[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 161 (Wednesday, December 8, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2092-E2093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRATULATING LIU XIAOBO ON NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 7, 2010

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo is a personal 
tragedy, a national shame, and an international challenge. The answer 
is clear: Mr. Liu should be released immediately.
  For his more than two decades of advocating for freedom of speech, 
assembly, religion, peaceful democratic reform, transparency and 
accountability in China, Mr. Liu is serving an eleven-year sentence in 
a Chinese prison for ``inciting subversion of state power.'' Those in 
China, like Mr. Liu, who have penned thoughtful essays or signed 
Charter 08 seek to advance debate, as the Charter states, on ``national 
governance, citizens' rights, and social development'' consistent with 
their ``duty as responsible and constructive citizens.'' Their 
commitment and contribution to their country must be recognized, as the 
Nobel Committee has done, and as we do today, and their rights must be 
protected.
  The Chinese government has said that awarding the Nobel Prize to Liu 
Xiaobo ``shows a lack of respect for China's judicial system.'' I would 
like to take a moment to examine this claim. For it seems to me that 
what truly showed a lack of respect for China's judicial system were 
the numerous and well-documented violations of Chinese legal 
protections

[[Page E2093]]

for criminal defendants that marred Mr. Liu's trial from the outset. I 
refer here to matters such as the failure of Chinese prosecutors 
adequately to consult defense lawyers, and the speed with which 
prosecutors acted in indicting Mr. Liu and bringing him to trial, 
effectively denying his lawyers sufficient time to review the state's 
evidence and to prepare for his defense. Chinese officials prevented 
Mr. Liu's wife from attending his trial, in which she had hoped to 
testify on behalf of her husband. Mr. Liu's lawyers reportedly were 
ordered by state justice officials not to grant interviews. It is these 
abuses committed by Chinese officials in China, not the actions of a 
committee in Oslo, that demonstrated ``a lack of respect for China's 
judicial system.''
  All nations have the responsibility to ensure fairness and 
transparency in judicial proceedings. The effective implementation of 
basic human rights and the ability of all people in China to live under 
the rule of law depend on careful attention to, and transparent 
compliance with, procedural norms and safeguards that meet 
international standards. I serve as Cochairman of the Congressional-
Executive Commission on China (CECC). The Commission's Political 
Prisoner Database, which is available to the public on-line via the 
Commission's web site, www.cecc.gov, contains information on thousands 
of political prisoners in China. These are individuals who have been 
imprisoned by the Chinese government for exercising their civil and 
political rights under China's Constitution and laws or under China's 
international human rights obligations. The enhancement of the database 
that the Commission announced this past summer roughly doubled the 
types of information available to the public, enabling individuals, 
organizations, and governments to better report on political 
imprisonment in China and to more effectively advocate on behalf of 
Chinese political prisoners. And people around the world have been 
using the database to do just that. The number of ``hits'' to the 
database from individual users, NGOs, academic institutions and 
governments around the world has skyrocketed. The database makes clear 
that political imprisonment in China is well-documented, it is a 
practice whereby the Chinese government has shown disrespect for the 
law not only in Liu Xiaobo's case, but in thousands of other cases, and 
it must end.
  Unfortunately, the end to political imprisonment in China does not 
appear likely at this time. Since the Nobel Committee's announcement, 
Mr. Liu's wife, Liu Xia, has been harassed relentlessly, and remains 
confined virtually incommunicado under what appears to be house arrest. 
In the weeks following the Nobel Committee's announcement, there have 
been over 100 documented incidents in which Chinese citizens have been 
harassed, interrogated, subjected to police surveillance, detained or 
placed under house arrest for their expressions of support for Liu. 
Articles in China's official state-run media have attacked the Nobel 
committee and painted a harshly negative portrait of Liu. Chinese 
authorities have attempted to limit the dissemination of information 
about Liu's receiving the Nobel Prize. Chinese officials have censored 
unauthorized references to Liu on the Internet and cell phones and 
blocked access to news about Liu from outside China. Chinese officials 
have imposed severe travel restrictions on Chinese activists, scholars, 
and lawyers whom they fear will attempt to attend the Nobel peace prize 
award ceremony in Norway on December 10. In the last month, Beijing 
police reportedly have prevented leading scholars and lawyers from 
boarding flights to attend international conferences for fear they will 
attend the Nobel peace prize award ceremony. Other public intellectuals 
physically have been prevented by police from meeting foreign 
reporters.
  The Director of the Nobel Institute said China's pressure on other 
governments to boycott this year's ceremony has been unprecedented in 
his twenty years as Director. China's G20 negotiator said that 
countries sending officials to attend the award ceremony honoring Mr. 
Liu must be ready to ``accept the consequences.'' Diplomats report that 
the Chinese Embassy in Oslo has sent official letters to foreign 
embassies in the Norwegian capital asking them not to make statements 
in support of Liu, and not to attend the Nobel awards ceremony on 
December 10. This is not the behavior of a strong, responsible 
government.
  As Liu Xia said the morning her husband was selected to receive the 
Nobel Prize, ``China's new status in the world comes with increased 
responsibility. China should embrace this responsibility, and have 
pride in his selection and release him from prison.'' As Nobel laureate 
Vaclav Havel correctly noted, ``intimidation, propaganda, and 
repression are no substitute for reasoned dialogue. . . .'' And as 
Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu recently wrote together with Vaclav Havel:

       We know that many wrongs have been perpetrated against 
     China and its people throughout history. But awarding the 
     Nobel Peace Prize to Liu is not one of them. Nor is the 
     peaceful call for reform from the more than 10,000 Chinese 
     citizens who dared to sign Charter 08. . . . China has a 
     chance to show that it is a forward-looking nation, and can 
     show the world that it has the confidence to face criticism 
     and embrace change. . . . This is a moment for China to open 
     up once again, to give its people the ability to compete in 
     the marketplace of ideas. . . .

  I take particular note of the words of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, 
who, in a recent interview with CNN, stated:

       Freedom of speech is indispensable. . . . The people's 
     wishes for, and needs for, democracy and freedom are 
     irresistible.''

  Sadly, the Chinese government clearly has shown the world, through 
its mistreatment of Liu Xiaobo and countless others, that Premier Wen's 
words are not the basis for government action in China.
  This Resolution shines a light on the Chinese government's failure to 
enforce basic human rights, and underlines that China once again is at 
an important crossroads, and seems to be turning in the wrong 
direction. This has implications not only for the development of 
institutions of democratic governance in China, but also for the United 
States in managing our relations with China.
  I am pleased to co-sponsor this important Resolution.

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