustworthy member of the international
community; and in some respects, certainly compared to cultural
revolution and the reign of terror under Mao, things in China are much
improved.
Yet contrary to the drumbeat sounded by some advocates of engagement,
this resolution warns that China's willingness to engage in the world
economy has not yet translated into evolution toward democracy nor even
an improvement in the Chinese people's religious, human or worker
rights.
I will never forget the audience I had with Jiang Zemin in the Great
Hall of the People when I asked him, because they were then advertising
the village elections that they were having as a step on the road to
democracy, when might we have elections in China for a mayor or a city
council. He said to me, not for at least 20 years. I still do not know
to this day whether that is exactly what he said, because he might just
as well have said not in my lifetime. It would have been literally a
correct translation.
Here we are many years later, and there have been no steps towards
that kind of authentic democracy. In fact, in Hong Kong, where that
kind of democracy under the one-country, two-systems model is eminently
possible and achievable and where the people of Hong Kong wish devoutly
to achieve that result, Beijing has just insisted, in violation of
their guarantee in 1997 of the high degree of autonomy to the people of
Hong Kong, that there will not be universal suffrage and free elections
for the chief executive or for a legislative council in 2007 and 2008.
With this resolution, Congress shows we remember and we will not
forget. We insist that our country's China policy promote freedom,
human rights and the rule of law, religious and political freedom, free
expression, free trade and free markets.
Our long-standing friendship with China can only reach its full
potential when the Chinese people enjoy these freedoms. These freedoms
increasingly flourish along China's borders. Peace and security for the
Chinese people and all their neighbors are essential preconditions for
true political, social and economic progress.
Mr. Speaker, the PRC cannot seek a spirit of cooperation between our
governments, as they claim to want during a recent visit by Vice
President Cheney, and at the same time so horribly mistreat their own
people. Americans, as friends of the people of China, are happy to hear
words about the PRC's government's commitment to human rights. We are
happy to see their proposal of new amendments to their constitution
further guaranteeing these human rights, but unless these words are
reflected in deeds, they are meaningless.
The reflections published in the Wall Street Journal today by Wang
Dan, one of the leaders of the 1989 Chinese democracy movement, were
poignant. He said, ``It is clear to me as never before that the
Tiananmen massacre was an unavoidable step in the long path to a free
China and that true political reform can never come from within the
Communist Party.''
{time} 1900
He lamented that ``Communist leaders, be they conservatives or
reformists, are all wedded to retaining the current political system,
complete with its problems such as corruption and lack of
accountability. And far from easing its iron grip on all forms of
political dissent, the new leadership now seems intent on extending it
to Hong Kong.''
It is striking, with all of the progress that we have seen in other
areas, that the current Communist Party leaders in China have
repudiated nothing that happened 15 years ago. As Wang Dan points out,
that is because they understand ``that reevaluating the official
description of the 1989 movement as counterrevolutionary would shake
the foundations of the Communists' grip on power.''
Is it not a terrible irony that the current leaders of the People's
Republic of China have their power because of the system that was
enforced through these brutal means in 1989.
One of the demonstrators, one of the organizers of what happened in
Tiananmen Square, a student at the time, is now Dr. Yang Jianli. He and
his wife and his two children have lived here in America for many years
because he suffered under the punishment, as so many Chinese freedom
fighters, democracy activists do of exile. It is a horrible form of
punishment. You can never go back to your own country again. So he was
banished and lived here in America.
He decided that he wanted to go back to China; and when he set foot
in the country, he was arrested. He has been in jail, held
incommunicado, held without access to legal counsel or any of the legal
rights guaranteed him even under PRC law, for the last 2 years. His
children have not seen their father. His wife, Christina Fu, is well
known to many of us here because she has helped us enact resolutions
that this Congress has passed in a show of support for the basic human
rights that any human being, and certainly this American resident, is
entitled to. His crime, of course, was supporting freedom and
democracy. It has been nearly a year since the House of Representatives
enacted House Resolution 199 by a unanimous vote of 412 to nothing.
This legislation condemned and deplored the detention of Dr. Yang
Jianli
[[Page H3688]]
and the lack of due process afforded him. It called on the Government
of the People's Republic of China to release him immediately and
unconditionally. The Bush administration has made the release of Dr.
Yang one of its most important priorities, and the Vice President
raised this at his recent summit. Yet the PRC has continued to violate
its own law and to act without regard to international condemnation.
In 2003, the United Nations, through its Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention, which I should point out is a group that includes Algeria,
France, Paraguay, Hungary, and even Iran, a very diverse group,
concluded that in this case continuing to hold Dr. Yang is a violation
of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The U.N. working group clearly
and specifically declared that Yang Jianli's detention was illegal.
It is not just that he is being detained; it is that he is being
abused. He is being virtually deprived of his human rights even as a
prisoner. Not only was he arbitrarily placed for lengthy periods in
solitary confinement; he was handcuffed for so long that his wrists
bled. He was denied access even to books, newspapers, not to mention a
lawyer.
Releasing Dr. Yang would be a small, but important, gesture that the
Communist Government had learned something since Tiananmen Square. No
such gesture, Mr. Speaker, has come.
As we remember Tiananmen Square, we must remember that there are
many, many cases like Dr. Yang's. In fact, there are many, many cases
of those who were murdered, tortured, and who are still in prison
today. We must remind the dictators of the world yet again that
individual freedom of expression is no mere internal affair of a
government. It is a human right shared by all peoples and recognized by
all civilized nations.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the passage by this House of this
important resolution marking this sad anniversary, but this joyful
anniversary that eventually will see freedom in China.
Article 19 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human
Rights explicitly guarantees the freedom to ``receive and impart
information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.''
According to Amnesty International, a growing number of Chinese
people are being detained or sentenced for peacefully expressing their
views or downloading information on the Internet. The detained include
students, political dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, workers,
writers, lawyers, teachers, civil servants, former police officers,
engineers, and businessmen.
Signing online petitions, calling for reform and an end to
corruption, planning to set up a pro-democracy party, publishing
``rumours about SARS,'' communicating with groups abroad, opposing the
persecution of the Falun Gong and calling for a review of the 1989
crackdown on the democracy protests are all examples of activities
considered by the PRC's dictatorial regime to be ``subversive'' or a
danger to ``state security.'' Such charges almost always result in
prison sentences.
China is also renowned for aggressive censorship of the Internet. Web
sites of human rights organizations, and numerous international news
sites are regularly blocked by government-controlled routers.
There is a role for the United States to play in this fight for free
expression. We can promote the exchange of ideas and disseminate
accurate information. Our efforts to do so behind the Iron Curtain were
instrumental in empowering citizens living under Soviet Communist rule.
It is now time to focus our efforts on a different Communist regime and
a new technology.
The ability of people around the world to freely access news and
information via the Internet may be the greatest threat to tyranny and
the most powerful weapon possessed by free people that we have seen in
our lifetimes. Indeed, Internet access is rapidly expanding in China.
According to official statistics, the number of Internet users had
risen to 79.5 million by December 2003 from 59.1 million users in
December 2002--an increase of 34.5 percent.
But, just as Communist governments during the Cold War sought to keep
uncensored news from their people by jamming Radio Free Europe and
Radio Liberty, the government of China today retains strict control
over the information Chinese citizens can access on the Internet.
During the past few years, Beijing has passed sweeping regulations that
prohibit unauthorized news and commentary on Internet sites, and
officials arrest and imprison those who violate these laws. Authorities
in China routinely block websites they believe a danger to their hold
on power, including those of dissident groups and foreign news
organizations, like the Washington Post, the New York Times, the BBC,
and the Voice of America.
Dictatorial regimes like China have been aggressively blocking access
to the Internet with technologies such as firewalls, filters, and so-
called black boxes. In addition, these oppressive governments monitor
Internet, email, and message boards for key words. They also develop
lists of users who visit particular sites, and when they believe that a
web user or publisher is a threat to their power, they don't hesitate
to act on this information.
According to Human Rights Watch, Chinese web publisher Huang Qi,
after enduring a 3-year detention, was finally sentenced last summer to
5 years in prison for the crime of subversion. What was he publishing?
The online equivalent of our milk carton notices about missing persons.
He had dared to create a website at which people could share
information about missing friends and family members and he actually
helped rescue several young girls who had been abducted and sold into
marriage. Because his site also featured criticism of several state-run
agencies, he now spends his days in prison.
The U.S. private sector is developing a number of technologies to
combat Internet blocking. Unfortunately, the U.S. government has
contributed few resources to assist these efforts and to put the new
technologies to use.
That is why I joined Congressman Tom Lantos, Senator Jon Kyl, and
Senator Ron Wyden in authoring H.R. 48, the Global Internet Freedom
Act, which would create a new Office of Global Internet Freedom within
the International Broadcasting Bureau. The Office would develop and
implement a global strategy to combat state-sponsored and state-
directed Internet jamming and persecution of those who use the
Internet. The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which passed the
House on July 16, 2003 but has been stymied by the other body,
authorizes $8 million per year for the Office of Global Internet
Freedom.
With the Global Internet Freedom Act, within the larger State
Department bill, Congress can authorize $8 million annually to the
proposed Office of Global Internet Freedom so that the U.S. can devote
more resources to ensuring worldwide access to information and give
those who strive for true freedom the tools they need to outwit the
thought police.
The Chinese people certainly still need these tools, because the
thought police in Beijing have obviously not learned from the SARS
tragedy. While some might have hoped that this deadly lesson would lead
to greater openness on the part of the regime--and perhaps some
restraint in its ongoing campaign to block the free exchange of
information via the Internet and other media--recent events suggest
that the tyrants of Beijing are moving in the other direction.
Despite the early release of several high-profile Tibetan dissidents,
suppression of political dissent and restrictions on religious freedom
continue throughout Tibet and neighboring areas of the PRC. According
to the Tibet Information Network, those early releases were quickly
off-set by further arrests of Tibetan dissidents in other Chinese
provinces. For instance, a popular singer was detained in March 204
because of the political content of his songs, and in February, a young
monk was arrested at his monastery for possessing a photograph of the
Dalai Lama.
Meanwhile, in northwest China, the international war against
terrorism is used to justify harsh repression in Xinjiang, home to
China's mainly Muslim Uighur community. Several mosques have been
closed, use of the Uighur language has been restricted and certain
Uighur books and journals have been banned. The crackdown against
suspected ``separatists, terrorists and religious extremists''
intensified following the start of a renewed security crack-down in
October 2003. Arrests continue and hundreds of dissidents remain in
prison.
Members of unofficial spiritual or religious groups, including some
Qi Gong groups and unregistered Christian groups, continue to be
arbitrarily detained, tortured and ill-treated. Detained Falun Gong
practitioners, including large numbers of women, are at risk of
torture, including sexual abuse, particularly if they refuse to
renounce their beliefs.
It is fitting that, as we debate this resolution, the Victims of
Communism Memorial is nearing construction on Capitol Hill. The
Memorial, which will commemorate this struggle by paying tribute to
more than 100 million victims of Communist atrocities around the world,
will prominently feature a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue
created by pro-freedom activists in Tiananmen Square, in addition to an
eternal flame to the victims of Communism and bronze panels with quotes
from heroes of the Cold War.
Wang Dan said, ``The 1989 student movement played an invaluable role
in pointing out the path to democracy in China. Without it, we would
still be clinging to the myth that a small
[[Page H3689]]
group of enlightened Communist officials could rescue China from
totalitarian rule. Instead we have learned from our mistakes that year,
and realized that China's democratization must be a bottom-up process,
driven by forces outside the Communist system.''
Today, on a bipartisan basis, Congress stands united in support of
freedom for the people of China. Fifteen years ago, Tiananmen Square
marked not only a tragedy, but a decisive turning point in the fight
for freedom. People's Liberation Army troops won the battle against the
Chinese people that day, but they will surely lose the war to imprison
the human spirit--because we will never forget. The day will soon come
when all of the Chinese people will have the right to speak and debate
freely. The hope symbolized by the Goddess of Democracy will ultimately
triumph.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield such time as he may
consume to my good friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos) for yielding me this time.
I want to thank, first of all, the sponsor of the resolution, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), for a very eloquent statement, and
my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos), for his very eloquent statement and for a long-standing
commitment to human rights in China, as well as everywhere else in the
world where those rights are abridged.
I just want to make a couple of points very briefly. I would hope
that every Member, and I am sure they will by the time this is voted
upon with a recorded vote, probably tomorrow, to read, those who have
not read the full text. And I commend the maker of this resolution, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), for being so comprehensive not
just in the whereases but in the operative clauses.
He mentioned, I think a moment ago, about the Tiananmen mothers. They
sent videos to Geneva to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. And because
they presented a video to those who were there supposedly gathering
information about human rights abuses anywhere and everywhere in the
world where there is abuse, for that these Tiananmen mothers were not
only arrested, and were subsequently, we understand, let go, but they
now are being watched.
These are the mothers who have lost loved ones, sons or daughters, in
Tiananmen Square and the days that followed. And the burden they carry
having lost their loved ones is only exacerbated by the cruelty of the
mothers now being harassed by the dictatorship in Beijing.
The resolution also calls for the release of Dr. Yang Jianli, another
veteran of the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, who has been illegally
detained in China for over 2 years, so that he may be reunited with his
wife and two children in the United States. It is time to let Dr. Yang
go, and I hope that the Chinese get that message very, very quickly
from what I hope will be a very bipartisan support for this resolution.
It also calls upon nations participating in the 2008 Olympics to use
the opportunities created by the games to urge China to fully comply
with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. I would remind my
colleagues that when the Chinese wanted the Olympics 2000, they let out
some very prominent dissidents, including Wei Jingsheng. I happened to
be in Beijing on a human rights trip when he was let out. I met with
him. When they did not get the Olympics, they went back and rearrested
him and put him back into the Laogai and into the gulag in China. A
very cynical approach.
This time they got the Olympics, and they did nothing whatsoever to
deserve them. So, hopefully, the venue of the 2008 Olympics will be
used by those who care about human dignity and human rights to raise
these issues very substantively.
There is also the issue of asking for the establishment of a June 4
investigation committee. There has been an absolutely absurd whitewash
of what happened the day of June 4 and the days that subsequently
followed as a result of the Tiananmen Square massacre and all of the
killings that occurred afterwards. The Chinese Government has made part
of their three noes, or nonmentionables, the idea you cannot even
mention Tiananmen Square; and if you do, you will suffer their
brutality.
This is a very, very important resolution. Again, I want to thank the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for his graciousness in yielding
this additional time to me. We have no further speakers, and I yield
back to the gentleman.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This Congress always does its best work when it stands united. On
this issue, my colleagues, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith)
and the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Pelosi), and I stand shoulder to shoulder in striking a
blow for freedom for the Chinese people.
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, over the past couple of months, I have been
working with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation as they and
the National Park Service have searched for a suitable location for the
Victims of Communism Memorial here in our Nation's Capital. The
memorial, authorized by P.L. 103-199, will honor over 100 million
victims of communist atrocities around the world.
With a death toll greater than that of all of the wars of the 20th
century combined, communism has cast a shadow of terror from Berlin to
Beijing, from Hanoi to Havana. The struggle of men and women against
communism in these and other places must not be forgotten. As the
world's leader in challenging Communist oppression, the United States
cannot afford to forget the cost of communism and the reason for our
struggle against it.
The Victims of Communism Memorial will commemorate this struggle by
paying tribute to those who have lost their lives to Communist tyranny.
An enduring reminder of their sacrifice, the memorial will stand as a
testimony to future generations of Americans, a solemn remembrance of
the lives lost to Communist oppression and of the purpose of our
Nation's fight against communism and for the cause of freedom.
This story is not only an international story but also an American
story. An estimated 26 million Americans trace their origins to former
Communist countries.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has designed a memorial
featuring a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue created by pro-
freedom activists in Tiananmen Square, including an eternal flame to
the memory of the victims of communism and bronze panels with quotes
from heroes of the cold war. This design is still pending approval of
federal commissions.
The Chinese Embassy recently contacted the National Park Service to
express objection to the design's use of the Goddess of Democracy
statue, stating that it is an ``anti-China sign.'' This week, as we
remember the fifteenth anniversary of the tragic events in Tiananmen
Square and the democracy protestors who stood their ground there, we
remember the importance of that statue--not as a symbol that is ``anti-
China'' but as one that is pro-democracy and pro-freedom. That statue
represented the hopes of a people for democracy and freedom in their
land. Their courage and sacrifice in standing firm in these hopes have
inspired people around the world. A replica of their Goddess of
Democracy statue will be a fitting element of the memorial
commemorating the millions who have struggled against communism and for
freedom.
H. Res. 655 condemns the crackdown of those who stood for these
freedoms in Tiananmen Square. With the Victims of Communism Memorial,
we look to honor all who have suffered as they stood for freedom in the
face of Communist tyranny. I urge my colleagues to support these
efforts.
We here have the great blessing of living in a country built on the
ideals of democracy. We do well to remember that there are others in
the world who have not enjoyed the same freedoms. May we never forget
their suffering nor take for granted the ``land of the free'' in which
we live.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Feeney). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 655.
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. Mr. 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.
____________________