[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 94 (Monday, June 3, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3932-S3934]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 715--REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF THE 1989 TIANANMEN 
   SQUARE MASSACRE, AND CONDEMNING THE WIDESPREAD REPRESSION AGAINST 
  CITIZENS, THE TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION AGAINST ACTIVISTS AND OTHER 
INDIVIDUALS, AND THE SYSTEMATIC EFFORTS TO UNDERMINE HUMAN RIGHTS NORMS 
WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES SYSTEM BY THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC 
                                OF CHINA

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Rubio) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                              S. Res. 715

       Whereas, on June 4, 2024, the world will mark the 35th 
     anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, during 
     which authorities of the People's Republic of China murdered 
     thousands of peaceful pro-democracy protestors who were 
     calling for an end to corruption, an expansion of economic 
     opportunity, and a rights-respecting system of government;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     persists in efforts to erase the memory of the Tiananmen 
     Square Massacre and to harass, intimidate, and arrest 
     activists, scholars, and family members of the victims of the 
     massacre, including the Tiananmen Mothers, who have had the 
     courage to speak out, honor the dead, and call for 
     accountability, and persecuted heroic army officers, such as 
     Major General Xu Qinxian, who refused to lead his soldiers 
     during the massacre and was stripped of his Chinese Communist 
     Party membership and jailed for 4 years;
       Whereas the people of Hong Kong had held an annual 
     Tiananmen Square vigil in Victoria Park since 1990, which had 
     been the only such mass gathering on Chinese territory;
       Whereas the longstanding tradition of the Hong Kong vigils 
     came to an end in 2020, when the Hong Kong police denied 
     applications for assembly pretextually on COVID-19 related 
     grounds and when key organizers of the annual event were 
     jailed on politically motivated criminal charges, including 
     unlawful assembly and posing a threat to national security;
       Whereas, on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
     Massacre, the international community is reminded of the 
     sacrifices made by the Chinese people for the ideals of 
     democracy and human rights and remains deeply concerned by 
     the ongoing human rights abuses and violations by the 
     People's Republic of China against Chinese citizens and other 
     individuals within the People's Republic of China and abroad;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues to perpetrate systematic and egregious human rights 
     abuses against Chinese citizens, including--
       (1) a widespread crackdown on freedom of expression and the 
     press;
       (2) unrelenting surveillance, harassment, and imprisonment 
     of human rights defenders, lawyers, scholars, journalists, 
     and members from religious and ethnic minorities and groups; 
     and
       (3) an Orwellian system of technological and social control 
     over Chinese citizens;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues to commit atrocities against Uyghur Muslims and 
     other ethnic and religious groups in Xinjiang, including--
       (1) mass arbitrary detention in so-called ``re-education 
     camps'';
       (2) increased prosecutions and formal imprisonment for 
     politically motivated charges;
       (3) forced labor and forced abortions and sterilizations;
       (4) involuntary political indoctrination;
       (5) severe restrictions on religious freedom; and
       (6) constant monitoring and surveillance;
       Whereas the systematic repression against the Tibetan 
     community by the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues unabated and includes--
       (1) a forced campaign of ``Sinicization'' that attempts to 
     eliminate the unique religious, linguistic, and cultural 
     identity of Tibet;
       (2) indoctrination of Tibetan children through government-
     run boarding schools;
       (3) efforts to co-opt Tibetan Buddhism through the control 
     of Tibetan Buddhist religious practices, monastic 
     communities, selection of Tibetan Buddhist lamas and efforts 
     to interfere in the succession process of the Dalai Lama;
       (4) environmental degradation of the Tibetan plateau; and
       (5) forced relocation of Tibetan nomads under the false 
     guise of conservation or economic development;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     abrogated international commitments under the terms of the 
     Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of 
     Great Britain and Northern Island and the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, done 
     at Beijing December 19, 1984 (referred to in this preamble as 
     the ``Joint Declaration''), through an unprecedented 
     crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, including--

[[Page S3933]]

       (1) by passing and implementing the repressive and vague 
     Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding 
     National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative 
     Region (referred to in this preamble as the ``National 
     Security Law''), which undermined the high degree of autonomy 
     promised under the Joint Declaration;
       (2) by harassing, intimidating, and arresting peaceful 
     activists, lawyers, pro-democracy legislators, journalists, 
     and others under the guise of the National Security Law; and
       (3) by implementing Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Hong 
     Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic 
     of China, which further and severely curtails the exercise of 
     human rights in Hong Kong;
       Whereas the ongoing and heroic efforts of the Chinese 
     people to shine a light on the abuses of the Government of 
     the People's Republic of China and to advocate for human 
     rights, including through mass demonstrations in November 
     2022, known as the ``White Paper Movement'' to protest 
     censorship and the harsh zero-COVID policy, have been met 
     with brutal suppression and further efforts to monitor, 
     control, and politically indoctrinate Chinese citizens;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     carries out a coordinated campaign of transnational 
     repression to silence dissenting voices abroad, including 
     through tactics, such as surveillance, harassment, abduction, 
     coercion, and by imprisoning family members in the People's 
     Republic of China;
       Whereas transnational repression by the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China not only violates the fundamental 
     freedoms of individuals and the sovereignty of other nations, 
     but also engenders a climate of fear and self-censorship 
     among Chinese communities abroad, including journalists, 
     activists, scholars, and researchers;
       Whereas the rise of the People's Republic of China as a 
     global power has been accompanied by concerted efforts by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China to reshape 
     international institutions and norms, especially institutions 
     and norms related to human rights;
       Whereas, through pressure, intimidation, economic coercion, 
     and other tactics used against organizational leadership and 
     sovereign nations, the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China seeks to dilute the focus on human rights within the 
     multilateral system and other international fora, and to 
     promote its model of non-interference inside and outside the 
     United Nations system to prevent international scrutiny of 
     domestic human rights abuses and use of transnational 
     repression by the Government of People's Republic of China; 
     and
       Whereas the People's Republic of China, as Secretary of 
     State Antony Blinken has said, is ``the only country with 
     both the intent to reshape the international order, and 
     increasingly, the economic, military, and technological power 
     to do it,'' and the systematic efforts of the Government of 
     the People's Republic of China to redefine international 
     institutions and the multilateral system according to its 
     authoritarian worldview poses an unprecedented challenge to 
     the post-World War II human rights consensus forged through 
     the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and threatens the 
     very foundation of universal human rights norms: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) stands in solidarity with families of the individuals 
     who lost their lives, underwent torture, or were imprisoned 
     for their involvement in the pro-democracy demonstrations 
     during the spring of 1989, and the individuals in and outside 
     of the People's Republic of China who continue to face 
     harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment for their ongoing 
     efforts to expose the truth regarding the massacre by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China against its own 
     people on June 4, 1989;
       (2) reaffirms its steadfast support for the courageous 
     activists, lawyers, civil society representatives, members of 
     ethnic and religious minority groups, journalists, and other 
     individuals who continue to advocate for the rule of law, 
     political and economic freedom, the preservation of the 
     unique identities of the ethnic and religious minorities and 
     groups of the People's Republic of China, and human rights;
       (3) condemns the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China for the egregious human rights abuses against Chinese 
     citizens inside the border of the People's Republic of China, 
     transnational repression against activists, and systematic 
     efforts to undermine human rights within and outside of the 
     United Nations system;
       (4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China--
       (A) to cease censoring information and discussion within 
     the People's Republic of China and globally about the 
     Tiananmen Square Massacre;
       (B) to allow for a full, independent, and transparent 
     investigation into the events of June 4, 1989;
       (C) to cease harassing, intimidating, and imprisoning 
     individuals who attempt to expose the truth regarding the 
     Tiananmen Square Massacre;
       (D) to cease the systematic and egregious suppression of 
     the human rights of the citizens of the People's Republic of 
     China;
       (E) to release unconditionally all human rights defenders, 
     lawyers, scholars, journalists, members of religious and 
     ethnic minorities and groups, and other individuals who have 
     been unjustly detained or imprisoned on politically-motivated 
     charges for exercising internationally recognized fundamental 
     freedoms, including Ilham Tohti, Ekpar Asat, Go Sherab 
     Gyatso, Xu Zhiyong, Li Yuhan and Ding Jiaxi, those who 
     protested the zero-COVID lockdown and the rising repression 
     in the People's Republic of China under Xi Jinping, such as 
     Peng Lifa and Li Kangmeng, who were nominated by Members of 
     Congress for the Nobel Peace Prize, those in Hong Kong, such 
     as Jimmy Lai, Joshua Wong, and Chow Hang-tung, and family 
     members of activists abroad who the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China imprisoned to pressure their 
     family members into silence, including Gulshan Abbas;
       (F) to reverse policies and actions in Xinjiang that have 
     led to widespread atrocities against Uyghur Muslims and other 
     ethnic and religious groups in the region and that threaten 
     the preservation of Uyghur identity, and to allow independent 
     and unfettered access to the region by United Nations human 
     rights mechanisms and other international observers to 
     conduct a transparent investigation into the atrocities of 
     the Government of the People's Republic of China in Xinjiang 
     and seek accountability and justice for victims;
       (G) to reverse policies and actions in Tibet that violate 
     the human rights of Tibetans, threaten the survival of 
     Tibetan identity, interfere in the ability of Tibetan 
     Buddhists to select their religious leaders, including the 
     Dalai Lama, and denigrate the environment and ecosystem of 
     the Tibetan plateau and the traditional livelihoods of 
     Tibetan nomads, and to allow independent and unfettered 
     access to the region by United Nations human rights 
     mechanisms and other international observers to document 
     abuses;
       (H) to uphold international legal obligations to Hong Kong 
     under the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United 
     Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island and the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question 
     of Hong Kong, done at Beijing December 19, 1984 (referred to 
     in this resolution as the ``Joint Declaration''), restore 
     independent democratic representation to the people of Hong 
     Kong in line with the ``One Country, Two Systems'' 
     arrangement set forth in the Joint Declaration;
       (I) to cease undermining the high degree of autonomy 
     promised to Hong Kong in the Joint Declaration;
       (J) to end the coordinated campaign of transnational 
     repression against Chinese citizens overseas; and
       (K) to cease coercing, intimidating, and pressuring member 
     states within the United Nations and other multilateral fora 
     in service of the goal of the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China to reshape the international order 
     according to an authoritarian worldview and undermine the 
     universality of human rights under international law; and
       (5) calls on the United States Government--
       (A) through high-level unilateral and joint statements with 
     partners and allies, to honor the victims of the Tiananmen 
     Square Massacre and urge the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China to immediately initiate a full, 
     independent, and transparent investigation into the events of 
     June 4, 1989, lift censorship restrictions around discussion 
     of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and cease harassing, 
     intimidating, and imprisoning individuals who attempt to 
     expose the truth about June 4, 1989, and seek justice;
       (B) to meet with participants of the Tiananmen Square 
     protests and the families and friends of the victims of the 
     Tiananmen Square Massacre based outside of the People's 
     Republic of China, and publicize such meetings when 
     appropriate;
       (C) to seek the unconditional release of political 
     prisoners in the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong;
       (D) to use credible resources, such as the Political 
     Prisoner Database maintained by the Congressional-Executive 
     Commission on China, to enhance information regarding 
     political prisoner cases in the People's Republic of China;
       (E) to hold accountable officials of the Chinese Communist 
     Party and of the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     complicit in genocide, crimes against humanity, transnational 
     repression, the undermining of the high degree of autonomy of 
     Hong Kong, and other violations of human rights, including 
     through sanctions, visa restrictions, and other tools;
       (F) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
     States at the United Nations to seek urgent discussions of 
     the human rights record of the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China, including on matters related to Hong Kong 
     at the United Nations Security Council and at the United 
     Nation's Human Rights Council; and
       (G) to make clear that the people of the United States 
     support the ability of the citizens of the People's Republic 
     of China to exercise their human rights without fear, and 
     that action by the United States Government to hold the 
     persons complicit in human rights abuses accountable are 
     undertaken in solidarity with the people of the People's 
     Republic of China and their aspirations.

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