[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 82 (Monday, June 4, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3688-S3689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 476--HONORING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE LATE FANG 
         LIZHI TO THE PEOPLE OF CHINA AND THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM

  Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kyl, Mr. McCain, Mr. 
Menendez, and Mr. Webb) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

[[Page S3689]]

                              S. Res. 476

       Whereas the Chinese scientist and democracy advocate, Fang 
     Lizhi, passed away at his home in Tucson, Arizona, on April 
     6, 2012;
       Whereas Fang Lizhi was born in February 1936 in Beijing, 
     China;
       Whereas, in 1952, Fang Lizhi enrolled in the Physics 
     Department of Peking University, where he met his future 
     wife, Li Shuxian, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 
     1955;
       Whereas, in 1955, Fang Lizhi openly questioned the lack of 
     independent thinking in China's education system and, in 
     1957, drafted a letter with Li Shuxian and other associates 
     proposing political reform;
       Whereas Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian were sentenced to hard 
     labor in 1957 and 1958, respectively, as victims of China's 
     Anti-Rightist Campaign;
       Whereas, during China's Cultural Revolution, Fang Lizhi and 
     other faculty members and students of the University of 
     Science and Technology of China were sentenced to 
     ``reeducation through labor'' in a coal mine and a brick 
     factory;
       Whereas, after he was again freed from confinement, Fang 
     Lizhi emerged as China's leading astrophysicist and wrote the 
     first modern Chinese-language cosmological studies, although 
     the theory of general relatively contradicted Communist 
     dogma;
       Whereas, when he was appointed as vice president of the 
     University of Science and Technology of China in 1984, Fang 
     Lizhi initiated a series of reforms intended to democratize 
     the management of the university and enhance academic 
     freedom;
       Whereas, in the winter of 1986 1987, when Chinese students 
     across China protested on behalf of democracy and human 
     rights, the Government of China fired Fang Lizhi from his 
     post at the University of Science and Technology of China and 
     subsequently purged him from the Communist party;
       Whereas when, in the wake of his purge, excerpts from Fang 
     Lizhi's speeches were distributed by authorities in China as 
     examples of ``bourgeois liberalism,'' his writings became 
     tremendously popular among Chinese students;
       Whereas, in February 1989, Fang Lizhi published an essay 
     entitled ``China's Despair and China's Hope,'' in which he 
     wrote, ``The road to democracy has already been long and 
     difficult, and is likely to remain difficult for many years 
     to come.'';
       Whereas, in this essay, Fang Lizhi also wrote that ``it is 
     precisely because democracy is generated from below--despite 
     the many frustrations and disappointments in our present 
     situation--I still view our future with hope'';
       Whereas, in the spring and early summer of 1989, Chinese 
     students gathered in Tiananmen Square to voice their support 
     for democracy, as well as to protest corruption in the 
     Chinese Communist Party;
       Whereas Fang Lizhi chose not to join the protests at 
     Tiananmen Square in order to demonstrate that the students 
     were acting autonomously;
       Whereas, from June 3 through 4, 1989, the Government of 
     China directed the People's Liberation Army to clear 
     Tiananmen Square of protestors, killing hundreds of students 
     and other civilians in the process;
       Whereas, the Government of China issued arrest warrants for 
     Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian after the Tiananmen Massacre, 
     accusing the pair of engaging in ``counterrevolutionary 
     propaganda'' and denouncing Fang as the ``instigator of chaos 
     which resulted in the deaths of many people'';
       Whereas, on June 5, 1989, Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian were 
     escorted by United States diplomats to the United States 
     Embassy in Beijing;
       Whereas, between June 1989 and June 1990, United States 
     diplomatic personnel under the leadership of Ambassador James 
     R. Lilley sheltered Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian at the United 
     States Embassy in Beijing, despite the many hardships it 
     imposed on the mission;
       Whereas, at a November 15, 1989, ceremony awarding Fang 
     Lizhi the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, Senator 
     Edward M. Kennedy said of Fang ``What Andrei Sakharov was in 
     Moscow, Fang Lizhi became in Beijing.'';
       Whereas, on June 25, 1990, Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian were 
     allowed to leave China for the United Kingdom and then the 
     United States;
       Whereas, in 1992, Fang Lizhi received an appointment as a 
     professor of physics at the University of Arizona in Tucson, 
     where he continued his research in astrophysics and 
     advocating for human rights in China;
       Whereas, in the years since June 4, 1989, a new generation 
     of Chinese activists has continued the struggle for democracy 
     in their homeland, working ``from below'' to protect the 
     rights of Chinese citizens, to increase the openness of the 
     Chinese political system, and to reduce corruption among 
     public officials; and
       Whereas, with the passing of Fang Lizhi, China and the 
     United States have lost a great scientist and one of the most 
     eloquent human rights advocates of the modern era: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) mourns the loss of Fang Lizhi;
       (2) honors the life, scientific contributions, and service 
     of Fang Lizhi to advance the cause of human freedom;
       (3) offers the deepest condolences of the Senate to the 
     family and friends of Fang Lizhi; and
       (4) stands with the people of China as they strive to 
     improve their way of life and create a government that is 
     truly democratic and respectful of international norms in the 
     area of human rights.

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