[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7] [House] [Pages 8482-8485] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ARBITRARY DETENTION OF DR. WANG BINGZHANG Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 326) expressing the sense of Congress regarding the arbitrary detention of Dr. Wang Bingzhang by the Government of the People's Republic of China and urging his immediate release. The Clerk read as follows: H. Con. Res. 326 Whereas Dr. Wang Bingzhang is a permanent resident of the United States and his sister and daughter are United States citizens; Whereas Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. at McGill University in Canada in coronary-arterial research and is a well-respected leader of the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement and the founder of China Spring magazine; Whereas Dr. Wang is currently serving a life sentence in prison in the People's Republic of China and is suffering from gastritis, varicose veins, phlebitis, and depression; Whereas Dr. Wang was abducted in northern Vietnam in June 2002 after meeting with a Chinese labor activist; Whereas Dr. Wang was driven to the border between Vietnam and the People's Republic of China and forced back to China by boat; Whereas Dr. Wang was blindfolded and bound and held in various places in Guangxi Province and his captors demanded a $10,000,000 ransom, which Dr. Wang was unable to pay; Whereas Dr. Wang although provided his captors with the names and telephone numbers of his relatives, they were never contacted; Whereas Dr. Wang was finally taken to a Buddhist temple in Fangchenggang City in southern Guangxi Province where his abductors unexpectedly left and moments later he was ``rescued'' by the Chinese police; Whereas Dr. Wang was detained by the Chinese police and then transported to Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Province; Whereas Dr. Wang was held incommunicado for six months, during which time the Government of the People's Republic of China denied any knowledge of his whereabouts; Whereas on December 4, 2002, the Chinese Government reversed itself, admitting that Dr. Wang had been in its custody since July 3, 2002; Whereas on December 5, 2002, Dr. Wang was charged with ``offenses of espionage'' and ``the conduct of terrorist activities''; Whereas on January 22, 2003, Dr. Wang was tried by the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province; Whereas Dr. Wang's trial lasted only half a day and was closed to the public because the Chinese Government indicated that ``state secrets'' might be revealed, thereby precluding family members, supporters, and reporters from attending; Whereas at the trial, Dr. Wang declared himself innocent of all charges; Whereas at the trial, the Chinese Government refused to release any evidence of Dr. Wang's wrongdoing; Whereas at the trial, Dr. Wang was denied the right to due process, specifically the right to the presumption of innocence, the right to adequate time and facilities to prepare for his own defense, the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal, the right to call witnesses on his own behalf, the right to cross-examine witnesses testifying against him, and in general, the lack of other due process guarantees that would ensure his adequate defense and a full hearing; Whereas Dr. Wang's trial represented the first time the Chinese Government had brought charges against a pro- democracy dissident under its new terrorism laws; Whereas although Dr. Wang was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on February 10, 2003, Dr. Wang's lawyers stated that there was insufficient evidence to convict him; Whereas Dr. Wang's lawyers immediately appealed the court's verdict, but the appeal was rejected on February 28, 2003; Whereas a human rights petition was submitted on Dr. Wang's behalf to the United Nations Arbitrary Working Group of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Whereas the petition claimed that Dr. Wang was being arbitrarily detained and that the judicial standards employed in his trial fell far short of internationally recognized standards for judicial proceedings under provisions of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Whereas in its opinion, the United Nations Working Group noted that Dr. Wang is an internationally recognized pro- democracy activist as opposed to the Chinese Government's characterization of Dr. Wang as an individual who advocates violence and suggests the use of methods such as kidnapping and bombings to achieve his goals, and that Dr. Wang had boasted of carrying out many violent terrorist activities; Whereas in its opinion, the United Nations Working Group further noted that the Chinese Government offered ``no evidence of any specific occasion on which Wang made the alleged calls to violence'' and that ``[o]ther than the kidnapping of which Wang himself was a victim, as the Government itself acknowledges, no information has been given about other kidnappings or acts of violence initiated by Wang''; Whereas in its opinion, the United Nations Working Group further stated that ``Wang, during his first five months in detention, did not have knowledge of the charges, the right to legal counsel, or the right to judicial review of the arrest and detention; and that, after that date, he did not benefit from the right to the presumption of innocence, the right to adequate time and facilities for defense, the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal, the right to a speedy trial and the right to cross-examine witnesses''; Whereas in conclusion, the United Nations Working Group declared that ``the detention of Wang Bingzhang is arbitrary, being in contravention of articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'' and requested ``the [Chinese] Government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Wang Bingzhang and bring it into conformity with the standards and principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights''; Whereas the United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China made the following recommendation in its 2003 annual report: ``The President and the Congress should increase diplomatic efforts to hold the Chinese government to [its commitments on human rights matters during the December 2002 U.S.-China human rights dialogue], particularly the release of those arbitrarily detained''; Whereas the report also stated the following: ``The Chinese [G]overnment has also taken advantage of the global war on terrorism to persecute . . . political dissidents. In February 2003, Wang Bingzhang, a U.S. permanent resident and veteran pro-democracy activist, was convicted of `leading a terrorism organization' and `spying' and sentenced to life imprisonment''; and Whereas the report finally noted that ``[i]n July 2003, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that Wang's arrest and imprisonment violated international law'': Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that-- (1) Dr. Wang Bingzhang, a permanent resident of the United States, is being arbitrarily detained in the People's Republic of China in violation of international law; (2) the United States Government should request the Government of the People's Republic of China to release Dr. Wang, permitting him to immediately return to the United States; and (3) the President should make the immediate release of Dr. Wang by the Government of the People's Republic of China a top priority of United States foreign policy. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton). General Leave Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution that is under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Indiana? There was no objection. [[Page 8483]] Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this concurrent resolution sponsored by the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano) expressing the indignation of the Congress over the continued arbitrary detention of Dr. Wang Bingzhang by the Government of the People's Republic of China. In recent years, we have all noted Beijing's pattern of using trumped-up charges to arrest and detain Chinese academics and democracy proponents who live outside China during their visits back to their ancestral homeland. In Dr. Wang's case, however, Beijing has gone one step further in its attempt to muzzle the overseas Chinese community through tactics of fear and intimidation. Dr. Wang was not detained within the borders of China itself. He was instead kidnapped, abducted during a visit to Vietnam, bound and blindfolded, and forcibly transported across the border between Vietnam and China in a clear violation of international law. This case serves to demonstrate that despite historic differences, the communist regimes in Hanoi and Beijing are willing to make common cause when it comes to suppressing the voices of the advocates of democratic reform. This is common among communist brotherhood. The People's Republic of China's legal transgressions and abuses in this case are so egregious that the United Nations, despite its sensitivity to Beijing's status as a permanent member of the Security Council, declared that the detention of Dr. Wang is a contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Beijing has further attempted to manipulate heightened post-September 11 international concerns over terrorism by charging Dr. Wang with ``the conduct of terrorist activities'' due to his advocacy of labor rights in China. The Working Group of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, however, has rendered a finding that the Chinese government has offered ``no evidence of any specific occasion on which Dr. Wang made the alleged calls to violence,'' further noting that Dr. Wang himself was a victim of kidnapping by the very Chinese authorities who have accused him. Such false labeling of a victim of abduction as a terrorist is a cynical maneuver which demeans the memory of the victims of genuine terrorist attacks throughout the world. This is a perfect example of some of the things that the Chinese communists do that is just unthinkable, and the world should condemn them for that. Beijing's border controls not only include cases of bringing people forcibly back into China, as with the case of Dr. Wang and the group of Tibetan refugees who were forcibly repatriated by the Chinese communists in Nepal last year. Beijing also seeks to forcibly keep people from leaving. We have heard that before. Remember the Berlin Wall? The People's Republic of China crossed a new line of inhumanity on the borders last month when, according to a reliable NGO report, Chinese border guards shot in the back and killed a North Korean refugee as he was attempting to cross into Mongolia, where he would have received safe haven and have been free. It reminds us of the Berlin Wall and the German border guards shooting to kill refugees when all they wanted was freedom. I say here today: Beijing, tear down the walls of oppression, of arbitrary abduction of democracy advocates, and of victimization of refugees on the run who cannot defend themselves. First, let Dr. Wang go. He is suffering in prison from serious medical conditions. He never had any intention of entering China's territory, and he needs to return to his waiting family, who misses him dearly here in the United States. And second, lift the bamboo curtain of intimidation directed at both its own citizens inside China and the overseas Chinese community which is calling for political as well as economic reform in their homeland. China has undergone profound change in the last 2 decades. Beijing has increasingly sought, through such actions as participation in international peacekeeping and through hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, to take its place among the advanced countries of the world. But China cannot truly be a great nation until Beijing ends its systematic suppression of individual human rights such as clearly demonstrated in the case of Dr. Wang Bingzhang. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe that a country that is economically as strong as China is would stoop to shooting a person in the back who wants to gain freedom just to stop them from getting out of their country, and it boggles my mind that China would actually go into Vietnam, kidnap somebody, blindfold them, and take them forcibly back to China when all they wanted was to see freedom and labor rights in China, and keeping this gentleman from his family, I think, is just unthinkable. So if anybody in the Chinese embassy is paying attention, this is something they should address very quickly and get this man back home to his family. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I strongly support this important resolution, and I urge all of my colleagues to do so as well. I first would like to acknowledge the excellent work on this resolution of the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano). I would also like to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton); the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach), subcommittee chairman; and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the chairman of our full committee for their strong support of this measure. Mr. Speaker, the litany of human rights abuses conducted by the Chinese government on its own citizens is nothing new to Members of this House. This resolution, however, calls our attention to a case where China's complete disregard for human rights and the rule of law has been brought to new heights. Having completely suppressed dissent at home, the Chinese government has actually begun kidnapping Chinese dissidents abroad to be brought to China for persecution. In June, 2002, Dr. Wang Bingzhang, a permanent resident of the United States and the leader in the overseas Chinese democracy movement, was in Vietnam to meet with Chinese labor leaders. Dr. Wang was kidnapped from Vietnam, forced over the border into China, and eventually jailed by the Chinese government. He was held incommunicado for 6 months while the Chinese authorities denied that they knew anything about his fate. {time} 1815 Dr. Wang was then charged with espionage and terrorist activities, though the government produced no evidence linking him to these charges. He was prevented from calling witnesses to support his case, to have sufficient time to prepare his defense and to cross-examine the witnesses against him. After this mockery of a trial, Dr. Wang was sentenced to life in prison in February of 2003. His appeal was denied. Mr. Speaker, the kidnapping, trial and conviction of Dr. Wang is an outrageous violation of internationally recognized human rights. A United Nations working group declared that the detention of Dr. Wang is arbitrary and contravenes the universal declaration of human rights. Dr. Wang is in poor health, and our resolution simply asks that he be released so that he may return to his family here in the United States. I strongly support passage of this resolution, and I urge all of my colleagues to do so as well. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to my good friend, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano). Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my gracious friend and colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking member on the committee, for yielding me time and thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) for allowing this resolution to be brought to the floor and heard. [[Page 8484]] Mr. Speaker, I am very, very concerned about this particular individual. His daughter came to my office not quite a year ago asking for us to take some action on behalf of her family. Yes, they are very worried. They are very concerned. Because they cannot be in contact with their family member, their father, they are not able to provide him any kind of assistance, so they are incommunicado and are not able to help this individual. This particular case is a clear case of a violation of human rights by the People's Republic of China. Dr. Wang, as you have heard, was held for 6 months before they actually filed charges against him. He was sentenced to life in prison on January 22, 2003, after, as you have heard, a very abrupt, half-day trial where he was not allowed time to prepare a defense, he was not allowed to cross-examine the government's witnesses, he was not allowed to call any witnesses of his own, nor was he allowed to provide his own defense. To date, there has been no evidence to link him to the crimes he was charged with, nor have they released him. It is no surprise that the United Nations working group has declared this detention illegal. I will include for the Record two articles that were printed on Dr. Wang. Today, while we go about our business of enjoying freedom and liberty in the United States, it is inconceivable to us that a person such as Dr. Wang would sit in a prison. He has not sent any communication to his family, he has been allowed no visitors, and he has been denied access to medical care. Our government must continue to put international pressure on China and many other countries to improve their human rights efforts. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues who cosigned this resolution and urge this House to sign up for human rights and human decency. Please vote ``yes'' on H. Con. Res. 326 and call on China to end its illegal detention of Dr. Wang. Mr. Speaker, I include the articles referred to earlier for the Record. [From Reuters News, Dec. 6, 2003] China Activist Plans Hunger Strike During Wen Trip Beijing.--A jailed Chinese dissident who spent years in the United States plans to stage a hunger strike to coincide with a trip by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to the United States, a U.S.-based rights group said on Saturday. Wang Bingzhang, who was handed a life sentence on terrorism and espionage charges by a Chinese court in February, aimed to protest against his solitary confinement at the Shaoguan prison in Guangdong province, the Worldrights group said. ``From solitary confinement, Dr. Wang is calling on the leaders of America to stand with him and to demand his unconditional release,'' it is said in a statement. Wen is due to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush early next week to discuss trade and issues related to Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province, among others. Wang, a U.S. green card holder in his mid-50s said by family members to have renounced Chinese citizenship, was the first democracy activist charged by China with terrorism and espionage. ____ [From the South China Morning Post, Dec. 11, 2003] Fears Grow for Health of Jailed Dissident (By Verna Yu) Imprisoned dissident Wang Bingzhang is on the brink of a nervous breakdown due to the ``mental torture'' he has suffered in jail, and is threatening to go on a hunger strike, his brother says. Wang Bingwu, who visited his older brother at a prison in Shaoguan, Guangdong, last Friday, said he found the solitary confinement and mandatory ``political education'' imposed three times a day increasingly difficult to bear. ``He told me to tell the world that in order to end his solitary confinement and mental torture, he would go on a hunger strike,'' Mr Wang said in Hong Kong yesterday. Critics say the so-called ``political education'' sessions in mainland prisons typically include several hours of brainwashing, forced self-criticism and confession of alleged crimes. He was arrested and convicted on espionage and terrorism charges and given a life sentence in February. He was found guilty of providing intelligence to Taiwan between 1982 and 1990. He and his family deny the charges. Mr. Wang said his brotyher looked frail and was suffering from stomach ailments and varicose ulcers. He said his brother was given medicine in prison but was banned brom taking other medication that his family brought from America. Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 4 minutes to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I also want to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) for his leadership on this issue and a lot of other issues. Regardless of party and regardless of what the political pressure is, the gentleman has taken a stand; and being a new Member of Congress, I want to thank the gentleman for an opportunity to be able to witness that up close. Mr. Speaker, the issue of Dr. Wang is a very interesting one, for a variety of reasons. The one reason that strikes me, and the gentleman from Indiana alluded to this, is that he was meeting with a labor activist. I find that very interesting, and I find this particular situation a symptom of a larger disease that we are trying to deal with. They are saying there was a violation of three articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is obviously no longer a Universal Declaration of Human Rights because countries like China do not agree to this kind of standard that we have set. So this man was trying to help organize labor in China and trying to help bring some dignity and justice to the labor industry in China. It is obvious that China does not want it, but I think it is becoming more and more apparent that the major corporations in the United States who do business in China do not want China to have labor standards either. If citizens of the regime in China try to unionize, they will be arrested, they will be beaten, they will be tortured. Many of the workers are bonded workers that come from the farms and go in to work in some of the factories. These people in China and the government of China do not enforce the minimum wage standards that they have, nor some of the safety rules that they have. Why do they not want to do this? Because if they enforce these rules, as the AFL-CIO has indicated to us, there would be a 10 percent to 77 percent increase in the cost of goods coming out of China. We do not want to say that we want to raise prices, but I thought that this would bring about global competition, and I thought we were going to spread democracy. We want to lift the Chinese worker up. We want to lift them up to live, hopefully, one day, with the standards that we have here in the United States of America. But just think, if this would happen, if there would be a 10 to 77 percent increase in the goods coming out of the Chinese market, the U.S. worker would finally be able to compete, Mr. Speaker, would finally be able to compete; and it would eliminate the problem we are even having dealing with the currency right now, if we would have those kinds of labor and human rights standards put in place. I want to share a quote from the President of the United States when he was in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 10, 2003. He said to the workers in Ohio, ``Ohio workers, if given a level playing field, can outproduce any worker anywhere on Earth,'' if we had a level playing field. What we need to do is ask this administration to get tough on China. A level playing field will not just fall out of the sky. Then when we saw, and the AFL-CIO petitioned for, an opportunity to try to fix the currency manipulation problems and some of the labor rights problems, four Members of this administration's cabinet said that the administration's efforts at diplomatic engagement with Beijing on these two issues, currency and labor rights, would produce more results than threatening punitive tariffs. Efforts at diplomatic engagement? This is coming from an administration that, when they walk the halls of the United Nations, it is like a bull in a china shop. They have no diplomatic touch. We have alienated all of our allies. Now we want to go and try to deal with China with diplomacy, while they are abusing workers, while they are abusing people, going to Vietnam to [[Page 8485]] pick people up who are going to help workers organize in China. Something needs to be done, and something needs to be done now. I appreciate the opportunity that the gentlewoman from California has given me and the gentleman from California. I rise in support of this; but, again, I think it is a symptom of a larger problem that needs to be dealt with, and this administration and this Congress need to continue to push China to enforce the human rights that we have been exporting from this country for many, many years and want to continue to export out of this country. Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time as well. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cole). The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 326. The question was taken. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of those present have voted in the affirmative. Mr. LANTOS. Mr. 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 and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. ____________________