TheWeekInCongress.com
Week Ending June 4, 2004
House Resolution 655 Condemning the crackdown on democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, PR China.
BRIEF
Based on the foundation belief that all men and women are created equal and entitled to the exercise of their basic human rights; that freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion are fundamental human rights that belong to all people and are recognized as such under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Congress remembers and vilifies the killing of protestors for democracy during of June 3-4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People's Republic of China.
Congress holds that “in recent days the Communist Government of China has stepped up harassment of the relatives of people who lost their lives in the 1989 crackdown on democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square, in an apparent effort to control dissent ahead of the 15th anniversary of that tragic massacre” and that “in recent weeks China's Communist Party leaders have been working to eliminate the residual influence of Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as Communist Party chief for opposing the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen protests, and are trying to erase his name from history.”
Mr. Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when he tearfully begged student protesters to leave Tiananmen Square, and was then promptly put under house arrest and purged and Communist Government of China declared martial law the next day and troops backed by tanks crushed the student movement on June 3-4, 1989.
The demonstrations in Tiananmen Square were part of a democratic movement that had begun to spread across China following the death of the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China on April 15, 1989. Students in particular called for the establishment of a dialogue with government and party leaders on democratic reforms, including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the elimination of corruption by government officials.
Whereas after that date thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators continued to protest peacefully in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing until June 3 and 4, 1989, when Chinese authorities ordered the People's Liberation Army and other security forces to use lethal force to disperse demonstrators in Beijing, especially around Tiananmen Square;
Congress believes that 20,000 Chinese suspected of taking part in the democracy movement were arrested and sentenced without trial to prison or reeducation through labor, and many were reportedly tortured and that the final death count from Tiananmen was several thousand.
Congress also believes that the Communist Government of China continues to suppress dissent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists, journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, and other individuals in China and Tibet who seek to express their political or religious views in a peaceful manner and that 2000 of the Tiananmen protests are still in prison now, fifteen years later.
Congress therefore expresses sympathy to the families of those killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their participation in the democracy protests of June 3-4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People's Republic of China, and to all those persons who have suffered for their efforts to keep that struggle alive during the past 15 years, and to all the people of China who lack fundamental human rights;
Commends all persons who are peacefully advocating for democracy and human rights in China;
Calls upon those nations participating in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to use opportunities created by the Games to urge China to fully comply with the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights;
Calls upon the Communist Government of China, its National People's Congress, and any other groups appointed by the Communist Government of China to honor its pledge of a ``high degree of autonomy'' made at the time of the Hong Kong reversion in 1997, by permitting immediate elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong according to rules approved by the Hong Kong people through an election-law convention, referendum, or both, and by leaving all revisions of Hong Kong law to a legislature elected by universal suffrage; and
Condemns the ongoing and egregious human rights abuses by the Communist Government of China and calls on that Government to--
Reevaluate the official verdict on the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen pro-democracy activities and order formal investigations into the reported killing, torture, and imprisonment of democracy activists with the goal of bringing those responsible to justice;
Establish a June Fourth Investigation Committee, the proceedings and findings of which should be accessible to the public, to make a just and independent inquiry into all matters related to June 4, 1989;
Release all prisoners of conscience, including those persons still in prison as a result of their participation in the peaceful pro-democracy protests of 1989, provide just compensation to the families of those killed in those protests, and allow those exiled on account of their activities in 1989 to return and live in freedom in China; and
Release Dr. Yang Jianli, an organizer of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, who has been illegally detained incommunicado by the Communist Government of China since April 26, 2002, and whose wife and 2 children are United States citizens, and put an immediate end to the harassment, detention, and imprisonment of all Chinese citizens exercising their legitimate freedoms of expression, association, and religion.
Sponsor: Representative Christopher Cox (R-CA)
Vote: Passed House 400 to 1
Cost to the taxpayer: No discernible cost.