[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 104 (Thursday, June 4, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2736-S2737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 608--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE CONDEMNING 
THREATS TO HONG KONG'S FREEDOMS AND AUTONOMY ON THE 31ST ANNIVERSARY OF 
 THE VIOLENT REPRESSION OF THE PEACEFUL PROTESTS CENTERED IN BEIJING'S 
                            TIANANMEN SQUARE

  Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Gardner, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. 
Daines, Mr. King, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Peters, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
Hawley, and Mr. Young) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 608

       Whereas the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
     massacre is an especially poignant milestone, particularly as 
     the autonomy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 
     of the People's Republic of China (``Hong Kong'') and 
     freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong are currently 
     under threat by possible national security legislation from 
     the Government of the People's Republic of China (``China'');
       Whereas, during the spring of 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 
     people engaged in Tiananmen Square protests, and citizens in 
     over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests, including 
     among many others, students, workers, academics, journalists 
     and government employees;
       Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the 
     Government 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 31 
     years later;
       Whereas, on June 4, 1989, troops of the People's Liberation 
     Army, at the behest of Chinese Communist Party leadership, 
     attacked Tiananmen Square to repress demonstrators, crushing 
     defenseless protestors with tanks and firing on them 
     indiscriminately, killing hundreds or possibly thousands of 
     individuals;
       Whereas, since June 4, 1989, the Government of China 
     censors any mention of Tiananmen Square and imprisons and

[[Page S2737]]

     harasses its own citizens who attempt to discuss or 
     commemorate Tiananmen Square protests and their violent 
     suppression;
       Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers--a group in China composed of 
     parents and family members of individuals killed on or around 
     June 4, 1989--have annually called upon the Government of 
     China to reveal the truth of the events;
       Whereas people of mainland China and Macau are again barred 
     this year from commemorating the lives lost and the legacy of 
     the 1989 massacre;
       Whereas the Government of China continues to view the 
     demands of the Tiananmen protesters, including democracy, 
     transparency, rights protections, and freedom of speech, as 
     threats to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's 
     hold on political power;
       Whereas the people of Hong Kong have commemorated the 
     Tiananmen massacre each year faithfully in large numbers;
       Whereas the Hong Kong Police Force has blocked the annual 
     candlelight vigil to commemorate Tiananmen this year;
       Whereas Hong Kong's guaranteed freedoms and the rule of law 
     have allowed it to be a prosperous bridge between mainland 
     China and the world;
       Whereas Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms have been eroded 
     by the actions of the Government of Hong Kong and the 
     Government of China, particularly over the past several 
     years, with disqualifications of elected members of Hong 
     Kong's Legislative Council, blocking citizens from running 
     for office, failing to address the petitions of the Hong Kong 
     people, banning a political party advocating Hong Kong 
     independence, and failing to address police excessive use of 
     force;
       Whereas the political turmoil in Hong Kong is primarily the 
     result of actions of the Government of Hong Kong and the 
     Government of China, including the arbitrary arrests of 
     peaceful protesters, including well-known democracy advocates 
     such as Martin Lee, Jimmy Lai, Lee Cheuk Yan, Margaret Ng, 
     Albert Ho, Leung Kwok-hung, Au Nok-hin, Figo Chan, and 
     others;
       Whereas China's National People's Congress has decided to 
     impose national security legislation with respect to Hong 
     Kong;
       Whereas the implementation of that legislation signals a 
     severe blow to Hong Kong's autonomy and would violate the 
     Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of 
     Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, done 
     at Beijing on December 19, 1984;
       Whereas Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pursuant to the 
     United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-
     383), has determined that Hong Kong no longer manifests a 
     ``high degree of autonomy'' distinct from mainland China;
       Whereas vague national security laws are used widely in 
     mainland China to imprison or arbitrarily detain dissidents, 
     rights defenders, civil society advocates, religious leaders 
     and adherents, and persons from ethnic minorities;
       Whereas human rights, democracy, and religious freedom 
     advocates have been imprisoned or arbitrarily detained under 
     vague national security laws in mainland China, including Wu 
     Gan, Qin Yongmin, Zhou Shifeng, Yu Wensheng, Wang Yi , and 
     Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died in state custody nearly 
     three years ago;
       Whereas the United States Congress, particularly in recent 
     years, has passed numerous measures articulating the 
     longstanding and bipartisan commitment to human rights in 
     China, including--
       (1) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 
     (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 
     2656 note);
       (2) the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 
     2017 (Public Law 115-198);
       (3) the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 (Public Law 
     115-330);
       (4) the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 
     (Public Law 116-76); and
       (5) the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act (S. 3744, 116th 
     Congress);

       Whereas, on this day, we stand in solidarity with human 
     rights lawyers, labor and free speech advocates, religious 
     groups, and ethnic minorities in China, such as Tibetans, and 
     also Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities 
     who face mass internment and surveillance, forced labor and 
     family separations, and who are often forced to renounce 
     their faith; and
       Whereas, on this day, we remember the words of the late 
     Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, who said there is ``no force that 
     can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will 
     in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights 
     reign supreme'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) will commemorate the Tiananmen protests and their 
     violent repression at least until such time as Chinese 
     citizens are able to do so freely and publicly everywhere 
     across their country;
       (2) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed, 
     tortured, imprisoned, or exiled for their participation in 
     the pro-democracy demonstrations during the spring of 1989;
       (3) calls on the Government of China to allow those 
     Tiananmen demonstration participants currently living in 
     exile in the United States and other countries to return to 
     China without risk of repercussions or retribution;
       (4) condemns the use of violence, torture, and arbitrary 
     detention as a means to repress the legitimate aspirations of 
     the people of China to speak and associate freely, including 
     to petition the government and challenge the policies and 
     ideology of the Chinese Communist Party;
       (5) calls on the Government of China to release all 
     prisoners of conscience, including prisoners detained because 
     of their participation in Tiananmen Square commemorations or 
     actions calling for the type of political reforms and rights 
     protections pursued by those who gathered in Tiananmen Square 
     in 1989 and including over one million Uyghurs and other 
     predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region;
       (6) condemns any forced imposition of national security 
     legislation with respect to Hong Kong;
       (7) calls upon the United States Government to use all 
     available authorities to protect United States interests in 
     Hong Kong and the freedoms of the Hong Kong people, 
     including--
       (A) encouraging the Standing Committee of the National 
     People's Congress of China ``to work with the Hong Kong 
     [Special Administrative Region] Government and the people of 
     Hong Kong to find a mutually acceptable accommodation that 
     will honor China's international obligations under the UN-
     filed Sino-British Joint Declaration,'' as called for by the 
     Joint Statement of the Governments of the United States, 
     Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom; and
       (B) using all available diplomatic means and targeted 
     sanctions to encourage the repeal of the national security 
     legislation adopted by the Standing Committee of the National 
     People's Congress of China on May 28, 2020;
       (8) calls upon the President to encourage an international 
     coalition to demand that China adhere to its international 
     agreements and human rights obligations; and
       (9) calls upon Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to 
     allow the Hong Kong people to exercise their ``freedoms of 
     speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of 
     association, of assembly, of procession and of 
     demonstration,'' as guaranteed in Article 27 of the Basic Law 
     of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the 
     People's Republic of China.

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