[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H4231-H4236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF THE VIOLENT SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY
PROTESTS IN TIANANMEN SQUARE AND ELSEWHERE IN CHINA
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree
to the resolution (H. Res. 393) remembering the victims of the violent
suppression of democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in
China on June 3 and 4, 1989, and calling on the Government of the
People's Republic of China to respect the universally recognized human
rights of all people living in China and around the World, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 393
Whereas, on June 4, 1989, a violent crackdown on peaceful
demonstrations held in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square
was carried out by the People's Liberation Army, following
orders given by the Government of the People's Republic of
China;
Whereas an estimated 1,000,000 people joined the protests
in Tiananmen Square and citizens in over 400 Chinese cities
staged similar protests calling for democratic reform,
including not only students, but also government employees,
journalists, workers, police officers, members of the armed
forces, and other citizens;
Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the
Government of the People's Republic of China to eliminate
corruption, accelerate economic and political reform, and
protect human rights, particularly the freedoms of expression
and assembly, issues that remain relevant in United States-
China relations 30 years later;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
takes active measures to deny its citizens the truth about
the Tiananmen Square massacre, including the blocking of
uncensored internet sites and social media commentary on
microblog and other messaging services, and the placement of
misleading information on the events of June 3 and 4, 1989,
on internet sites available in China;
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in
Beijing, China, after authorities had failed to persuade
demonstrators to leave Tiananmen Square;
Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours
of June 3, 1989, thousands of armed troops, supported by
tanks and other armor, moved into Beijing and surrounding
streets;
Whereas, on the night of June 3, 1989, and continuing into
the morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers fired into crowds,
inflicting high casualties on the demonstrators and injuring
many unarmed civilians;
Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and
onlookers and seriously injured many others;
Whereas independent observers reported that hundreds,
perhaps thousands, were killed and wounded by People's
Liberation Army soldiers and other security forces in Beijing
and other cities in China;
Whereas tens of thousands were detained and sent to prison
or reeducation through labor, often without trial and many
were tortured and imprisoned for decades;
Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and
friends of those killed in June 1989 whose demands include
the right to mourn victims publicly and who call for a full,
public, and independent accounting of the wounded, dead, and
those imprisoned for participating in the spring 1989
demonstrations;
Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have faced
arrest, harassment, and discrimination, with the group's
website blocked in China and the freezing by Chinese
authorities of international cash donations made to the group
to support families of victims;
Whereas despite the Government of the People's Republic of
China's integration into the international economic system
and its obligations under international treaties and
covenants, the political reforms and the protection of
universally recognized rights sought by the Tiananmen
demonstrators have not been realized during the past 30
years;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
continues to actively suppress universally recognized rights
by imprisoning or restricting the activities of pro-democracy
activists, human rights lawyers, citizen journalists, labor
union leaders, religious believers, members of ethnic
minorities, and individuals in the Xinjiang and Tibetan
regions, among many others who seek to express their
political or religious views or their ethnic identity in a
peaceful manner, including in Hong Kong where the Government
of the People's Republic of China has increasingly exerted
influence, eroding freedoms there, and placing its special
status at risk;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
continues to harass, disappear, and detain peaceful advocates
for human rights, religious freedom, ethnic minority rights
and the rule of law, and their family members, such as Ilham
Tohti, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, Lobsang Tsering, Yang
Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), Liu Xianbin, Qin
Yongmin, Wu Gan, Zhang Haitao, Wang Quanzhang, Tashi
Wangchug, Tang Jingling, Liu Feiyue, Wang Yi, Jiang Rong, Cao
Yuguang, Abdurehim Heyit, Eziz Emet, Hebibulla Tohti,
Drugdra, Lobsang Gephel, Sonam Dargye, Thardoe Gyaltsen,
Gulmira Imin, and Huang Qi, among many others;
Whereas according to the Political Prisoner Database
maintained by the United States Congressional-Executive
Commission on China, the Government of the People's Republic
of China continues to detain over 1,500 political and
religious prisoners, though the number is presumed to be much
higher;
Whereas Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent advocate
for human rights and political reform Liu Xiaobo died in
state custody in 2017, the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate
to die in state custody since Carl Von Ossietzky died in 1938
after being detained by the Nazi German government;
Whereas over a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic
and religious minorities are interned in political
reeducation camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and
elsewhere in China and are subjected to the forced
renunciation of faith, torture, and forced assimilation of
their language and culture through actions that may
constitute crimes against humanity;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China
harasses, detains, and tortures human rights lawyers who take
on cases deemed politically sensitive; prevents Chinese
workers from forming independent unions and engages in an
ongoing crackdown on labor advocates, organizations, and
their supporters; restricts severely the religious activity
of Protestants, Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists, and Turkic
Muslims and has sought to eradicate Falun Gong practice in
China; vilifies publicly and refuses to negotiate with His
Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives over Tibetan
issues and asserts control over the reincarnation process
through which the next Dalai Lama will be recognized;
repatriates forcibly refugees to North Korea and pressures
neighboring governments to repatriate refugees from China who
reach their territory in contravention of the international
legal principle of non-refoulement; restricts the activities
of and detains citizen journalists; and continues to limit
the size of Chinese families;
Whereas the protection of universally recognized human
rights, in law and practice, would allow the Government of
the People's Republic of China to establish more stable
economic, political, and security relations with its
neighbors and the United States; and
Whereas this historical episode has had an enduring impact
on United States-China relations--
(1) because there has been no justice for those who lost
their lives seeking freedom and political reform during the
Spring of 1989;
(2) because the Government of the People's Republic of
China censors research, discussion and commemoration of
Tiananmen in China;
(3) because the demonstrations showed that the ideas of
democracy and freedom, human rights and the rule of law are
not foreign to the people of China;
(4) because the demonstrations and their violent
suppression showed the lengths to which the leaders of the
Government of the People's Republic of China will go to
suppress universally recognized rights and to maintain their
hold on power; and
(5) because, despite persistent, ongoing, and sometimes
brutal repression, there continue to be Chinese citizens
bravely seeking to exercise universally recognized human
rights, ensure the rule of law, and promote political reform
thus carrying on the legacy of the Tiananmen demonstrations:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) expresses sympathy and solidarity to the families of
those killed, tortured, and imprisoned for their
participation in the pro-democracy demonstrations during the
spring of 1989 in Beijing and in other cities across the
People's Republic of China;
(2) supports the leaders of the Tiananmen demonstrations
and all those who peacefully sought political reform,
democratic transparency, the rule of law, and protections for
universally recognized human rights in China;
(3) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to--
(A) support a full, transparent, and independent accounting
of the government's actions and number of deaths that
occurred during the violent suppression of the spring 1989
Tiananmen demonstrations;
(B) rehabilitate the reputations of those who participated
in the demonstrations and those detained for seeking to
commemorate the anniversary of the demonstrations; and
[[Page H4232]]
(C) cease the censoring of information and discussion about
the Tiananmen Square massacre, including at Confucius
Institutes worldwide;
(4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to allow Tiananmen demonstration participants who
escaped to or are living in exile in the United States and
other countries, or who reside outside of China because they
have been ``blacklisted'' in China as a result of their
peaceful protest activity, to return to China without risk of
repercussions or retribution; and
(5) condemns the ongoing restrictions on universally
recognized human rights by the Government of the People's
Republic of China and its efforts to quell peaceful political
dissent, censor the internet, brutally suppress ethnic and
religious minorities, and detain and torture lawyers and
rights advocates seeking the Government's commitment, in law
and practice, to international human rights treaties and
covenants to which it is a party and that are reflected in
the Chinese constitution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Malinowski) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
General Leave
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 393.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman
from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House.
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I
thank him for his lifelong commitment to promoting human rights
throughout the world. I thank him, also, for his leadership in bringing
this legislation to the floor today.
Madam Speaker, I also thank Mr. McCaul, Mr. Engel, and Mr. McGovern
for their leadership, and Chris Smith, who has been working on this
issue for decades.
Madam Speaker, I rise in remembrance of the horror perpetrated by the
Chinese Government 30 years ago today and of the heroism of those who
died demanding human rights and human dignity.
Again, I salute Chairman McGovern, Chairman Engel, Chris Smith, Mr.
McCaul, Mr. Malinowski, and so many others for bringing this resolution
forward, which ensures that we do not merely remember that dark chapter
of history, but that we record it in the official proceedings of the
United States Congress.
Madam Speaker, 30 years ago, 1 million students, workers and
citizens--men and women full of passion, idealism, and courage--
peacefully marched for a better future.
They raised their Goddess of Democracy in the image of our own Statue
of Liberty. They quoted our Founders. They dared to dream of the
democracy we cherish here in the United States--not necessarily the
same kind of democracy, but for democratic freedoms. They stood up for
freedom, only to be cut down by a hail of bullets and a line of tanks.
Earlier this year, the Tiananmen Mothers, who lost loved ones in the
massacre, wrote to the Chinese leaders. Those mothers said: ``30 years
later, while the criminal evidence has been covered up . . . the hard
facts of the massacre are etched into history.
``No one can erase it; no power, however mighty, can alter it; and no
words or tongues, however clever, can deny it.''
Today, and on all days, we reassure these mothers that we remember
and that the heroism of their children will continue to be etched in
our history.
It falls on us to remember, because China still, shamefully, tries to
hide and deny these heroes' legacy.
As the writer Lu Xun wrote: ``Lies written in ink cannot disguise by
facts written in blood.''
The memory and the spirit of the Tiananmen protestors live on in the
hearts of all those who strive for freedom in China today:
In the hearts of the Uighur communities facing unabated abuse and
repression at the hands of the Chinese Government;
In the hearts of the people living in Hong Kong, where China
continues to make a mockery of the ``one country, two systems'' pledge;
In the hearts of the Tibetan people, who, for decades, have faced a
brutal campaign to erase their religion, their culture, and their
language; and
In the hearts of journalists, human rights lawyers, Christians, and
democracy activists unjustly imprisoned.
They always say--speaking of those in prison--that one great form of
torture of the Chinese officials is to tell the prisoners that no one
remembers them, nobody knows why they are there, they are forgotten.
Well, we are here in the House of Representatives today to tell those
prisoners they are not forgotten: We know many of their names; we
convey them to Chinese officials every chance we get; and we carry them
in our hearts.
As Liu Xiaobo wrote in his final statement, ``I Have No Enemies'':
``Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source
of humanity and the mother of truth.''
As we support those fighting for freedom from China's oppression, we
do so in the name of human rights, humanity, and truth.
If we do not speak out for human rights in China because of economic
concerns, then we lose all moral authority to talk about human rights
in any other place in the world.
In their March letter, the Tiananmen Mothers also quoted the
Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel, who once said:
``If we forget the dead, the dead will be killed a second time.''
With this resolution, the Congress pledges to the Tiananmen
generation that we will never forget. With the spirit of the Tiananmen
protestors in our hearts, we pledge to continue to work toward our
shared dream, a dream of the day when the world's most populous nation
can be called the largest democracy.
And, again, China is a very important country. The U.S.-China
relationship is a very important relationship. At the time when this
oppression took place, China was abusing not only the rights of their
own people; they were not allowing U.S. products into China. They were
abusing our trade relationship, and they were selling technologies of
mass destruction and missile delivery systems to rogue countries.
We thought at the time if we highlighted what happened at Tiananmen
Square, where the trade deficit at the time was $5 billion a year--it
was $5 billion a year, Chairman McCaul--we thought that gave us great
leverage to free the prisoners, open their markets to our products,
stop their violations of our intellectual property rights, as well as
stop their transfer of technologies that were unsafe--$5 billion.
With corporate America, who hoped to benefit from the trade
relationship--not your everyday small- to moderate-sized businesses.
They knew the abuse of China and the trade relationship. But corporate
America weighed in with Democratic and Republican Presidents and said:
We cannot use that trade relationship, that $5 billion as leverage to
free the prisoners and make other changes. If we just proceed as we do,
everything will work out.
Well, now the trade deficit with China isn't $5 billion a year. It is
more than $5 billion a week--a week. We rode the dragon, and the dragon
will decide when we get off.
But as a tribute to corporate America, our policy was to ignore the
violations, whether it was trade violations, human rights violations,
or violations of trading missiles and other technologies to rogue
countries--and now over $5 billion a week. It was a serious, serious
mistake.
{time} 1230
But as we made that mistake, we also betrayed our values, our values
of respecting the dignity and worth of every person and respecting
their aspirations for freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and
freedom of belief in this great country of China.
So with respect to our prospects for our relationship with China, I
would hope that in our trade talks with them now, that we are also
bringing up the important subject of our values as well as the dollars
that are involved in the relationship.
Again, I salute those who have been so important in this discussion.
I called
[[Page H4233]]
Mr. McGovern our spiritual leader as we traveled to China and within
China, to Tibet, and Hong Kong, and the rest, for his incredible
leadership as not only the chair of the United States-China Economic
and Security Review Commission, but the chair of the Tom Lantos Human
Rights Commission.
Madam Speaker, I urge our colleagues to give this a big strong vote.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I would like to associate myself with Speaker Pelosi's
comments, that we have been riding the dragon for too long.
Thirty years ago today, the so-called People's Liberation Army turned
their guns on the people of China, killing hundreds and possibly
thousands of unarmed civilians in Beijing. Many were Chinese students,
who had been peacefully protesting for reform, democratic transparency,
and respect for fundamental human rights.
The victims included young children and people in their 60s, cut down
by indiscriminate gunfire. The dramatic days of May and June 1989, left
the world with many indelible images: the huge expanse of Tiananmen
Square packed with hundreds of thousands of people rallying for
freedom; the 30-foot tall Goddess of Democracy statue built by Beijing
art students in the center of the square; the rush of tanks and armored
personnel carriers into the area to, quite literally, crush the protest
and protesters on June 4; the heroism the next day of someone the world
only knows as Tank Man who halted an entire column of Chinese Army
tanks, armed only with shopping bags and resolve.
But those indelible images are hidden from the people of China by the
Communist regime that inherited the bloody mantle of Tiananmen. Hiding
behind the great fire wall, the Chinese Government refuses to allow any
reckoning with that history, and fiercely quashes discussion, whether
online or in public.
Obsessed with control, it uses its massive Orwellian apparatus to try
to erase the events of June 1989 from the memory of the world. But as
John Adams once wrote: ``Facts are stubborn things,'' so, too, are the
memories of the many Chinese who experienced those events up close.
Western journalists on the ground during the massacre reported that
people in the streets of Beijing pleaded with them to tell the world
what had happened there.
Today's resolution is a continuation of that sacred charge. So I want
to thank all of the bipartisan authors of H. Res. 393, and Mr. McGovern
and Mr. Smith, for giving this House a renewed opportunity to testify
to the true events of June 1989, to tell and call for a just and open
accounting for the Tiananmen massacre, and to condemn serious, ongoing
human rights violations by the Government of China.
Dictators need to understand that freedom can only be held back for a
finite period of time. They may succeed in crushing a democratic
protest, but they will always fail to crush the democratic spirit.
So I am proud to stand with the people of China who want to break the
chains of Communist oppression, and I urge support for this resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman McCaul for his eloquent statement and
his leadership on this issue, and I rise in very strong support of this
measure.
Thirty years ago, I was here on Capitol Hill, my first job out of
college. I was working on the Senate side for the late, great Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and one day, I was sitting in my cubicle and
we were watching our TVs, which were tuned to this novelty station
called CNN that was bringing these events live to us, something we had
never really experienced before.
One day we looked up, and we saw the image of this young Chinese man
with his grocery bags standing in front of that line of tanks, and we
watched it unfold for about 2 minutes. It seemed like forever. We did
not know what would happen. Would he be killed? Would he be run over?
It was a moment that changed my life and changed the world.
We all know what happened afterwards: a massacre; mass arrests;
efforts that continue to this day to bury the truth of what happened in
Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese Government has tried to erase the memory of that day from
our collective memory. Here is something very important, something that
should command our attention: the Chinese Government today is not
satisfied merely with censoring its own people. It is insisting on
censoring the entire world.
It is trying to intimidate companies, and universities, and
individuals all around the world into never uttering the words, ``the
Tiananmen massacre.''
With this resolution, we say to the Chinese Government that they
cannot intimidate the United States of America. This resolution makes
clear we are going to speak the truth about the crime that they have
committed 30 years ago, and all of the crimes they continue to commit
today: the wholesale imprisonment of lawyers; their efforts to crush
the culture and heritage of the Tibetan people; the mass surveillance
technology they are exporting to the whole world; and the mass
internment of innocent men, women, and children in Xinjiang.
We see the significance of these actions, not just what the Chinese
Government is doing on human rights, but what is being done on trade,
and in the South China Sea. All of them are an effort by the Chinese
Government to break free and to rewrite the rules that keep the
world safe and free.
We see the Chinese Government's attempts to silence us on these
issues for what it is, a sign of weakness, not of strength.
The Chinese Government's power rests on a fragile foundation of
falsehood. It depends on people forgetting the past. It depends on
people believing a lie. So today, we say that they are failing, and
they are going to fail. It has been 30 years. We still mark this
anniversary. We still remember Liu Xiaobo and all of the heroes of the
square. The footage of Tank Man still plays on TV, and thanks to the
internet, more people are seeing it today than saw it in 1989.
We will carry on until we know his name, until the Chinese people
have the freedom that they fought peacefully for that day and that they
so richly deserve.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), a member of the Foreign
Affairs Committee.
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.
Madam Speaker, today I am in support of this resolution on the 30th
anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and I thank
Representative McGovern and Representative Smith for their leadership
on this resolution, which serves to remember the victims of the
violence and suppression of democracy protest in Tiananmen Square in
1989, and calls on the current Communist Government of China to respect
the universally recognized human rights of all people living in China
and around the world.
I just remember as a young man watching this--as probably many of the
people do--whole thing unfold on our television sets. We were rooting
for these people yearning to be free, and the man standing in front of
the tank. It is just emblazoned in our minds.
Thirty years ago in the spring of 1989, thousands of Chinese students
began staging peaceful protests for democratic reforms in China. They
were asking their Communist government for rights that are fundamental
to any democracy, including: freedom of expression, freedom of
assembly, and the elimination of official corruption.
They were asking for rights and freedoms that we enjoy in the United
States, but the Chinese citizens were being denied then, and believe it
or not, are still being denied today. Regardless of what we see on
television, regardless of what we might think because it says, ``made
in China,'' things are different in China.
When faced with the growing and intensifying peaceful protests, the
Communist leaders in 1989 chose a violent and authoritarian response,
and then lied about it and acted like it didn't happen. They chose to
declare martial
[[Page H4234]]
law and to intensify their use of authoritarian tactics to oppress and
control the people of China, culminating in the events in Tiananmen
Square.
On June 4, 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers in armored columns of tanks
outside Tiananmen Square fired directly at Chinese citizens and
indiscriminately at crowds in Beijing, inflicting high civilian
casualties. These were unarmed crowds, Madam Speaker, fired upon.
To this day, we still don't know how many civilians were killed that
day. Estimates range from hundreds to a few thousand and we can say
with confidence that thousands more civilians were wounded on June 4
and even a greater number were arrested for taking part in these
protests.
We are here today to honor those who were lost and affected by the
violent, authoritarian suppression of the Chinese Communist Government
in 1989, and to call for an end to China's current, continued
authoritarian suppression.
Unfortunately, parallels can be drawn between the Chinese Government
that perpetrated the Tiananmen Square massacre and the current regime
of President Xi and the Communist Party. In China today, there is
official government repression of freedom of speech, religion,
movement, association, and assembly.
We know at least 1 million, and some estimate up to 3 million Chinese
Muslims are forcibly interned in detention camps designed to erase
their religious and ethnic identities. This is something out of the
1930s and the 1940s that the world said would never happen again. It is
happening right now.
The Communist government has deployed tens of millions of evasive
high-tech surveillance cameras throughout the country to monitor the
general public. The cameras and other forms of surveillance are used to
intimidate political dissidents, religious leaders and adherents, and
minority groups.
In the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas, the Communist
government has installed surveillance cameras in monasteries. Tibetans
also face the monitoring and disruption of telephone and internet
communications.
And this is absolutely just the beginning with the establishment of
the system of social credits.
The State Department's 2018 Report on Human Rights Practices in China
has a long list of human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist
Government, to include: Unlawful killings by the government; forced
disappearances by the government; torture; arbitrary detention;
political imprisonment; arbitrary interference with privacy; physical
attacks on and criminal prosecution of journalists, lawyers, writers,
bloggers, dissidents, petitioners, and their family members;
interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of
association; as well as severe restrictions on religious freedoms.
I hope we can take an opportunity today to honor the victims of the
1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, highlighting that the Chinese people
still know very little about what transpired that night.
I also hope we can have a continued conversation about the current
Communist Chinese Party's authoritarian and oppressive tactics that are
continuing to violate the basic human rights of the Chinese people, and
I hope this is just the beginning of the conversation.
China is a clear and present danger. They have been in an economic
war, and information war. They have been at war with the West, and
particularly the United States, for the last several decades, and it is
high time that the American people wake up. This should just be the
beginning.
I thank the makers of this resolution for doing so, but I hope it is
just the beginning of the conversation, but more than the conversation,
the concrete actions that we take against China's aggressive and
authoritarian actions, not only to their own people, but to the rest of
the world, including the United States.
I hope that we not only support this President and this
administration when he does the right thing, taking a hard stance
against China, but that this Congress will take the lead on concrete
actions regarding China's malevolent behavior around the world, but
particularly in China, with their markets, with dumping on American
markets, with intellectual property theft, and the list goes on and on.
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the author of this resolution and
one of the greatest champions of human rights I have had the privilege
to know.
{time} 1245
Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding, and I
thank Mr. McCaul for his support of this legislation as well.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 393, remembering
the victims of the violent suppression of democracy protests in
Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3 and 4, 1989. The
resolution calls on the Chinese Government to respect the universally
recognized human rights of all people living in China and around the
world.
It is my hope that the U.S. House of Representatives will
overwhelmingly support this resolution and send a strong message that
the American people stand on the side of those seeking to exercise
their fundamental human rights in China.
It was 30 years ago, this week, that an estimated 1 million students,
workers, and citizens joined the peaceful protests in Tiananmen Square
and in over 400 cities throughout China. We remember with sadness and
outrage the crackdown that followed as the People's Liberation Army was
unleashed on its own people.
One of the most inspiring images in history is the lone man standing
in the street before the line of tanks on Tiananmen Square. His act of
resistance symbolizes the spirit of Tiananmen that lives on in the
hearts and minds of those continuing the struggle in China and abroad.
In China, the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and friends
of those killed in June 1989. At great risk to themselves, they
continue to ask for the right to mourn publicly and call for a full,
public, and independent accounting of the victims. The Chinese
Government fears their memory, their devotion, and their moral
standing.
In the years since Tiananmen, the human rights situation in China has
worsened. Some have described a slow-motion Tiananmen happening in
Xinjiang with the ongoing mass internment and surveillance of ethnic
Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.
A better path forward was offered by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and
Tiananmen student leader Liu Xiaobo when he coauthored the political
reform manifesto Charter 08 that was signed by more than 10,000 people,
despite efforts to censor it. Liu Xiaobo spent a total of almost 16
years in prison, and he died in state custody in 2017.
Today in China, the Tiananmen Square massacre is erased from history
books, and any mention of it is censored. In the last few weeks, the
Chinese Government has tightened controls to prevent any mention of
Tiananmen and heightened surveillance on the survivors, human rights
advocates, and their families. They have detained journalists,
scholars, filmmakers, social workers, and labor rights activists.
But we all know the spirit of Tiananmen is still alive and well. We
know in part because China's leaders demonstrate their fear of it every
day with their security cameras, censorship, detention centers, and
obsession with preventing the people of China from learning the truth.
Imagine the time, energy, and cost of monitoring and tracking the
actions of 1.4 billion people.
They are scared because the truth of Tiananmen threatens the Chinese
Communist Party's legitimacy to govern China. In his famous last
statement in court, Liu Xiaobo said:
I look forward to the day when my country is a land with
freedom of expression, where the speech of every citizen will
be treated equally well; where different values, ideas,
beliefs, and political views . . . can both compete with each
other and peacefully coexist; where both majority and
minority views will be equally guaranteed, and where
political views that differ from those currently in power
will be fully respected and protected; where all political
views will spread out under the Sun for people to choose
from, where every citizen can state political views without
fear, and where no one can under any circumstances suffer
political persecution for voicing divergent political views.
[[Page H4235]]
I hope that I will be the last victim in China's long
record of treating words as crimes. No force can block the
thirst for freedom that lies within human nature, and some
day China, too, will be a nation of laws where human rights
are paramount.
I look forward to that day, Madam Speaker, and let us pass this
resolution with a strong vote. Let us make it clear that we in the
United States Congress stand out loud and foursquare for human rights
and that we stand with the people of China.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close and I yield myself
the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I must say at a time when the American people see this
Congress so divided, it is refreshing for the American people to see
the Congress so united with one voice standing up for good over evil.
We must keep the memory of Tiananmen alive.
Secretary Pompeo said yesterday that China's one-party state
tolerates no dissent and abuses human rights wherever and whenever it
serves its interests.
Today their party's methods are more subtle than rolling the tanks
in--but no less horrifying:
The Communist Party deprives one-fifth of mankind of fundamental
human rights; it has imprisoned up to 3 million Muslims in what the
Department of Defense has called and labeled concentration camps; and
it is seeking to spread its totalitarian ideology and repression along
its physical and digital Belt and Road Initiative.
In the Foreign Affairs Committee, I know I and my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle will keep working to shine a light on China's
threats, impose consequences on their malign actions, foster
partnerships with NATO and other allies, and help build up an
alternative to China's predatory Belt and Road influence.
With that, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this
resolution to honor the memory of those who have sacrificed for freedom
and to remain clear-eyed about the nature of our adversary.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume for the purpose of closing.
I will simply say that our disagreement here, the disagreement we
have been expressing in such a united way, is not with China. It is
certainly not with the Chinese people. It is simply with the Chinese
Government.
We stand in full agreement with the Chinese people, with everybody in
China who wishes to live in a country governed by respect for the rule
of law and for human rights. That is what this resolution is about.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, it's been 30 years since the
Chinese government brutally crushed the peaceful demonstrations
occurring in Beijing Tiananmen Square.
The beating, the bayonetting, the torture, and detentions of the 1989
demonstrators turned the dream of freedom into a bloody nightmare.
``Tiananmen'' will always symbolize the brutal lengths China's
Communist Party will go to remain in power. When the tanks rolled down
the Square on June 4th, 1989--mothers lost sons, fathers lost
daughters, and China lost an idealistic generation of future leaders.
The resolution before us, H. Res. 393, honors the extraordinary
sacrifice endured by thousands of peaceful Chinese democracy activists
who rallied for almost two months in Beijing and in over 400 other
cities in China, in a heroic quest for liberty and human rights.
The government of China continues to go to astounding lengths to
censor and ban open discussion of Tiananmen. This resolution sends the
right message: we will never forget Tiananmen as long as the Chinese
people cannot discuss its significance openly without harassment or
arrest.
Some may prefer to forget this incident. To move on and look past the
slaughter of peaceful demonstrators. But the memory of the dead and
those arrested, tortured, and exiled requires us to honor them, respect
their noble aspirations for fundamental freedoms, and recommit
ourselves to the struggle for freedom and human rights in China.
It is both the right thing to do and critical to the future of U.S.-
China relations.
One of the most enduring symbols of the Tiananmen demonstrations was
the unveiling of the goddess of liberty statue. It was a moment that
thrilled freedom-seekers around the globe. Here was this enduring
symbol of freedom juxtaposed against portrait of the despot Mao Zedong.
This moment was extraordinary because it showed that when the Chinese
people are able to speak publicly and freely--they ask for greater
freedoms, democracy, and justice. These are universal liberties that
can be found in demonstrations for liberty worldwide--we see it in
Cairo and Caracas, Burma and Hong Kong, Tbilisi and Kiev.
There was a moment when we all believed the Tiananmen Square
demonstrations would be a triumph of freedom and democracy. Later in
1989, the Warsaw Pact nations started to crumble and eventually the
former Soviet Union fell as well. But the Communist leaders of China
hung on to power through force and eventually through the help of
Western governments and global corporations.
For the past 30 years, the Tiananmen demonstrations have shaped the
way the Chinese government deals with dissent. Despite the country's
stunning economic growth, Beijing's leaders remain terrified of their
own people. China's ruling Communist Party would rather stifle,
imprison, or even kill its own people than defer to their demands for
freedom and rights.
There is a direct connection between the impunity and violence used
to silence Tiananmen demonstrations and deny justice to the victims of
the Tiananmen massacre and the impunity and violence employed now to
support the internment of over a million Uyghurs and other Turkic
Muslims in what only can be called concentration camps.
The egregious human rights abuses occurring in Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region must end--no one can remain silent in the face of
such barbarity and crimes against humanity.
But China is also the torture capital of the world, the world's
largest jailer of journalists, with the globe's worst record on human
trafficking and religious freedom. Human rights lawyers, Tibetans,
ethnic minority groups, labor organizers, and free speech advocates all
face repression and harassment when they peacefully seek universally
recognized rights.
Xi Jinping talks about the ``China Dream''--but that dream is
nightmare for millions upon millions upon millions of the Chinese
people.
Nevertheless, repression has not dimmed the desires of the Chinese
people for freedom and reform. There is an inspiring drive in China to
keep fighting for freedom under very difficult and dangerous
conditions.
This drive is the most important asset in promoting human rights and
democratization in China. If democratic change comes to China, it will
come from within, not because of outside pressure--though outside
pressure continues to be critically needed.
U.S. policy, in both the short and long-term, must be, and be seen to
be, supportive of advocates for peaceful change; it must support the
champions of liberty, and help nurture a vibrant civil society that
seeks to promote rights and freedoms for everyone in China. And, we
must fight to end China's pervasive internet censorship and mass
surveillance--so the Chinese people can finally learn about Tiananmen
and the truth about their own government.
Our strategic and moral interests coincide when we seek to promote
human rights and democratic openness in China. A more democratic China,
one that respects human rights, and is governed by the rule of law, is
more likely to be a productive and peaceful partner rather than
strategic and hostile competitor.
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, applaud, and celebrate the
heroes of Tiananmen Square and all those who sacrificed so much, and so
long, for freedom.
I support H. Res. 393 and the message that it sends. I hope it will
re-inspire, re-energize, and reprioritize a struggle for human rights
and freedom in China.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of
H.R. 393, a resolution ``Remembering the victims of Tiananmen Square.''
H. Res. 393 remembers the victims of the violent suppression of
democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3
and 4, 1989 and calls on the Government of the People's Republic of
China to respect the universally recognized human rights of all people
living in China and around the world.
On June 4, 1989, a violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations held
in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square was carried out by the
People's Liberation Army, following orders given by the Government of
the People's Republic of China.
An estimated 1,000,000 people joined the protests in Tiananmen Square
and citizens in over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests calling
for democratic reform, including not only students, but also government
employees, journalists, workers, police officers, members of the armed
forces, and other citizens.
These peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the Government of
the People's
[[Page H4236]]
Republic of China to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and
political reform, and protect human rights, particularly the freedoms
of expression and assembly, issues that remain relevant in United
States-China relations 30 years later.
Although these activists' reform efforts continue to inspire the
Chinese people, the Government of the People's Republic of China takes
active measures to deny its citizens the truth about the Tiananmen
Square massacre, including the blocking of uncensored internet sites
and social media commentary on microblog and other messaging services,
and the placement of misleading information on the events of June 3 and
4, 1989, on internet sites available in China.
The Chinese government also continues to silence the voices and
memory of these activists through gruesome attacks on demonstrators who
recognize the false information being spread by the Chinese Government.
On May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Beijing, China, after
authorities had failed to persuade demonstrators to leave Tiananmen
Square, sending thousands of armed troops, supported by tanks and other
armor, moved into Beijing and the surrounding streets where the forces
fired into crowds of unarmed civilians.
The ``Remembering the victims of Tiananmen Square'' Act promises to
do this by expressing sympathy and solidarity to the families of those
killed, tortured, and imprisoned for their participation in the pro-
democracy demonstrations during the spring of 1989 in Beijing and in
other cities across the People's Republic of China and verbally
supporting the leaders of the Tiananmen demonstrations and all those
who peacefully sought political reform, democratic transparency, the
rule of law, and protections for universally recognized human rights in
China.
The resolution also renounces the practices of the Chinese
government's actions during and after the Tiananmen Square Protest and
calls on the government to take responsibility for the number of deaths
that occurred during the violent suppression of the spring 1989
Tiananmen demonstrations, rehabilitate the reputations of those who
participated in the demonstrations and those detained for seeking to
commemorate the anniversary of the demonstrations, and cease the
censoring of information and discussion about the Tiananmen Square
massacre, including at Confucius Institutes worldwide.
Through these actions, H.R. 393 promises to adequately relay the
United States' disappointment with the violence towards Tiananmen
demonstrators and aid the advocates and protestors in their quest for
protected human rights.
The Government of the People's Republic of China continues to
actively suppress universally recognized rights by imprisoning or
restricting the activities of pro-democracy activists, human rights
lawyers, citizen journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers,
members of ethnic minorities, and individuals in the Xinjiang and
Tibetan regions, among many others who seek to express their political
or religious views or their ethnic identity in a peaceful manner.
Despite persistent, ongoing, and sometimes brutal repression, the
desire of Chinese citizens to risk life, limb, and liberty to exercise
universally recognized human rights, ensure the rule of law, and
promote political reform cannot be extinguished, thus the legacy of
Tiananmen Square lives on.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Malinowski) that the House suspend the
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 393, 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.
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam 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, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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