[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1476-H1478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 605) recognizing the continued persecution of Falun 
Gong practitioners in China on the 10th anniversary of the Chinese 
Communist Party campaign to suppress the Falun Gong spiritual movement 
and calling for an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, 
intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 605

       Whereas Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual 
     discipline founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992, which consists of 
     spiritual, religious, and moral teachings for daily life, 
     meditation, and exercise, based upon the principles of 
     truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance;
       Whereas according to the 2008 Annual Report of the 
     Congressional-Executive Commission on China, ``tens of 
     millions of Chinese citizens practiced Falun Gong in the 
     1990s and adherents to the spiritual movement inside of China 
     are estimated to still number in the hundreds of thousands 
     despite the government's ongoing crackdown,'' and other 
     estimates published in Western press place the number of 
     Falun Gong adherents currently in China at the tens of 
     millions;
       Whereas in 1996, Falun Gong books were banned in China and 
     state media began a campaign criticizing Falun Gong;
       Whereas in 1999, Chinese police began disrupting Falun Gong 
     morning exercises in public parks and began searching the 
     homes of Falun Gong practitioners;
       Whereas on April 25, 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong 
     practitioners gathered outside the State Council Office of 
     Petitions in Beijing, next to the Communist Party leadership 
     compound, to request that arrested Falun Gong practitioners 
     be released, the ban on publication of Falun Gong books be 
     lifted, and that Falun Gong practitioners be allowed to 
     resume their activities without government interference;
       Whereas on the same day, immediately after then-Premier Zhu 
     Rongji met with Falun Gong representatives in his office and 
     agreed to the release of arrested practitioners, Communist 
     Party Chairman Jiang Zemin criticized Zhu's actions and 
     ordered a crackdown on Falun Gong;
       Whereas in June 1999, Jiang Zemin ordered the creation of 
     the 6-10 office, an extrajudicial security apparatus, given 
     the mandate to ``eradicate'' Falun Gong;
       Whereas in July 1999, Chinese police began arresting 
     leading Falun Gong practitioners;
       Whereas on July 22, 1999, Chinese state media began a major 
     propaganda campaign to ban Falun Gong for ``disturbing social 
     order'' and warning Chinese citizens that the practice of 
     Falun Gong was forbidden;
       Whereas in October 1999, Party Chairman Jiang Zemin, 
     according to western press articles, ``ordered that Falun 
     Gong be branded as a `cult', and then demanded that a law be 
     passed banning cults'';
       Whereas Chinese authorities have devoted extensive time and 
     resources over the past decade worldwide to distributing 
     false propaganda claiming that Falun Gong is a suicidal and 
     militant ``evil cult'' rather than a spiritual movement which 
     draws upon traditional Chinese concepts of meditation and 
     exercise;
       Whereas on October 10, 2004, the House of Representatives 
     adopted by voice vote House Concurrent Resolution 304, which 
     had 75 bipartisan co-sponsors, titled ``Expressing the sense 
     of Congress regarding oppression by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China of Falun Gong in the United States 
     and in China,'' and that the text of this resolution noted 
     that ``the Chinese Government has also attempted to silence 
     the Falun Gong movement and Chinese prodemocracy groups 
     inside the United States'';
       Whereas, on October 18, 2005, highly respected human rights 
     attorney Gao Zhisheng wrote a letter to Chinese Communist 
     Party Chairman Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao calling for 
     an end to the persecution of Falun Gong and Chinese 
     authorities, in response, closed his law office and took away 
     his law license, with Chinese security forces suspected of 
     being directly involved in Mr. Gao's disappearance on 
     February 4, 2009;
       Whereas Gao Zhisheng's family has subsequently been granted 
     political asylum in the United States;
       Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture in its 
     fourth periodic report of China, issued on December 12, 2008, 
     stated that ``The State party should immediately conduct or 
     commission an independent investigation of the claims that 
     some Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to torture 
     and used for organ transplants and take measures, as 
     appropriate, to ensure that those responsible for such abuses 
     are prosecuted and punished.'';
       Whereas the Amnesty International 2008 annual report states 
     that ``Falun Gong practitioners were at particularly high 
     risk of torture and other ill-treatment in detention . . . 
     during the year 2007 over 100 Falun Gong practitioners were 
     reported to have died in detention or shortly after release 
     as a result of torture, denial of food or medical treatment, 
     and other forms of ill-treatment.'';
       Whereas according to the 2008 Department of State's Human 
     Rights Report on China, ``Some foreign observers estimated 
     that Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 
     250,000 officially recorded inmates in re-education through 
     labor (RTL) camps, while Falun Gong sources overseas placed 
     the number even higher.'';
       Whereas according to the 2008 Annual Report of the 
     Congressional-Executive Commission on China, ``The (Chinese) 
     central government intensified its nine-year campaign of 
     persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in the months 
     leading up to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.'';
       Whereas Falun Gong-related websites remain among the most 
     systematically and hermetically blocked by China's Internet 
     firewall; and
       Whereas, according to an April 2009 New York Times report, 
     ``In the past year, as many as 8,000 (Falun Gong) 
     practitioners have been detained, according to experts on 
     human rights, and at least 100 have died in custody'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) expresses sympathy to Falun Gong practitioners and 
     their family members who have suffered persecution, 
     intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and even death for the 
     past decade solely because of adherence to their personal 
     beliefs;
       (2) calls upon the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to immediately cease and desist from its campaign to 
     persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong 
     practitioners, to immediately abolish the 6-10 office, an 
     extrajudicial security apparatus given the mandate to 
     ``eradicate'' Falun Gong, and to immediately release Falun 
     Gong practitioners, detained solely for their beliefs, from 
     prisons and re-education through labor (RTL) camps, including 
     those practitioners who are the relatives of United States 
     citizens and permanent residents; and
       (3) calls upon the President and Members of Congress to 
     mark the 11th anniversary of Chinese official repression of 
     the Falun Gong spiritual movement appropriately and 
     effectively by publicly expressing solidarity with those 
     practitioners in China persecuted solely because of their 
     personal beliefs, and by meeting with Falun Gong 
     practitioners whenever and wherever possible to indicate that 
     support for freedom of conscience remains a fundamental 
     principle of the United States Government.

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


                             General Leave

  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, 
and yield myself such time as I may consume.

[[Page H1477]]

  This resolution recognizes the continued persecution of Falun Gong 
practitioners in China on the 11th anniversary of the government 
crackdown on the spiritual movement. I would like to thank my friend, 
the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), the ranking member of 
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for introducing this 
legislation and for her dedication to this issue.
  Since 1999, the Chinese government has undertaken a harsh campaign of 
suppression against the Falun Gong movement, banning its presence in 
China and banning it as an ``illegal cult.'' According to the 2009 
annual report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 
Chinese authorities ``conducted propaganda campaigns that deride Falun 
Gong, carried out strict surveillance of practitioners, detained and 
imprisoned large numbers of practitioners, and subjected some who 
refused to disavow Falun Gong to torture and other abuses in 
reeducation through labor facilities.'' According to the State 
Department's latest human rights report on China, the Falun Gong's core 
leadership was ``singled out for particularly harsh treatment,'' and 
simply believing in the discipline--without publicly practicing any of 
its tenets--was enough for practitioners to be punished or imprisoned.
  Falun Gong is a spiritual movement combining meditation and breathing 
exercises, with a doctrine loosely rooted in Buddhist and Daoist 
teachings. The Chinese government banned the group's existence and its 
practices in 1999, after thousands of practitioners gathered in Beijing 
to protest the government's restrictions on the group's activities. 
Chinese authorities are obsessed with eradicating the group because 
they believe it could pose a challenge to one-party rule and has the 
potential to generate social unrest and instability.
  This resolution calls upon the Chinese government to immediately end 
its decade-long campaign to prosecute, intimidate, and imprison Falun 
Gong practitioners solely because of their personal beliefs. It also 
calls on China to release those practitioners being held in prisons and 
labor camps throughout the country. Finally, this resolution expresses 
sympathy to Falun Gong followers and their family members for the 
suffering that has been inflicted on them at the hands of the Chinese 
government.
  I strongly support this resolution, and urge my colleagues to do the 
same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  It is a delight to work with my wonderful colleague from California, 
Ambassador Watson. We greatly regret that she will be retiring from the 
halls of Congress, but we look forward to working with her in another 
capacity.
  I am proud to rise, Mr. Speaker, as the author of this resolution, 
which addresses one of the most flagrant examples of systematic 
persecution against a particular group currently taking place. The 
Chinese Communist regime's obsessive and relentless hunting down of 
Falun Gong practitioners, which is a spiritual discipline based on 
truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, says a great deal about the 
insecurity and the paranoia of the current rulers in Beijing.
  While this resolution gives a detailed accounting from authoritative 
international sources of the last 11 years of Beijing's bloody 
crackdown on Falun Gong, there are two particular areas, Mr. Speaker, 
which I would like to address in greater detail. First is the issue of 
the penetration of agents of an alien Communist regime right here 
inside the United States to wage a campaign of repression against U.S. 
citizens. And, second, is the issue of coercive organ transplants 
involving a ``bloody harvest'' from Falun Gong practitioners inside 
China.
  How could one believe that diplomats of a foreign regime would 
collude with secret agents and thugs to suppress the constitutional 
right of our fellow citizens right here in America? Well, Mr. Speaker, 
clear evidence indicates that that is exactly what is happening with 
Chinese agents persecuting American Falun Gong practitioners in our own 
country.
  Just ask Bill Fang, who was assaulted on the streets of Chicago back 
in 2001, as he was peacefully demonstrating in front of the Chinese 
consulate. That assault led to a criminal conviction in the Circuit 
Court of Cook County. Or, just ask Judy Chen, the proud mother of two 
United States Marines then serving in Iraq, who was manhandled in May 
of 2008 by thugs with reported Chinese regime ties while she was 
handing out Falun Gong literature in front of a public library in 
Flushing, New York.

                              {time}  1615

  It is high time for our State Department to get tough and to let the 
Chinese regime know that any of its staff members who engage in 
activities in the U.S. incompatible with their diplomatic status, 
including encouraging such illegal acts, are persona non grata in the 
United States.
  On the issue of organ transplants, Mr. Speaker, it should be noted 
that this resolution cites the recommendation of the U.N. Committee on 
Torture, calling for an independent investigation ``into the claims 
that some Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to torture and 
used for organ transplants.''
  I would like to further point out that expert testimony given before 
a subcommittee on the Foreign Affairs Committee appears to corroborate 
the charges of coercive organ transplants in China. A hearing was held 
before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on September 
29, 2006, entitled ``Falun Gong: Organ Harvesting and China's Ongoing 
War on Human Rights.'' Committee witness Kirk Allison, Ph.D. of the 
University of Minnesota testified: ``In my meeting with practitioners 
in June 2006, evidence included transcripts of queries to identified 
hospitals and physicians on organ availability. Falun Gong sources were 
characterized as being of high quality and often available in as short 
a time as a week, and in some cases with a guarantee of a backup organ 
should the first fail.''
  The systematic killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs 
is almost too ghoulish to imagine. It seems incomprehensible that in 
the 21st century such barbaric acts could occur, a cruelty comparable 
to imperial Romans throwing Christian martyrs to be eaten by lions. The 
stark reality which this resolution addresses gives new meaning to the 
phrase ``butchers of Beijing.'' The Beijing regime of today engages in 
the barbaric repression of some of its own people simply because they 
seek to practice a peaceful spiritual discipline. Several hundred have 
reportedly died, and hundreds of thousands remain in detention in 
reeducation through labor camps. How can anyone seriously call these 
the actions of a responsible stakeholder? I strongly and 
enthusiastically urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may consume to 
the gentlewoman from California, Representative Lynn Woolsey, 
chairwoman of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce 
Protections and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. First of all, I would like to thank the two women who 
are here bringing this resolution to the House floor. It's so very 
important. I rise today in support of H. Res. 605, a resolution 
recognizing the continuing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 
China.
  In 2002, Mr. Speaker, I authored a resolution expressing the sense of 
the Congress regarding the Chinese Government's oppression of Falun 
Gong in the United States and in the People's Republic of China. Sadly, 
8 years later, the persecution continues. People are being sent to 
jail, to work camps and are assaulted for their practice of Falun Gong. 
China has claimed that the Falun Gong practitioners are ``disturbing 
social order'' and have labeled the practice an evil cult.
  International media reports have found that over 100 Falun Gong 
followers have died in the custody of the Chinese Government. All 
people, even those in China, have the internationally recognized 
freedoms of association and religion. The Chinese Government must put a 
stop to this inhumane persecution. I urge my colleagues, stand up for 
human rights and vote ``yes'' on this resolution, H. Res. 605.

[[Page H1478]]

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. 
Res. 605, defending the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners, 
savagely persecuted by the Chinese government, and thank my good friend 
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen for introducing this resolution.
  On the tenth anniversary of the Falun Gong's inspiring silent protest 
at Zhongnanhai many people still do not understand the savagery of the 
Mao-style campaign which the Communist Party unleashed in 1999.
  The story of a typical Falun Gong arrest is horrific: first the 
government beats them, later it tortures them, molesting and sometimes 
raping women, sends them to forced labor camps and then brainwashing 
classes, all the while a high-profile publicity campaign defames and 
humiliates them. And it has been documented that it has killed at least 
3,000 of the Falun Gong.
  Members of Falun Gong will not pretend to accept Marxism-Leninism, 
and so the government brands them an ``evil cult.'' They practice non-
violence, and the government assaults them with cattle prods. Their 
hearts are remarkably serene, and so the government engages in 
psychiatric torture.
  The Falun Gong are one of a wide array of religious faiths and 
spiritual groups in China, yet members of Falun Gong are the majority 
of all reported cases of torture and half of China's labor camp 
population--well over one hundred thousand of them.
  Many of the Falun Gong have fled to America, and the government has 
followed them here, cyber-attacking their American Web sites, 
installing agents in their midst, and raising crowds to harass and beat 
them, as happened last year in New York.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the invaluable things about this resolution is 
that it officially documents this Chinese-government sponsored violence 
on American soil, exercised against American citizens.
  We need to learn more about whether our government is doing 
everything it can to protect the Falun Gong here in America.
  I was in China last July, trying to visit human rights activists in 
the run-up to the Olympics. I remember going into an Internet cafe and 
trying to look up Falun Gong. You know the story: nothing. Search 
engines had been doctored. I wonder, if I were not a U.S. Congressman, 
would that search have gotten me identified, tracked, and tortured? 
After all, even foreign journalists who ask about Falun Gong have been 
arrested, and some have been beaten.
  And would U.S. companies have been involved in identifying me? Sadly, 
we know it for a well-documented fact, from a six-hour hearing I held 
in 2006, that some leading U.S. IT companies are involved in censoring 
the Chinese Internet and turn over personally identifying information 
to the Chinese Internet police, making it possible to track and 
imprison dissidents.
  I mention this because many members of Falun Gong are great heroes of 
Internet freedom. Several members have come to my office and 
demonstrated how they help millions of Chinese men and women break the 
so-called ``Great Firewall of China'' with which the Chinese government 
tries to cut its citizens off from the global Internet.
  Mr. Speaker, Falun Gong practitioners have been great witnesses of 
courage and peace. Again I thank Ms. Ros-Lehtinen for introducing this 
resolution.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 605, 
which condemns the Chinese government's targeted, persistent and 
egregious persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. This resolution was 
introduced last year to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 
Chinese Communist Party's campaign to suppress the Falun Gong spiritual 
movement. Sadly, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and anyone 
associated with them, including lawyers who try to defend their human 
rights, continues today.
  Since 1999, 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been sentenced to 
prison, over 100,000 were sentenced to re-education through labor 
camps, and at least 3,000 died while in police custody. They have been 
sent to special high security psychiatric hospitals for the 
``criminally insane'' against their will where torture has been widely 
reported. Lawyers trying to defend their rights have been harassed, 
beaten and attacked by police officers in order to intimidate them. One 
of China's most prominent human rights advocates, Gao Zhiseng, who has 
defended the rights of many individuals attacked for their religious 
beliefs, was detained by police in February 2009 and his whereabouts 
are still unknown. The government continues to deny any involvement in 
his case.
  The Government of China censors all media in China and actively 
opposes any information exposing its brutality and injustice. But the 
truth is clear to us today. This resolution is a testament to the 
millions of victims of the Chinese Communist Party that the Chinese 
government cannot hide the truth, and its victims will not be 
forgotten.
  This resolution also stands as a statement of the U.S. Congress's 
continued support for the inalienable right to freedom of religion and 
expression recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that 
applies to all people everywhere. To be taken seriously as a 
participant in the twenty-first century global economy, China must take 
the rights of their citizens seriously. Egregious injustices, such as 
those suffered by the Falun Gong practitioners and others targeted by 
the Chinese Communist Party, are unacceptable in a civilized world and 
must end today.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 605, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. WATSON. 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.

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