[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17081-17086]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CALLING ON CHINA TO END HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES PRIOR TO THE OLYMPICS

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 1370) calling on the Government of the People's 
Republic of China to immediately end abuses of the human rights of its 
citizens, to cease repression of Tibetan and Uighur citizens, and to 
end its support for the Governments of Sudan and Burma to ensure that 
the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games take place in an atmosphere that honors 
the Olympic traditions of freedom and openness, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1370

       Whereas the relationship between the United States and the 
     People's Republic of China is one of the most important and 
     complex in global affairs;
       Whereas in the context of this complex relationship, the 
     promotion of human rights and political freedoms in the 
     People's Republic of China is a central goal of United States 
     foreign policy towards China;
       Whereas increased protection and stronger guarantees of 
     human rights and political freedoms in the People's Republic 
     of China would improve the relationship between the United 
     States and the People's Republic of China;
       Whereas the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held from 
     August 8, 2008, through August 24, 2008;
       Whereas the United States should continue to advance its 
     policy goal of improved human rights and political freedoms 
     in the People's Republic of China in the context of the 
     Beijing 2008 Olympic Games;
       Whereas all Olympic athletes deserve to participate in a 
     competition that takes place in an atmosphere that honors the 
     Olympic traditions of freedom and openness;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     committed to protect human rights, religious freedom, freedom 
     of movement, and freedom of the press as part of its 
     conditions for being named to host the Beijing 2008 Olympic 
     Games;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     issued temporary regulations promising foreign media 
     representatives covering the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games that 
     they could travel freely, with the exception of in the Tibet 
     Autonomous Region, and did not require advance permission 
     before interviewing Chinese citizens during the period of 
     January 1, 2007, to October 18, 2008;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     has failed to abide by many provisions of those regulations 
     and has restricted foreign media by--
       (1) detaining 15 journalists in 2007 for activities 
     permitted by the new regulations;
       (2) refusing to allow foreign media representatives access 
     to Tibetan areas of China, including those areas outside of 
     the Tibet Autonomous Region covered by the pledge of free 
     access, to report on the March 2008 protests and the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China's violent 
     crackdown against Tibetans in those areas; and
       (3) interfering with foreign media representatives and 
     their Chinese employees who were hired within China, such 
     that 40 percent of foreign correspondents have reported 
     government interference with their attempts to cover the news 
     in China;
       Whereas in advance of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, there 
     are widespread reports that the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China has refused to grant visas or entry to 
     individuals because of their political views, beliefs, 
     writings, association, religion, and ethnicity;
       Whereas Chinese citizens and foreign visitors in China for 
     the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will not have free access to 
     information if the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China continues to engage in blocking of overseas websites 
     and other forms of Internet filtering and censorship;
       Whereas the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will not take place 
     in an atmosphere of freedom if the Government of the People's 
     Republic of China continues to limit the freedoms of speech, 
     press, religion, movement, association, and assembly of its 
     citizens and visitors, including political dissidents, 
     protesters, petitioners, the disabled, religious activists, 
     minorities, the homeless, and other people it considers 
     undesirable;
       Whereas despite the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China's repeated pledges to the international community that 
     the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS are a national 
     priority, HIV/AIDS activists and their organizations remain 
     targets for repression and harassment by Chinese authorities;
       Whereas in the period preceding the Olympics Games, Chinese 
     security forces have detained, threatened, and harassed HIV/
     AIDS and hepatitis advocates; shut down conferences and 
     meetings of Chinese and foreign HIV/AIDS experts; and closed 
     AIDS organizations;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues to ignore its international commitments to refugee 
     protection, as evidenced by film footage recording the 
     shooting death of a Tibetan nun by Chinese border guards in 
     October of 2006 and human rights groups' reports citing 
     increased bounties offered for turning in North Korean 
     refugees in 2008 to discourage border-crossing prior to the 
     Olympic Games;
       Whereas workers in the People's Republic of China are often 
     exposed to exploitative and unsafe working conditions, 
     including excessive exposure to dangerous machinery and 
     chemicals;
       Whereas according to Amnesty International, some Chinese 
     companies withhold wages from workers for months while 
     retaining their ID cards to prevent them from securing other 
     work and, in the city of Shenzhen alone, an average of 13 
     factory workers a day lose a finger or an arm, and every 4\1/
     2\ days a worker dies in a workplace accident;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     has increased its persecution of the Falun Gong prior to the 
     Olympic Games;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     remains unwilling to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to 
     China to hold direct talks on a resolution on the issue of 
     Tibet, despite calls from the international community to do 
     so before the Olympic Games;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     has had discussions with the representatives of the Dalai 
     Lama, but has been unwilling to engage in substantive 
     discussions on the future of Tibet and Tibetans in China;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China's 
     continued economic and political support for foreign 
     governments that commit gross human rights violations, 
     including those of Sudan and Burma, contradicts the spirit of 
     freedom and openness of the Olympic Games;
       Whereas it is the desire of the House of Representatives 
     that the People's Republic of China take the specific actions 
     set forth herein so that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are 
     successful and reflect positively on its host country;
       Whereas the Chinese Government limits most women to having 
     one child and strictly controls the reproductive lives of 
     Chinese citizens by systematic means that include mandatory 
     monitoring of women's reproductive cycles, mandatory 
     contraception or sterilization, mandatory birth permits, 
     coercive fines for failure to comply, forced abortion, and 
     involuntary sterilization, and this coercive policy adversely 
     affects Chinese women and has led to widespread sex-selective 
     abortion; and
       Whereas on June 26, 2008, the Congressional-Executive 
     Commission on China published on its Web site a well-
     documented list

[[Page 17082]]

     of 734 political prisoners detained by the Government of 
     China for exercising rights pertaining to peaceful assembly, 
     freedom of religion, freedom of association, and free 
     expression, which are rights guaranteed to them by China's 
     law and Constitution, or by international law, or both: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to immediately end abuses of the human rights of its 
     citizens, to cease repression of Tibetan and Uighur people, 
     and to end its support for the Governments of Sudan and Burma 
     to ensure that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games take place in 
     an atmosphere that honors the Olympic traditions of freedom 
     and openness;
       (2) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to immediately release all those imprisoned or detained 
     for nonviolently exercising their political and religious 
     rights and their right to free expression, such as Hu Jia, 
     who have been imprisoned, detained, or harassed for seeking 
     to hold China accountable to commitments to improve human 
     rights conditions announced when bidding to host the Olympic 
     Games, embodied in China's own laws and regulations, and in 
     international agreements;
       (3) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to honor its commitment to freedom of the press for 
     foreign reporters in China before and during the Olympic 
     Games, to make those commitments permanent, and publicly to 
     guarantee an immediate end to the detention, harassment, and 
     intimidation of both foreign and domestic reporters;
       (4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to permit visitors to China, including through the 
     issuance of visas, for the period surrounding the Olympics, 
     regardless of religious background, belief, or political 
     opinion;
       (5) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to guarantee freedom of movement within China during 
     the period surrounding the Olympics for all visitors, 
     participants, and journalists visiting China for the 
     Olympics, and such freedom of movement should include the 
     freedom to visit Tibet, Xinjiang, China's border regions, and 
     all other areas of China without restriction and without 
     special permits or advance notice;
       (6) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to guarantee access to information by Chinese citizens 
     and foreign visitors, including full access to domestic and 
     overseas broadcasts, print media, and websites that in the 
     past may have been excluded, censored, jammed, or blocked;
       (7) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to permit political dissidents, protesters, 
     petitioners, religious activists, minorities, the disabled, 
     the homeless, and others to maintain their homes, usual 
     locations, jobs, freedom of movement, and freedom to engage 
     in peaceful activities during the period surrounding the 
     Olympics;
       (8) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to end the exploitative and dangerous conditions faced 
     by Chinese workers in many state enterprises and other 
     commercial entities;
       (9) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to begin earnest negotiations, without preconditions, 
     directly with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his 
     representatives, on the future of Tibet to provide for a 
     mutually agreeable solution that addresses the legitimate 
     grievances of, and provides genuine autonomy for, the Tibetan 
     people;
       (10) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to end its political, economic, and military support 
     for the Government of Sudan until the violent attacks in 
     Darfur have ceased and the Sudanese Government has allowed 
     for the full deployment of the United Nations-African Union 
     Mission peacekeeping force in Darfur;
       (11) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to end its political, economic, and military support 
     for the Government of Burma until democracy is restored in 
     Burma, human rights abuses have ceased, and Aung San Suu Kyi 
     and other political prisoners of conscience are released;
       (12) calls on the President to make a strong public 
     statement on China's human rights situation prior to his 
     departure to Beijing for the Olympic Games, to make a similar 
     statement in Beijing and meet with the families of jailed 
     prisoners of conscience, and to seek to visit Tibet and 
     Xinjiang while in China to attend the Olympic Games;
       (13) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to abandon its coercive population control policy which 
     includes forced abortion and involuntary sterilization; and
       (14) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China to review the political prisoner list published by the 
     Congressional-Executive Commission on China with a view to 
     releasing ill and aged prisoners on humanitarian grounds, and 
     to releasing those imprisoned in violation of Chinese law or 
     international human rights law.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Berman) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, despite commitments by Beijing to improve human and 
political rights in the run-up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 
situation has not improved and in some cases has become far worse. 
Likewise in the past few months, China's international behavior with 
respect to despicable regimes in Sudan and Burma has improved 
marginally at best. Beijing remains these countries' strongest 
supporter.
  Because of China's failure to improve its record on supporting human 
rights at home and abroad, now is the time to call on China to take 
immediate, substantial and serious action if there is to be any hope 
that the Olympic games will take place in an atmosphere that honors the 
Olympic spirit of freedom and openness.
  This resolution does just that. It is a direct call to China by the 
House of Representatives to end human rights abuses, honor its 
commitments for freedom of the press and freedom of movement ahead of 
the Olympics, permit peaceful political activities during the games, 
enter into direct discussions with the Dalai Lama over the future of 
Tibet, and end its political and economic support of the regimes in 
Sudan and Burma.
  President Bush has decided to go to the Olympics opening ceremony. 
Whether one agrees or disagrees with his decision, it is clear that the 
President should not pass up this opportunity to make a strong 
statement in support of human rights, one of our central policy goals. 
This resolution calls on the President to make such a statement before 
and during his trip to Beijing for the games. It is important for the 
House of Representatives to speak with one voice on the issue of human 
rights and political freedoms in China ahead of the Olympics. I 
strongly support this resolution.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution which 
underscores Beijing's broken promise to the International Olympic 
Committee and the international community. When Beijing was awarded the 
2008 Summer Olympics, China's leaders committed themselves to using 
this historic event as a catalyst to improve human rights for the 
citizens of the world's most populous nation. By all credible accounts, 
however, the human rights situation in China has not improved on the 
eve of the games. The Olympics has led China's draconian security 
forces to further crack down on dissidents and increase repression of 
minority groups. The glimmer of gold from Olympic medals in Beijing 
cannot conceal a tarnished record of Chinese official sponsorship of 
dictatorial regimes in Sudan, Burma and North Korea. The shine of 
silver cannot blind us to the fact that the Beijing regime continues 
its bloody suppression of minority groups, including the Tibetans. The 
brilliance of bronze cannot block out the repression of Falun Gong 
practitioners, Internet journalists, underground church believers and 
other political prisoners left to languish in the laogai forced labor 
camps and the vast prison system.
  In a report issued just yesterday, Amnesty International affirmed 
that in the last year alone, thousands of dissidents, reformers and 
other independent voices were arrested as part of a campaign by Chinese 
authorities to ``clean up'' Beijing before the start of the Olympic 
games. According to the report, human rights activists have

[[Page 17083]]

been targeted in other parts of the country as well, with many of those 
arrested and sentenced to manual labor without trial. Amnesty's report 
cites the case of one activist who was arrested earlier this month on 
charges of possessing state secrets, although it is believed that the 
arrest was prompted by his efforts to help the families of children 
killed in May's earthquake bring a legal case against local 
authorities.
  Amnesty's deputy director in Asia said: ``By continuing to persecute 
and punish those who speak out for human rights, the Chinese 
authorities have lost sight of the promises they made when they were 
granted the games 7 years ago. The Chinese authorities are tarnishing 
the legacy of the games.'' I agree with what he said.
  When it comes to the pursuit of democratic values and human rights, 
we remain a world divided with a dream unfulfilled for many in China 
and elsewhere. I urge my colleagues to join in sending the Chinese 
leadership a strong message.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to my 
colleague from California (Ms. Woolsey).
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Berman and 
Ranking Member Chabot for the time and for their leadership on human 
rights issues as well as Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen. I rise today in 
strong support of House Resolution 1370.
  In about a week, all eyes will turn to China. Athletes from around 
the world will converge on Beijing, except, it appears, seven of the 10 
Iraqi athletes who are not allowed into the country for some reason. 
Many world leaders--such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel--are taking a very bold step next week 
by boycotting the opening ceremonies. I am still hoping that our 
President will reconsider his decision to attend in light of China's 
poor human rights record. It's no secret, Madam Speaker, that China has 
long sought to sweep its human rights violations under the rug. With 
the help of western companies, the Chinese government blocks or scrubs 
Web sites that it deems as troublemakers. Sites like CNN and certain 
Google searches are being censored. Try looking up Tiananmen Square 
while in China. No pictures of the 1989 student protest, certainly not 
the iconic picture of one man facing down a tank. In fact today many 
students at Beijing University couldn't even identify the photo.
  Madam Speaker, as Chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, 
I'm especially concerned about the treatment of Chinese workers. We 
have learned that reeducation labor camps and dire working conditions 
are the norm, not the exception, in China. This year's Olympics offered 
China the opportunity to turn a corner, but instead China turned 
backward.
  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and call on the 
President to stand up for human rights in China.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on 
Africa and Global Health and a long-standing champion of human rights 
in China and around the world.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank my good friend for yielding. I thank 
the chairman for bringing this important resolution to the floor and 
thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) for his fine leadership and 
that of Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
  A few years ago, Madam Speaker, Liu Jingmin, vice president of the 
Beijing Olympic bid committee, famously asserted that ``by allowing 
Beijing to host the games, you will help the development of human 
rights.'' At the time, the argument seemed plausible, at least to the 
naive, but in the long run-up to the Olympics the reality has been 
numbingly disappointing and yet another wake-up call concerning bogus 
promises made for political and financial gain by the Beijing 
dictatorship. The pre-Olympic crackdown on political dissidents and 
religious believers and the crushing of cyber-dissidents is yet another 
antithetical manifestation to everything that is sane, compassionate or 
just.
  In recent months, the Chinese government has been filling its jails, 
house arresting, surveilling and warning all known dissidents. These 
men and women are persecuted simply because they seek to exercise 
fundamental human freedoms guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and ironically by the Chinese constitution itself. 
Tragically but predictably, the Olympics have been the occasion of a 
massive crackdown designed to silence and put beyond reach all those 
Chinese whose views differ from the government line. For so many brave 
Chinese men and women, for the Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks 
and nuns, for members of Falun Gong, Chinese Christians, Uighur 
Muslims, democracy and labor activists and others, this has been a 
terrible summer, not in spite of but precisely because of the Olympic 
games. The fact is this is a reproach to the International Olympic 
Committee and to all those who believe in fundamental human rights.
  As we meet here, right now in HC-7 several key human rights leaders, 
including the great Harry Wu and Wei Jingsheng, are speaking out 
against the atrocities committed with impunity by the government of 
China. I would note parenthetically that Wei was let out of prison--
Wei, father of the Democracy Wall movement--simply to try to garner 
Olympics 2000. When the government didn't get that from the Olympic 
committee, they rearrested Wei Jingsheng and tortured him almost to 
death. That is the reality of the people we're dealing with.
  In fact, let me just point out to my colleagues that any number of 
the Chinese government's human rights violations should have been a 
deal-stopper for the International Olympic Committee. Take the one-
child-per-couple policy, Madam Speaker, with its attendant evils of 
forced abortion and rampant sex-selective abortion. In effect since 
1979, the one-child-per-couple policy constitutes one of the gravest 
crimes against women and children in all of human history, and our 
resolution before us today has appropriate language condemning that 
atrocity.
  The Chinese government massively violates Chinese women with a state 
policy of mandatory monitoring of all Chinese women's reproductive 
cycles, mandatory birth permits, mandatory contraception or 
sterilization, and ruinous fines up to 10 times the annual salary of 
both husband and wife if they don't comply with the one-child-per-
couple policy. This policy has imposed unspeakable pain, violence, 
humiliation and degradation on hundreds of millions of Chinese women, 
many of whom suffer life-long depression as a direct consequence. It is 
no wonder more women commit suicide in China than anywhere else in the 
world.
  As a direct result of this egregious human rights violation, tens of 
millions of girls are missing today, dead, due to sex-selective 
abortions, creating a huge gender disparity, a new dark manifestation 
of genocide which is perhaps more appropriately called gendercide.

                              {time}  1130

  The lost girls of China, and the estimates are between 50 to 100 
million lost girls, murdered simply because they were girls.
  Madam Speaker, 3 weeks ago, Frank Wolf and I visited Beijing in order 
to press for respect of fundamental human rights. The Chinese Secret 
Police threatened eight human rights lawyers with whom we had planned 
to meet for dinner in a public restaurant and placed several of them 
under house arrest.
  We did, let me conclude with this, present the Chinese government 
with a list of people, 734 prisoners, a short list by Chinese 
standards, of people who are advocating for democracy and freedom. And 
with the Olympics now underway, we ask again, let those people and all 
like-minded human rights activists who languish and are tortured in 
prison, please let them go.
  The resolution is a great one, and deserves everyone's support.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page 17084]]


  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 4 minutes to the 
gentleman from the great State of Indiana (Mr. Pence) who is the 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.
  Mr. PENCE. I thank the gentleman for yielding; thank him for his 
strong moral leadership on this issue. And I want to commend the 
ranking member and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee for 
having the moral courage to bring this resolution to the House before 
Congress adjourns.
  It is important that we speak truth to power. And with the 2008 
Olympics in Beijing about to begin, it is important that the people of 
the United States be heard on our ideals, as athletes from around the 
globe and global media descend on China.
  It is important that we say, as the late Tom Lantos, chairman of this 
committee, said in a hearing last year, a few months before his death, 
``China is a police state.''
  I personally believe that the selection of China as the site of the 
2008 Olympic Games was a historic error. The Olympics is a symbol of 
the human spirit, and in that regard, a symbol of human freedom. And 
this police state, therefore, is precisely the wrong venue for a 
celebration of human dignity and the human spirit.
  And so I commend to my colleagues support for H. Res. 1370. I am 
particularly grateful for the call on the government of the People's 
Republic of China to end abuses of human rights, to release those 
imprisoned for political and religious expression, and also challenging 
China to honor its commitment to freedom of the press of foreign 
reporters.
  But I must say, while there is much talk in the media today about the 
crowd of smog hanging over Beijing as these games approach, let me say 
from my heart, the real cloud over the Beijing Olympics is the horror 
of forced abortion. And therefore, I am especially grateful to 
Congressman Chris Smith, from whom we just heard, for adding an 
important amendment to this resolution noting that, whereas the Chinese 
government limits most women to having one child and strictly controls 
the reproductive lives of Chinese citizens by systematic means that 
include mandatory monitoring of women's reproductive cycles, mandatory 
sterilization and contraception, mandatory birth permits, coercive 
fines for failure to comply and the like, that this legislation will 
call on Congress to--excuse me--call on the People's Republic of China 
to immediately end the practice of forced abortion.
  And make no mistake about it, China's policy requires that 
unpermitted babies be aborted. Article 25 of the Henan Province 
Population and Family Planning Regulations reads: ``Under any of the 
following conditions, necessary remedial measures shall be taken and 
pregnancy terminated under the guidance of family planning technical 
service workers: Pregnancy out of wedlock, pregnancy without a 
certificate, or where the party already has one child.''
  In the committee, Madam Speaker, we heard the most horrific stories 
of these so-called family planning technical service workers literally 
breaking into homes, dragging women in their ninth month of pregnancies 
off to clinics, forcing abortions on them and, in one case after 
another, going to horrific means to ensure that the newly born child's 
life had been completely snuffed out. There is not time in this debate 
to recount those instances, but they are legion in China, and they are 
the result of heartbreak among tens of millions of that country of good 
and decent people.
  And so I commend the chairman of this committee, Mr. Berman, for his 
leadership. I commend Mr. Chabot for his leadership, and especially the 
gentleman from New Jersey, a leading voice for the sanctity of life in 
the United States of America, for ensuring that this legislation, this 
resolution comes before the Olympics, that we speak truth to power to 
the People's Republic of China; that here in the United States of 
America, the people of this country will say, with one voice, we 
believe in freedom and we believe in life, and we reject the policy of 
forced abortion in China, and urge them to do likewise at this time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas, a former judge, Mr. Poe, an esteemed member of the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, and the author of China-related resolutions, part of 
which were incorporated into this measure.
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, I rise in total support of this resolution 
today. And I want to thank the chairman for including language from one 
of my proposals regarding worker exploitation to the bill being 
considered today.
  Having been to China, I have seen firsthand how the Chinese 
government runs roughshod over its people and abuses their basic 
rights.
  Earlier this year, Madam Speaker, I introduced a resolution 
condemning the government of China for not only its inhumane working 
conditions, but also for the exportation of unsafe goods like lead toys 
and pet food to the United States, and for the poor environmental 
policy that affects the entire globe. I hope the committee will soon 
consider the Chinese policy of exporting harmful products to the United 
States and other parts of the world.
  However, the Olympic Games begin next week, and I believe it is 
critical to remind the government of China that it is a member of the 
world community, and the world is watching how China treats its 
citizens. China has a social and moral responsibility to provide basic 
rights to all of its citizens, especially in the workplace.
  In June of 2007, it was discovered that hundreds of people, including 
women and small children, were forced to work in hot brick-making 
factories, suffering from brutal beatings and confinement equal to 
imprisonment.
  According to Amnesty International, there are instances where Chinese 
companies withhold wages from the workers for months at a time, refuse 
to give them ID cards. Without an ID card, it prevents that worker from 
securing work someplace else.
  In the city of Shenzhen alone, in an average day, 13 factory workers 
lose an arm or some other body member, and every 4 days a worker dies 
in a workplace accident. And Madam Speaker, this is just in one city in 
China.
  I stand with the Chinese people who have been subjected to inhumane 
working conditions, and call on the government to end the dangerous 
conditions faced by these workers. If China expects to gain the respect 
of the global community, China must earn that respect from its own 
citizens first, and that requires reforming their inhumane working 
conditions and respecting basic human rights of their own people.
  And once again, I want to thank the chairman for bringing this to the 
House floor.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the Speaker of 
the House, who came up with the idea for having this resolution at this 
particular time, our Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for 1 minute.
  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I 
thank him for bringing this legislation, salute him and the ranking 
member of the committee, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, for her ongoing 
persistent advocacy for human rights throughout the world. I thank you 
for you leadership as well, Mr. Berman, Mr. Chairman.
  I rise today in strong support of this resolution calling on the 
Chinese government to end its human rights abuses in China and Tibet so 
that the Olympic Games can take place in an atmosphere that honors the 
Olympic traditions of freedom and openness.
  I thank Chairman Berman again and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for 
bringing the resolution to the floor. With passage of this resolution, 
the House will speak with one voice about the conditions in China and 
Tibet on the eve of the Olympic Games.
  Madam Speaker, the Olympic charter states that the Olympics should 
promote ``a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human 
dignity.'' The reality is that human rights

[[Page 17085]]

abuses committed by Chinese authorities are worsening in the weeks and 
months before the Olympics.
  In exchange for the privilege of hosting the Olympic Games, the 
Chinese government made commitments on freedom of the press, human 
rights and on the environment. Many of these commitments have been 
violated repeatedly and blatantly. Both foreign and domestic 
journalists have been harassed, threatened and detained. Human rights 
defenders and activists have been arrested and imprisoned at an 
alarming rate in recent months.
  The dialog between the Chinese government and the representatives of 
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, have gone nowhere. Thousands of peaceful 
Tibetans still languish in prisons in the aftermath of the protest that 
began in March. Chinese authorities have stepped up the so-called 
``patriotic education'' campaigns that require Tibetan Buddhists, 
regardless of their true thoughts, to publicly denounce the Dalai Lama.
  The violations of human rights do not end on China's borders. On the 
international front, the Chinese government continues to support the 
genocidal regime in Sudan and the military junta in Burma. Their 
actions run counter to our interests of promoting peace, stability and 
morality in the world. The situation in the Sudan would change 
drastically if the Chinese government would cooperate at the U.N. and 
send that message to the Sudanese government.
  It is in this context that President Bush is traveling to China to 
attend the Olympic Games. To my knowledge, a sitting President of the 
United States has never attended an Olympics on foreign soil. That 
gives the President tremendous leverage with the Chinese government as 
he gives them tremendous face by attending the opening ceremonies of 
the Olympics.
  I have no objection to the President attending the Olympic Games. I 
do hope, though, that with all of the face, for lack of a better word, 
that the Chinese government will receive by his participation in the 
opening ceremony, that he will take the opportunity to use his leverage 
to speak very forcefully to the Chinese regime, not only about human 
rights in China and Tibet, of course that is a top priority, but also 
about the barriers to U.S. products going into China, about the dangers 
that are foisted upon our children and the American people by the lack 
of safety and the production of food.
  It is important for the body to know, and I am sure others have made 
the point, that the President recently met with some advocates for 
human rights in China and Tibet. I was very proud that they had the 
opportunity to meet with the President in the White House, and I thank 
the President for doing that.
  But shortly after the President had the meeting, two of these people 
were detained on the way to a meeting with our colleagues, Congressman 
Smith and Congressman Wolf, Frank Wolf of Virginia.
  So the message has to be, I think, clear to the Chinese government. 
We have concerns about jobs. We have concerns about U.S. jobs fleeing 
to China without opening of their markets to our products. We have 
concerns about human rights in China and Tibet. We want to work with 
the Chinese government to fight global warming. There are areas where 
we can have a level of cooperation.
  But if we give them that level of respect by having the President of 
the United States be at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, it 
is important for the President, when he is there, to deliver a strong 
message of concerns that we have in our country.
  I hope that we can have a brilliant future with China. Mr. Smith and 
Mr. Wolf and I have been trying for over 20 years, haven't we, been 
making this fight on human rights, as well as others in this body, and 
our dear friend, Mr. Lantos, as well.
  They told us 19 years ago, at the time of Tiananmen Square, if only 
we would engage economically with China, then human rights would 
improve there, democratization would take place, markets would be open 
to our products. But that just really hasn't happened.
  Here we are 19 years later. The Olympic Committee honored China by 
giving them the opportunity to host these Olympic Games. The President 
of the United States is honoring them by attending the opening 
ceremonies. It is very important that the opportunity afforded to China 
be met with responsible behavior on their part in terms of human rights 
in China and Tibet.
  So I hope that the President will not miss the opportunity, that 
historic, that has wide-ranging consequences, and which will be viewed 
with such favorability should he deliver the message when he is there.
  The President is well known for his support of freedom of religion. 
That is a commitment that he has made throughout the world, and it is 
one that I hope that he will carry with him to China as well.

                              {time}  1145

  With that, again, I thank the gentleman and Congresswoman Ros-
Lehtinen for bringing this to the floor.
  I am very thrilled that the Congress of the United States will speak 
with one voice on this important subject. I know the struggle for human 
rights is a long one, but we did not expect the Olympics to result in a 
situation where they were worsened in China instead of improved, as was 
the promise.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I appreciate the Speaker's words relative to China. The Speaker has a 
very tough job, and with that job goes praise and criticism. I know 
many of us, including myself, have been critical of the Speaker for not 
allowing, for example, a vote on ANWR on the floor of this House and we 
certainly think that we ought to have that vote.
  But I want to praise the Speaker on her speaking out when she was on 
a trip in India on a codel and she spoke out when the crackdown on 
Tibet was occurring, the scandalous, outrageous crackdown on Tibet was 
occurring. The Speaker spoke out, and I issued a press release and also 
a personal letter thanking her for speaking out on behalf of our 
country. I think it was the right thing for her to do, and I think it 
took a lot of courage for the Speaker of the House to actually speak 
out on behalf of Tibetans who are undergoing considerable civil rights, 
human rights abuses.
  The fact is, there are still, according to a recent article, at least 
1,000 Tibetans that are unaccounted for because of this crackdown by 
the PRC, by Communist China. This is a very serious issue, and I'm glad 
that we're taking up this resolution.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) who is the cochair of the 
Congressional Human Rights Caucus and who recently traveled to China.
  Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman. I thank him for yielding.
  I want to thank Mr. Berman and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and 
Mr. Chabot for bringing the bill up.
  I also want to thank President Bush for meeting yesterday with the 
dissidents, and I know they were probably passionate with him to 
explain how important it is to speak out.
  I also want to second what Mr. Chabot said about the Speaker. I 
appreciate Speaker Pelosi raising this issue on human rights and 
religious freedom in China. There is tremendous persecution. Catholic 
bishops are in jail. A large number of house church leaders are still 
in jail. As Mr. Smith said, there is a list of 730 dissidents that we 
should advocate publicly for.
  In the days during the Reagan administration, President Reagan would 
advocate publicly for names. That is very important. We know what 
they've done in Tibet in the Drapchi prison in the persecution of 
Tibetan monks and nuns. We know the Uighurs, Rebiya Kadeer, whose 
children have been arrested and are in jail as we now speak. They're 
plundering, beating the Falun Gong. And even in Flushing, New York, we 
believe--and the FBI is investigating--that the Chinese embassy

[[Page 17086]]

was involved in a counter-demonstration beating of the Falun Gong in 
Flushing, New York. Not in Flushing, China, but in Flushing, New York.
  We know of the labor camps, the laogais. We know what Harry Wu has 
told us of the labor camps that are still operating, and there are more 
labor camps in China today than there were gulags in the Soviet Union.
  We know when the Speaker said, very accurately, the genocide in 
Darfur, the Chinese government is the number one supporter of the 
genocidal government in Khartoum. And as Mr. Smith and Mr. Pence said 
on the one-child policy on forced abortion, we know what they're doing.
  What I would urge the administration to do and the President to do--I 
want to make sure we don't violate the rules and I speak to the 
Speaker--is to give a speech the way that President Reagan gave a 
speech at the Danilov Monastery. It was a very powerful speech. As 
Natan Sharansky said, when Ronald Reagan gave the speech in Orlando, 
Florida, where he called the Soviet Union the Evil Empire, it sent a 
message through the Perm. The prisoners in the Perm knew of what 
President Reagan was publicly speaking out and advocating for, and the 
people in the Perm and the people in jail knew when President Reagan 
gave the Danilov Monastery speech that he was speaking out.
  So I would urge the President to give a Danilov Monastery/Evil Empire 
speech in China. Select a Catholic church or a house church or a 
university and boldly speak out. Keep in mind Reagan boldly spoke out 
and called the Soviet Union the Evil Empire, boldly spoke out in the 
Danilov Monastery.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from Virginia has 
expired.
  Mr. CHABOT. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.
  Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentleman.
  Ronald Reagan spoke out both times very boldly. If you recall, at 
President Reagan's funeral, Gorbachev came and attended the funeral. 
You can do it in that way. So I urge the President.
  I would also urge the committee to bring up Congressman Smith's 
Global Online Freedom bill so we can send a message, because when we 
were there, we saw that sometimes some American companies are 
cooperating with the Chinese government using American technology to 
cooperate.
  My closing comment, Madam Speaker, is that we urge the President to 
give a Ronald Reagan Danilov Monastery-type speech so that when he 
leaves China, it is clear to the dissidents who are in prison--because 
they will hear him--it is clear to the family members of those 
dissidents--because they will hear him--and it will be doubly clear, 
triply clear to the Chinese government that America and the President 
of the United States stands for freedom, and that must be done 
publicly.
  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution, 
which is yet another meaningless but provocative condemnation of China. 
It is this kind of jingoism that has led to such a low opinion of the 
United States abroad. Certainly I do not condone human rights abuses, 
wherever they may occur, but as Members of the U.S. House of 
Representatives we have no authority over the Chinese government. It is 
our constitutional responsibility to deal with abuses in our own 
country or those created abroad by our own foreign policies. Yet we are 
not debating a bill to close Guantanamo, where abuses have been 
documented. We are not debating a bill to withdraw from Iraq, where 
scores of innocents have been killed, injured, and abused due to our 
unprovoked attack on that country. We are not debating a bill to 
reverse the odious FISA bill passed recently which will result in 
extreme abuses of Americans by gutting the Fourth Amendment.
  Instead of addressing these and scores of other pressing issues over 
which we do have authority, we prefer to spend our time criticizing a 
foreign government over which we have no authority and foreign domestic 
problems about which we have very little accurate information.
  I do find it ironic that this resolution ``calls on the Government of 
the People's Republic of China to begin earnest negotiations, without 
preconditions, directly with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his 
representatives.'' For years U.S. policy has been that no meeting or 
negotiation could take place with Iran until certain preconditions are 
met by Iran. Among these is a demand that Iran cease uranium 
enrichment, which Iran has the right to do under the terms of the Non-
Proliferation Treaty. It is little wonder why some claim that 
resolutions like this are hypocritical.
  Instead of lecturing China, where I have no doubt there are problems 
as there are everywhere, I would suggest that we turn our attention to 
the very real threats in a United States where our civil liberties and 
human rights are being eroded on a steady basis. The Bible cautions 
against pointing out the speck in a neighbor's eye while ignoring the 
log in one's own. I suggest we contemplate this sound advice before 
bringing up such ill-conceived resolutions in the future.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise to express my concerns with H. 
Res. 1370.
  I certainly am supportive of many of the provisions of the bill. I am 
a friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and I continue to voice my 
displeasure of the treatment of the Tibetan people by the government of 
the People's Republic of China. The human rights consequences that 
persist in Tibet have the potential to devastate Tibet and completely 
abolish any chance of peaceful reconciliation.
  I also support efforts to hold repressive governments in Sudan and 
Burma accountable for their reprehensible treatment of their citizens. 
It is outrageous that these governments continue to prosper and enjoy 
support from other governments, such as China, as they systematically 
dismantle the economic and physical security of their citizens and 
routinely violate universally accepted human rights principles.
  However, this legislation continues a troubling pattern of addressing 
political and social issues in a cosmetic and superficial manner, while 
ignoring the devastating impact of our trade policies with China on the 
American economy and American families. The Economic Policy Institute 
recently released a report that asserted between 2001-2007, our trade 
deficit with China has more than tripled, from $84 billion to $262 
billion. This trade deficit has lead to a veritable hemorrhaging of 
jobs: the American economy has shed approximately 2.3 million jobs 
during that time span, the vast majority being manufacturing jobs.
  Moreover, China continues its practice of currency manipulation, 
where the Yuan is pegged to the American dollar at a depressed and 
fixed rate. This distorts the prices of imports and exports, making 
American imports artificially high and Chinese exports low. China is 
currently one of the top two holders of U.S. Treasury bonds; the other 
is Japan.
  Nonbinding saber rattling will not improve the human rights situation 
in China. We must get our priorities in order. If we take a hard look 
at the economic and financial policies that guide our relationship with 
China, we will realize that they continue to erode the American 
economy, attack the American family, and compromise our national 
security.
  I will continue to advocate for the open channels of dialogue and 
discussions that will lead to real change and understanding, and I will 
reject demagoguery that has no real effect and serves no valuable 
purpose in our foreign policy.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time and 
urge strong support for this resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1370, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam 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.

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