China Human Rights and Democracy Act of 1997

Summary: China Human Rights and Democracy Act of 1997 - Authorizes appropriations for International Broadcasting Activities only for broadcasting to China.  Earmarks funds for:  (1) capital expenditures for the purchase and construction of transmission facilities; and (2) Radio Free Asia. 
(Sec. 2) Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. international broadcasting through Radio Free Asia and Voice of America should be increased to provide continuous 24-hour broadcasting in multiple languages and dialects, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, and Uighur. 
(Sec. 3) Authorizes appropriations to the National Endowment for Democracy, and directs the Secretary of State to use funds available in the East Asia-Pacific Regional Democracy Fund, to promote democracy, civil society, and the development of the rule of law in China. 
(Sec. 4) Directs the Secretary to report annually to specified congressional committees on human rights in China, including religious persecution, the development of democratic institutions, and the rule of law.  Directs the Secretary to:  (1) establish a Prisoner Information Registry for China; and (2) assign not less than six foreign service officers to the U.S. Embassy and consular offices in China to monitor and report on human rights matters in China. 
(Sec. 5) Requires specified reports to the Congress on Chinese intelligence activities against U.S. interests and on commercial enterprises affiliated with the Chinese military. 
(Sec. 6) Expresses the sense of the Congress that U.S. nationals conducting industrial cooperation projects in China should adhere to certain principles.  Declares that such nationals should:  (1) suspend the use of any merchandise that they have reason to believe was produced by convict or forced labor, and refuse to use forced labor in their projects; (2) seek to ensure that political or religious views, sex, ethnic or national background, or association with dissidents will not prohibit hiring, lead to harassment, demotion, or dismissal of an individual employed in the industrial cooperation project; (3) ensure that methods of production used in the projects do not pose unnecessary danger to workers and the surrounding neighborhoods and environment; (4) strive to establish a private business enterprise when involved in an industrial cooperation project with China or other state entity; (5) discourage any military presence on the premises of projects which involve dual-use technologies; (6) promote freedom of association and assembly among the U.S. national's employees; (7) provide the Department of State with information relevant to its efforts to collect information on prisoners for purposes of the Prisoner Information Registry; (8) discourage or prevent compulsory political indoctrination programs from taking place on project premises; (9) promote freedom of expression of all kinds; and (10) prevent harassment of workers who decide freely the number and spacing of their children, and prohibit compulsory population control activities on the premises of the project. 
Directs the Secretary to forward a copy of these principles to the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and encourage them to promote similar principles. 
Directs each U.S. national conducting an industrial cooperation project in China to register with the Secretary and indicate whether they agree to implement such principles.  Requires the Secretary of Commerce to give preference to U.S. nationals that have adopted such principles when selecting participants for trade missions in China. 
(Sec. 7) Requires the promotion of cultural, educational, scientific, agricultural, military, legal, political, and artistic exchanges between the United States and China.  Expresses the sense of the Congress that:  (1) the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate should establish a legislative exchange program with China; and (2) a federally chartered not-for-profit organization should be established to fund exchanges between the United States and China through private donations. 
(Sec. 8) Prohibits the Secretary from issuing any visa to, and the Attorney General from admitting to the United States, any Chinese national that has been materially involved in:  (1) the commission of human rights violations; or (2) the proliferation of conventional or nuclear weapons technology, or other sensitive or dual-use technologies, in contravention of U.S. interests.  Provides for waiver of such requirements in the U.S. national interest. 
(Sec. 9) Expresses the sense of the Congress that the Congress, the President, and the Secretary should work with the governments of other countries to establish a Commission on Security and Cooperation in Asia which would be modeled after the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``China Human Rights and Democracy Act 
of 1997''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING TO CHINA.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations for International Broadcasting 
to China.--In addition to such sums as are otherwise authorized to be 
appropriated for ``International Broadcasting Activities'' for fiscal 
years 1998 and 1999, there are authorized to be appropriated for 
``International Broadcasting Activities'' $40,000,000 for fiscal year 
1998 and $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, which shall be available 
only for broadcasting to China. Of the funds authorized to be 
appropriated for fiscal year 1998, $10,000,000 is authorized to be 
appropriated for capital expenditures for the purchase and construction 
of transmission facilities. Of the funds authorized to be appropriated 
for fiscal year 1998 and fiscal year 1999, $20,000,000 is authorized to 
be appropriated for Radio Free Asia.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that United 
States international broadcasting through Radio Free Asia and Voice of 
America should be increased to provide continuous 24-hour broadcasting 
in multiple languages and dialects which shall include Mandarin, 
Cantonese, Tibetan, and Uighur.

SEC. 3. DEMOCRACY BUILDING IN CHINA.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations for NED.--In addition to such 
sums as are otherwise authorized to be appropriated for the ``National 
Endowment for Democracy'' for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, there are 
authorized to be appropriated for the ``National Endowment for 
Democracy'' $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1998 and $5,000,000 for fiscal 
year 1999, which shall be available to promote democracy, civil 
society, and the development of the rule of law in China.
    (b) East Asia-Pacific Regional Democracy Fund.--The Secretary of 
State shall use funds available in the East Asia-Pacific Regional 
Democracy Fund to provide grants to nongovernmental organizations to 
promote democracy, civil society, and the development of the rule of 
law in China.

SEC. 4. HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA.

    (a) Reports.--Not later than March 30, 1998, and each subsequent 
year thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives and 
the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate an annual report on human 
rights in China, including religious persecution, the development of 
democratic institutions, and the rule of law. Reports shall provide 
information on each region of China.
    (b) Prisoner Information Registry.--The Secretary of State shall 
establish a Prisoner Information Registry for China which shall provide 
information on all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and 
prisoners of faith in China. Such information shall include the 
charges, judicial processes, administrative actions, use of forced 
labor, incidences of torture, length of imprisonment, physical and 
health conditions, and other matters related to the incarceration of 
such prisoners in China. The Secretary of State is authorized to make 
funds available to nongovernmental organizations presently engaged in 
monitoring activities regarding Chinese political prisoners to assist 
in the creation and maintenance of the registry.
    (c) Human Rights Officers in China.--The Secretary of State shall 
designate or assign not less than 6 foreign service officers to the 
United States Embassy and consular offices in China with the principal 
assignment of monitoring and reporting on human rights matters in 
China. In addition, the number of officers assigned to the United 
States diplomatic missions in China whose principal assignment is 
commerce or trade may not exceed the number of officers in China whose 
principal assignment is human rights matters.

SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON CHINESE MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE 
              ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Report Concerning Chinese Intelligence Activities Directed 
Against United States Interests.--No later than March 30 of each 
calendar year, the President shall report in both classified and 
unclassified form on all Chinese intelligence collection activities 
directed against United States interests to the Committees on National 
Security, International Relations, and Intelligence of the House of 
Representatives and the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign 
Relations, and Intelligence of the Senate.
    (b) Information Concerning Commercial Enterprises Affiliated With 
the Chinese Military.--The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 
the Secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury and the Director of the 
Central Intelligence Agency, shall compile and make available to the 
public through all appropriate means, including internet technology, 
information concerning Chinese commercial enterprises or joint ventures 
in which the Chinese Ministry of Defense, the Peoples Liberation Army, 
affiliated commercial entities, or senior officials of such entities 
and their immediate family, have an ownership interest.

SEC. 6. PRINCIPLES THAT SHOULD BE ADHERED TO BY ANY UNITED STATES 
              NATIONAL CONDUCTING AN INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION PROJECT IN 
              THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.

    (a) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this section to create 
principles governing the conduct of industrial cooperation projects of 
United States nationals in the People's Republic of China.
    (b) Statement of Principles.--It is the sense of the Congress that 
any United States national conducting an industrial cooperation project 
in the People's Republic of China should:
            (1) Suspend the use of any goods, wares, articles, or 
        merchandise that the United States national has reason to 
        believe were mined, produced, or manufactured, in whole or in 
        part, by convict labor or forced labor, and refuse to use 
        forced labor in the industrial cooperation project.
            (2) Seek to ensure that political or religious views, sex, 
        ethnic or national background, involvement in political 
        activities or nonviolent demonstrations, or association with 
        suspected or known dissidents will not prohibit hiring, lead to 
        harassment, demotion, or dismissal, or in any way affect the 
        status or terms of employment in the industrial cooperation 
        project. The United States national should not discriminate in 
        terms or conditions of employment in the industrial cooperation 
        project against persons with past records of arrest or internal 
        exile for nonviolent protest or membership in unofficial 
        organizations committed to nonviolence.
            (3) Ensure that methods of production used in the 
        industrial cooperation project do not pose an unnecessary 
        physical danger to workers and neighboring populations or 
        property, and that the industrial cooperation project does not 
        unnecessarily risk harm to the surrounding environment; and 
        consult with community leaders regarding environmental 
        protection with respect to the industrial cooperation project.
            (4) Strive to establish a private business enterprise when 
        involved in an industrial cooperation project with the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China or other state 
        entity.
            (5) Discourage any Chinese military presence on the 
        premises of any industrial cooperation projects which involve 
        dual-use technologies.
            (6) Undertake to promote freedom of association and 
        assembly among the employees of the United States national. The 
        United States national should protest any infringement by the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China of these freedoms 
        to the International Labor Organization's office in Beijing.
            (7) Provide the Department of State with information 
        relevant to the Department's efforts to collect information on 
        prisoners for the purposes of the Prisoner Information 
        Registry, and for other reporting purposes.
            (8) Discourage or undertake to prevent compulsory political 
        indoctrination programs from taking place on the premises of 
        the industrial cooperation project.
            (9) Promote freedom of expression, including the freedom to 
        seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, 
        regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, 
        in the form of art, or through any media. To this end, the 
        United States national should raise with appropriate 
        authorities of the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        concerns about restrictions on the free flow of information.
            (10) Undertake to prevent harassment of workers who, 
        consistent with the United Nations World Population Plan of 
        Action, decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of 
        their children; and prohibit compulsory population control 
        activities on the premises of the industrial cooperation 
        project.
    (c) Promotion of Principles by Other Nations.--The Secretary of 
State shall forward a copy of the principles set forth in subsection 
(b) to the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation 
and Development and encourage them to promote principles similar to 
these principles.
    (d) Registration Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--Each United States national conducting an 
        industrial cooperation project in the People's Republic of 
        China shall register with the Secretary of State and indicate 
        whether the United States national agrees to implement the 
        principles set forth in subsection (b). No fee shall be 
        required for registration under this subsection.
            (2) Preference for participation in trade missions.--The 
        Secretary of Commerce shall consult the register prior to the 
        selection of private sector participants in any form of trade 
        mission to China, and undertake to involve those United States 
        nationals that have registered their adoption of the principles 
        set forth above.
    (e) Definitions.--As used in this section--
            (1) the term ``industrial cooperation project'' refers to a 
        for-profit activity the business operations of which employ 
        more than 25 individuals or have assets greater than $25,000; 
        and
            (2) the term ``United States national'' means--
                    (A) a citizen or national of the United States or a 
                permanent resident of the United States; and
                    (B) a corporation, partnership, or other business 
                association organized under the laws of the United 
                States, any State or territory thereof, the District of 
                Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

SEC. 7. PROMOTION OF EDUCATIONAL, CULTURAL, SCIENTIFIC, AGRICULTURAL, 
              MILITARY, LEGAL, POLITICAL, AND ARTISTIC EXCHANGES 
              BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA.

    (a) Exchanges Between the United States and China.--Agencies of the 
United States Government which engage in educational, cultural, 
scientific, agricultural, military, legal, political, and artistic 
exchanges shall endeavor to initiate or expand such exchange programs 
with regard to China.
    (b) Legislative Exchange Program.--It is the sense of the Congress, 
that the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate 
should establish a legislative exchange program with the National 
Peoples Congress of China.
    (c) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that a 
federally chartered not-for-profit organization should be established 
to fund exchanges between the United States and China through private 
donations.

SEC. 8. DENIAL OF ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES OF CERTAIN CHINESE 
              GOVERNMENT APPLICANTS.

    (a) Denial of Entry.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the 
Secretary of State may not issue any visa to, and the Attorney General 
may not admit to the United States, any national of the People's 
Republic of China where a consular officer or the Attorney General 
knows or has reasonable grounds to believe--
            (1) the applicant has been materially involved in the 
        commission of human rights violations, as defined in subsection 
        (c), within the People's Republic of China; or
            (2) the applicant has been materially involved in the 
        proliferation of conventional or nuclear weapons technology, or 
        other sensitive or dual-use technologies, in contravention of 
        United States interests.
    (b) Waiver.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the President 
        may waive the applicability of subsection (a) with respect to 
        any applicant otherwise covered by that paragraph if the 
        President determines that the waiver with respect to the 
        applicant is in the national interest of the United States.
            (2) Notice.--
                    (A) Requirement.--The President may not exercise 
                the authority provided in paragraph (1) with respect to 
                an applicant unless the President submits to Congress a 
                written notification of the exercise of the authority.
                    (B) Contents.--Notices of the exercise of waiver 
                authority shall include--
                            (i) a statement of the activities of the 
                        applicant which triggered the application of 
                        this statute; and
                            (ii) an explicit statement detailing the 
                        policy reasons and factual bases for the 
                        finding that the issuance of a visa to the 
                        applicant at issue is in the national interest 
                        of the United States.
                    (C) Other reports.--The Secretary of State, in 
                consultation with the Attorney General, shall provide 
                to the Congress, not later than March 1 of each 
                calendar year following the enactment of this statute, 
                a report concerning the application of this provision. 
                This report should include information on all instances 
                in which this statute was triggered by an applicant and 
                the subsequent disposition of the application.
    (c) Definitions.--For the purposes of this Act, the term ``human 
rights violations'' means actions which are in contravention of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights, including, but not limited to, material 
involvement in the suppression of the free practice of religion, the 
creation and implementation of coercive family planning policies or the 
massacre of nonviolent demonstrators in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 
1989.

SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSION ON 
              SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN ASIA.

    It is the sense of the Congress that Congress, the President, and 
the Secretary of State should work with the governments of other 
countries to establish a Commission on Security and Cooperation in Asia 
which would be modeled after the Commission on Security and Cooperation 
in Europe.