From: IFCSS HQ <ifcss@WAM.UMD.EDU>
Subject:      IFCSS NR-4042:  Senator Gorton's Speech on S1216
Reply-To: IFCSS HQ <ifcss@WAM.UMD.EDU>
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 22:21:48 GMT
Comments: To: ccnl@utarlvm1.uta.edu, china-nt@uga.cc.uga.edu

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IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 4042    September 29, 1992
           SENATOR SLADE GORTON'S SPEECH ON S1216
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Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS)
   733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005
         Tel. (202)347-0017  Fax: (202)347-0018
                Email: ifcss@wam.umd.edu

           Senator Slade Gorton's Speech on S1216
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                           (Excerpts)
                         Sept. 24, 1992


Note by IFCSS: Senator Slade Gorton is the sponsor of S1216, the
Gorton Chinese Student Protection Act. Without the tremendous
efforts he has made, the bill would never have become reality.
IFCSS urges all the Chinese students in this country, particularly
those in Senator Gorton's home state, Washington, to express,
through news media or letters directly addressed to his office, our
appreciation to him. The following passages are taken from Senator
Gorton's speech on the Senate floor. All the examples he used were
provided by IFCSS HQ.

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Mr. President:
     Last night the Senate passed the Gorton Chinese Student
Protection Act which I introduced on June 4, 1991, two years after
the bloody massacre at Tiananmen Square.
     I would like to begin my remarks  by first thanking Senators
Kennedy and Simpson for their assistance and support of this
measure, and Congressman Barton from Texas, and Congresswoman
Pelosi of California, for their efforts in the House of
Representatives. Without their efforts and particularly those of
Michael Meyers with Senator Kennedy and Curtis Hom, formally with
my staff, this legislation would have only remained a dream for the
thousands of Chinese nationals who will benefit from it.  I would
also like to request unanimous consent that the full text of
S.1216, the Gorton Chinese Student Protection Act, be inserted into
the Record following my remarks.
     ...
     Shen Tong is a yound Chinese national who, for the past 3
years, has been a student at Boston University. He is slightly
built, with a look of sharp intelligence etched on his features.
He stands tall and straight, and moves quickly, with purpose.
     ...  But Shen Tong, in spirit if not in body,  was with the
students [in Beijing] in both cases, defying oppression, demanding
freedom.
     And because of those activities and sympathies, we know where
Shen Tong is now, Mr. President. He is in detention in China. He
left Boston several weeks ago to return to his home, responding to
intimations by the Chinese Government that returning students would
be treated fairly and without retribution for their parts in the
protests of 1989. ... Shen Tong's terrifying experience has only
increased the anxiety of those student dissidents currently
residing in the United States.
     Mr. President, last night Congress passed legislation which
will address the fear and uncertainty that must grip those Chinese
students remaining in the United States since the Tiananmen
massacre. Unwilling either to return home to the type of faithless
promises that met Shen Tong, and yet unable, legally, to go forward
with their lives, schooling, or careers here in America, these
young people have been in a 3-year limbo.
     There is the young Chinese student who writes that he has been
seeking employment here as an actuarial in the insurance industry,
a position that requires only a B.S. in mathematics and passing an
actuarial exam. This young man holds a B.S. in mathematics, an M.S.
in statistics, an M.S. in operations research, has passed four
actuarial exams, and has been unable to find even an entry level
position in more than a year of searching. Why? Most American
companies have policies that correctly give hiring priority to
American citizens or permanent residents. There is no
prioritization category for those with indeterminate status.
     His story is validated by another recent graduate, this one
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who tells of the
frustration of being unable to sign up for on-campus interviews
with the vast majority of American companies who, again, require
the minimum status of permanent resident for even preliminary
consideration of employment.
     ...
     Mr. President, if we doubt the sincerity of these people's
fears and frustrations, be aware that I purposely did not identify
any of them---at their request. They anxiously await the time when
they may freely  and publicly speak out for the cause of democracy
in China without fear that in so doing, they might one day to be
forced to return to that country before it is safe to do so.
Permanent residency will provide the safety net to let them fight
for their country of birth without fear of eventual retribution.
     ...
     The Chinese Student Protection Act will increase the pressure
on the Chinese Government to encourage the return of their best and
brightest, and to keep their promises of safety and freedom---
including intellectual freedom---for those who choose to return.
Because for every Shen Tong who is imprisoned, there will be a
Chinese student who chooses to remain in the United States. For
every promise broken by the Chinese Government, our Government will
extend the promise of democracy, a promise that the students know
will not be broken.
     China cannot withstand this kind of self-imposed purge of the
most talented of its young generation. To draw them back, they must
behave honorably, for we will have given the students an
alternative---to become Americans, where their freedom is ensured,
and where their ideals and love of democracy are welcomed as the
foundation of our culture.
     ...
     Mr.  President, the Chinese Student Protection Act is designed
to assist China as it moves into the modern world by insisting that
they treat their citizens with dignity and truth or risk losing
them. We do not wish to steal away China's premier citizens without
cause. But China should make no mistake: this country would be
privileged and proud to have as citizens the likes of Shen Tong.
...  In the memory of Wang Wei Lin, and for the cause of Shen Tong,
I congratulate and thank the Members of this body for their bi-
partisan efforts, and urge the President to immediately sign the
Chinese Student Protection Act into law.


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         IFCSS Headquarters Office    Signature
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