[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 CHINA

  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I rise today to speak about a gross 
miscarriage of justice--the imprisonment of Mark Swidan by the 
Government of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
  Mark is from Luling, a small city in my home State of Texas. His 
mother, Ms. Katherine Swidan, still lives in Luling, while Mark 
eventually became a resident of Houston, my hometown. For over 10 
years, Katherine has been waging a desperate battle to see her son 
again.
  In 2012, Mark traveled to China on a business trip, which turned into 
a nightmare. On November 13, 2012, Mark was abducted by China's Public 
Security Bureau while he was taking his family back home. A witness to 
the abduction has said that Mark was detained because Chinese officials 
wanted to view the contents of his cell phone.
  Mark was accused of being a part of a criminal conspiracy with 11 
other individuals to manufacture and traffic drugs--charges that Mark 
has denied and which have been debunked over and over again.
  Chinese authorities tried to coerce Mark into confessing. He refused, 
and he pleaded not guilty in a trial that occurred in November 2013. 
During the trial, the prosecution didn't produce any forensic evidence 
to back up their allegations, and no drugs were found on Mark or in his 
hotel room. Records in Mark's passport showed that he wasn't even in 
China during the time of the alleged offenses, and the 11 other 
individuals indicted in relation to this alleged drug conspiracy 
couldn't identify Mark. Nevertheless, outrageously, in 2019, a Chinese 
court sentenced Mark to death.
  Mark remains unjustly detained today. He is suffering in a Chinese 
prison right now, as we speak. In prison, Mark has been kept in 
deplorable, abusive conditions. His jailers seek to break his will and 
break his faith. They have confiscated his Bible and his rosary. Mark's 
cell exposes him to extreme heat and extreme cold. He is deprived of 
sleep and subjected to physical abuse. He is in danger of high blood 
pressure, skin infections, and asthma. He has lost more than 100 
pounds. His health is dire. Throughout all of this, Mark has been 
denied access to his family and access to American diplomats.
  Mark has communicated with his mother, and his mother has told me and 
told the world that the Chinese communist government has failed to 
break Mark's faith, which remains strong.
  I spoke with Mark's mother earlier this week. This is a mom whose 
heart is breaking. This is a mom who wants to see her son again. This 
is a mom who wants to hold and hug and care for the son she loves.
  The treatment of Mark has been atrocious, so much so that even the 
United Nations has called on China to release him. The Working Group on 
Arbitrary Detention--a U.N. group of human rights experts who 
investigate cases of arbitrary detention around the world--found that 
Mark is being held in violation of customary international law and 
international norms, including the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights.
  The world can see that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to use 
hostages and hostage taking as a tool of statecraft. The Chinese 
Communist Party says they want to be taken seriously as a great power 
and a great nation, and they say they want to be respected on the 
global stage. But their treatment of Mark is not how great nations and 
great powers behave; their treatment of Mark is how third-world despots 
act.
  I have drafted and this week introduced a resolution calling on the 
Chinese Government and the Chinese Communist Party to immediately 
release Mark. I am joined by my colleague from Texas, Senator Cornyn, 
and by Representative Cloud from Texas in the House, who has introduced 
the same resolution in the House of Representatives. This resolution 
not only calls for Mark's immediate release, it also condemns China for 
withholding from Mark access to his family and to proper medical care.
  Furthermore, it calls on the Biden administration to prioritize 
efforts to secure Mark's release, both in their conversations with 
Chinese diplomats and in international forums. In a few days, Secretary 
of State Blinken will be in Beijing, and he will have an opportunity to 
finish the final chapter of this tragedy. I am calling on the Biden 
administration to use all of the tools at our disposal to secure Mark's 
release, and I am calling on the Government of China to finally release 
Mark.
  This ordeal has to end. It has to end for Mark. It has to end for his 
mother. It has to end for his family. We must and will do more so that 
Mark can come home.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). The Senator from Nevada.

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