[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 10, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1587-S1588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEMANDING THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND THE 
        COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA IMMEDIATELY RELEASE MARK SWIDAN

  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, a few months ago, I spoke on this floor 
about Mark Swidan, who has been unjustly imprisoned by the Chinese 
Communist Party for over a decade. Mark is from Luling, a small city in 
my home State of Texas. His mother, Miss Katherine Swidan, still lives 
in Luling. And for the last 11 years, Mark has endured a living hell, 
trapped in a Chinese prison. He is exposed to extreme heat and extreme 
cold. He is deprived of sleep. He is subjected to physical abuse. Mark 
has also been denied access to his family and to American diplomats.
  And in 2019, a Chinese court sentenced Mark to death. Mark is being 
unjustly held by the Chinese Communist Party as a hostage. The CCP 
tells us that China is a great power, but this is how Third World thugs 
and dictators act.
  I called for Mark's immediate release and called on the Biden 
administration to use any and every available means to secure Mark's 
freedom.
  I am deeply distressed that since my speech on the floor a few months 
ago, Mark's plight has deepened. Recently, a Chinese court reaffirmed 
the death sentence imposed on him with a suspension for 2 years.
  That is wrong, and it is outrageous. We need Mark to come home.
  It is worth revealing how breathtakingly, infuriatingly unjust all of 
this is. How did it happen? On November 13, 2012, Mark was abducted by 
China's Public Security Bureau while he was in China on a business 
trip. A witness to the abduction said that Mark was detained because 
Chinese officials wanted to view the contents of his cell phone.
  The Chinese officials accused Mark of being part of a criminal 
conspiracy to

[[Page S1588]]

manufacture and traffic drugs with 11 other individuals--charges that 
Mark has denied and which have been debunked over and over again.
  Chinese officials tried to coerce Mark into confessing. Mark refused 
and pleaded not guilty in a trial in November 2013. During the trial, 
the prosecution didn't produce any forensic evidence to back up their 
allegations, and no drugs--zero--were ever found on Mark or in his 
hotel room. Mark's passport and other records show that he wasn't even 
in China at the time of the alleged offenses, and the 11 other 
individuals indicted in relation to this alleged drug conspiracy--none 
of them could identify Mark. The charges against Mark were completely 
bogus and false.
  Meanwhile, Mark's mom Katherine is aching to see her son again. Her 
heart is breaking. This is a mom who wants to hold and hug and care for 
the son she loves.
  I have been working with the Biden administration, and I have been 
pushing Chinese officials at a senior level to release Mark, but more 
needs to be done, and it needs to be done much more quickly.
  Now, Secretary of State Blinken was planning to travel to China in 
February, and we had been pressing the State Department to make Mark's 
case a major priority for the Biden administration on the trip. Then 
what happened? A Chinese spy balloon came over the United States, and 
Secretary Blinken canceled his trip.
  It is time to apply more pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to 
let Mark go and let him come home to Texas.
  Madam President, the Chinese Communist Government is a tyrannical 
government. They don't like it when you turn up the heat. They don't 
like it when you shine a light on their atrocities. There is power in 
shining a light, and there is power in unity.
  We need to bring Mark home. In a moment, I am going to propound a 
live UC request on a resolution I have introduced with my colleague 
from Texas, Senator John Cornyn. When it passes, the Senate will, with 
one unanimous bipartisan voice, reiterate these declarations.
  The resolution calls on the CCP to immediately release Mark. It 
condemns China from withholding from Mark access to his family, to 
diplomats, and to proper and independent medical care. And 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.
  No opportunity should be lost in urging Chinese officials, at every 
level of engagement, to release Mark. The Biden administration must use 
the voice and the vote of American diplomats to highlight his case.
  This resolution has already passed the House. It will now pass the 
Senate. The United States Congress is with a united and unanimous voice 
condemning and calling to end the unjust imprisonment of Mark Swidan by 
the Chinese Communist Party. Enough is enough.
  Madam President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 53, S. 
Res. 23.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 23) demanding that the Government of 
     the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of 
     China immediately release Mark Swidan.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 23) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of 
February 1, 2023, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. CRUZ. I yield the floor.

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