[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 120 (Monday, July 17, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WHAT WE ALL OWE TO LIU XIAOBO

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 17, 2017

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, Liu Xiaobo's premature death 
was a jarring shock to everyone who admired this champion of freedom 
and democracy. We mourn his loss because it is a tragic loss for his 
wife, family and friends and a catastrophic loss for China and the 
entire world.
   We owe Liu Xiaobo a debt of gratitude because he demonstrated that 
the noble ideas of democracy and due process, liberty and the rule of 
law are not foreign ideas in China.
   These are universal principles that beat strongly in the hearts of 
people everywhere from New Jersey to the Ninevah plains of Iraq, from 
Poland to Peru, and from Burma to Beijing.
   We owe Liu Xiaobo a debt of gratitude because he reminded us that 
the desire for democracy and human rights is shared by everyone because 
each person is endowed by the Creator with inalienable rights.
   The Chinese Communist Party has tried to curtail his ideas, they 
call them dangerous and subversive, and they seek to silence, censor, 
and repress them. Yet, they live on in the hearts of untold millions of 
Chinese people.
   With Liu Xiaobo's death, we are also reminded of the words of Dr. 
Martin Luther King who said ``injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
everywhere.'' We should all agree that what was done to Liu Xiaobo and 
his wife Liu Xia was a grave injustice.
   Liu Xiaobo's imprisonment in 2009 became a death sentence. The blame 
for this should lie squarely on the Chinese government and for his 
death they alone should be held accountable.
   Liu Xiaobo was the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to die in state 
custody since Carl von Ossietzky died after being held in a Nazi 
concentration camp.
   The Chinese government complained that it was ``stabbed in the 
back'' by those expecting it to deal quickly with its client state in 
North Korea. How shameful it is to play the victim card while a victim 
of their own repression lay dying.
   No nation should be judged entirely by crimes of the past, but this 
crime--the death and silencing of Liu Xiaobo--should follow the Chinese 
Communist Party like an unwashable, permanent stain.
   We must never forget Liu Xiaobo's enduring contributions--whether 
during the Tiananmen Massacre where he helped save the lives of many 
students or with Charter 08--the treatise urging political and legal 
reforms in China based on constitutional principles.
   We must not forget Liu Xiaobo; we must advance and preserve his 
legacy, and repeatedly confront the Chinese Communist Party with his 
ideas and memory.
   In this time of need we must signal the Congress's unanimous support 
for Liu Xiaobo's family, his wife Liu Xia, and all those bravely 
standing up for human rights and liberty in China.
   I was invited by Liu Xiaobo's family to attend the 2010 Nobel Peace 
Prize ceremony. It was a moving ceremony; the now famous empty chair 
spoke volumes about the Chinese Communist Party's abiding fear that 
human rights and democracy will undermine its power.
   I will always remember the words of Liu Xiaobo's speech that day 
about the importance of pressing for human rights: ``Freedom of 
expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, 
and the mother of truth. To strangle freedom of speech is to trample on 
human rights, stifle humanity, and suppress truth.''
   And he also expressed his hopes for China's future: ``. . . I firmly 
believe that China's political progress will not stop, and I, filled 
with optimism, look forward to the advent of a future free China. For 
there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, 
and China will in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human 
rights reign supreme.''
   Liu Xiaobo will, sadly, never see a free China. Chinese authorities 
have gone to great lengths to stifle his ideas and those who followed 
him. In recent years, the government of President Xi Jinping has 
engaged in an extraordinary assault on the rule of law, human rights, 
ethnic minority groups, and civil society.
   As China's economic and military might grows, more and more 
countries will be afraid to raise subjects that the Chinese Communist 
Party wants to make taboo.
   The U.S. stands alone--inadequate as its efforts are at times--in 
its willingness to keep on raising human rights issues that need to be 
raised. The U.S. cannot lightly shrug off the mantle of being 
democracy's defender, no matter how heavy that mantle may become.
   It is tempting to be pessimistic about China's future and the future 
of U.S.-China relations. But I am not pessimistic. Constant repression 
has not dimmed the desires of the Chinese people for freedom and 
reform. I attribute this fact, in part, to Liu Xiaobo's ideas and 
example.
   Nevertheless, the U.S. cannot be morally neutral or silent in the 
face of the Chinese government's repression of fundamental freedoms. 
Human rights are not a secondary interest, but one critically linked to 
U.S. economic and security interests.
   The U.S. must not shy away from meeting with China's other Nobel 
Laureate, the Dalai Lama, or other dissidents. We must use 
Congressionally authorized sanctions to hold Chinese officials 
accountable for torture and gross abuses. We must connect Internet and 
press freedoms as both economic and human rights priorities. And we 
must demand, repeatedly and clearly, that the unconditional release of 
political prisoners is in the interest of better U.S.-China relations.
   I believe that someday China will be free. Someday, the people of 
China will be able to enjoy all of their God-given rights. And a nation 
of free Chinese men and women will honor and celebrate Liu Xiaobo as a 
hero. He will be honored along with all others like him who have 
sacrificed so much, and so long, for freedom.

                          ____________________