[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 9, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA TO END ITS CRACKDOWN IN TIBET

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                               speech of

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 8, 2008

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I rise to express my deep concern over the 
recent crackdown in Tibet by the Chinese government. I strongly believe 
that America must be a country that speaks out on behalf of those who 
cannot speak for themselves--men and women who are being persecuted for 
their religious or political beliefs.
  Every person on earth has certain inalienable rights. In a 1987 
Constitution Day speech, Ronald Reagan noted that the U.S. Constitution 
has been described ``as a kind of covenant. It is a covenant we've made 
not only with ourselves but with all of mankind.'' America has a 
profound responsibility to keep this covenant and to stand up for 
freedom in the world's darkest corners.
  China is a perfect example of a place where these rights are not 
being protected. The China of today is worse than the China of 
yesterday, or of last year, or of the last decade. China is not 
progressing. It is regressing. It is more violent, more repressive, and 
more resistant to democratic values than ever before.
  The Cardinal Kung Foundation reports that in 2007, 35 Roman Catholic 
bishops were in jail, under house arrest, or harassed and put under 
surveillance. In 2007, the Chinese government arrested 693 Christians 
that we know of. Renowned human rights advocate and Uyghur Muslim 
Rebiya Kadeer has watched from exile as the Chinese government arrests 
and beats her family members in her homeland. Since the crackdown on 
Falun Gong began in 1999, untold numbers of Falun Gong practitioners 
have been arrested, imprisoned and tortured.
  The Tibetans have suffered terribly over the years at the hands of 
the Chinese government. Tibet is gradually, but brutally, being 
subsumed by China. Inch by inch, this region, its people, its culture, 
its religion, even its language is growing fainter and fainter and 
could one day disappear as the Chinese government persists in trying to 
liquidate Tibetan culture and presence in China.
  The reports and images of this most recent crackdown in Tibet are 
deeply disturbing. Tibetan Buddhist monks and Tibetan youth have been 
beaten down in the street and rounded up in house-to-house searches for 
protesting China's rule of the Tibet region. Scores of Tibetans are 
believed to have been killed in the violence, and hundreds of Tibetans 
have been arrested by Chinese police for participating in protests.
  Given this legacy of violence and discrimination by the Chinese 
government, I'm not surprised it would crack down with such brutal 
force against these Tibetan protestors. My outrage at what China is 
doing in Tibet led me to visit Tibet in 1997, and I have seen first-
hand the repression the Tibetans live under.
  And despite all of its abhorrent acts, China was still awarded the 
honor of hosting the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic Games are an event 
designed to lift up ``the educational value of good example and respect 
for universal fundamental ethical principles,'' according to its own 
charter.
  Does China's behavior sound like a ``good example'' to the rest of 
the world? Or that it is reflecting ``fundamental ethical principles'' 
that all nations should aspire to? It is because of China's actions 
that I cannot support the President or other senior U.S. officials 
attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
  While I have strenuously urged the President not to attend the 
Olympics, I know I cannot stop the President from going. But I am 
offering language in the 2008 emergency supplemental appropriations 
bill to prohibit U.S. government officials and employees from attending 
the Beijing Olympics on the taxpayers' dime.
  The political prisoners in China and Chinese dissidents around the 
world will be deeply demoralized by what the Chinese government will 
surely portray as symbolic support for its regime if senior American 
officials attend the games.
  Some say that the protection of human rights is secondary to 
attaining economic power and wealth. We must reject that notion. China 
poses a threat not only to its own citizens, but to the entire world.

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