[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.

                          ____________________