I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5269

To encourage liberalization inside the People’s Republic of China and Tibet.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 7, 1994

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mrs. UNSOELD, and Ms. PELOSI) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To encourage liberalization inside the People’s Republic of

China and Tibet.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.

4 (a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to create

5 principles governing the conduct of United States eco6 nomic cooperation projects in the People’s Republic of

7 China and Tibet.

8 (b) PRINCIPLES.—It is the sense of the Congress that

9 any United States economic cooperation project in the

10 People’s Republic of China or Tibet should adhere to the

11 following principles:
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1 (1) Suspend the use of all goods, wares, arti2 cles, and merchandise that are mined, produced, or

3 manufactured, in whole or in part, by convict labor

4 or forced labor if there is reason to believe that the

5 material or product is produced or manufactured by

6 such convict or forced labor, and refuse to use forced

7 labor in the project.

8 (2) Seek to ensure that political or religious

9 views, sex, ethnic or national background, involve10 ment in political or labor activities or nonviolent

11 demonstrations, or association with suspected or

12 known dissidents will not prohibit hiring, lead to

13 harassment, demotion, or dismissal, or in any way

14 affect the status or terms of employment in the

15 project. The United States parent company of the

16 United States economic cooperation project should

17 not discriminate in terms or conditions of employ18 ment in the project against persons with past

19 records of arrests or internal exile for nonviolent

20 protest or membership in unofficial organizations

21 committed to nonviolence.

22 (3) Ensure that methods of production used in

23 the project do not pose an unnecessary physical dan24 ger to workers and neighboring populations and

25 property and that the project does not unnecessarily
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1 risk harm to the surrounding environment, and con2 sult with community leaders regarding environ3 mental protection with respect to the project.

4 (4) Strive to use business enterprises that are

5 not controlled by the Government of the People’s

6 Republic of China or its authorized agents and de7 partments as potential partners in the project.

8 (5) Prohibit any military presence on the prem9 ises of the project.

10 (6) Undertake to promote freedom of associa11 tion and assembly among the employees of the

12 project. The United States economic cooperation

13 project should protest any infringement by the Gov14 ernment of the People’s Republic of China of these

15 freedoms to the appropriate authorities of that Gov16 ernment and to the International Labor Organiza17 tion, which has an office in Beijing.

18 (7) Use every possible channel of communica19 tion with the Government of the People’s Republic

20 of China to urge that Government to disclose pub21 licly a complete list of all those individuals arrested

22 since March 1989, to end incommunicado detention

23 and torture, and to provide international observers

24 access to all places of detention in the People’s Re25 public of China and Tibet and to trials of prisoners
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1 arrested in connection with the pro-democracy

2 events of April through June of 1989 and the pro3 democracy demonstrations which have taken place in

4 Tibet since 1987.

5 (8) Discourage or undertake to prevent compul6 sory political indoctrination programs from taking

7 place on the premises of the operations of the

8 project.

9 (9) Promote freedom of expression, including

10 the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information

11 and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either

12 orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or

13 through any media. To this end, the United States

14 economic cooperation project should raise with ap15 propriate authorities of the Government of the Peo16 ple’s Republic of China concerns about restrictions

17 on importation of foreign publications.

18 (c) PROMOTION OF PRINCIPLES BY OTHER NA19 TIONS.—The Secretary shall forward a copy of the prin20 ciples set forth in subsection (b) to the member nations

21 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel22 opment and encourage them to promote principles similar

23 to these principles.
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1 SEC. 2. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each United States parent com3 pany conducting a United States economic cooperation

4 project in the People’s Republic of China or Tibet shall

5 register with the Secretary and indicate whether such

6 company agrees to implement the principles set forth in

7 section 1(b). No fee shall be required for registration

8 under this subsection.

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The registration require10 ment of subsection (a) shall take effect 6 months after

11 the date of the enactment of this Act.

12 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

13 (a) REPORT.—Each United States parent company

14 conducting a United States economic cooperation project

15 in the People’s Republic of China or Tibet shall report

16 to the Secretary describing such company’s adherence to

17 the principles. Such company shall submit a completed re18 porting form furnished by the Secretary. The first report

19 shall be submitted not later than 1 year after the date

20 on which the national registers under section 2 and not

21 later than the end of each 1-year period occurring there22 after.

23 (b) REVIEW OF REPORT.—The Secretary shall review

24 each report submitted under subsection (a) and determine

25 whether the United States parent company submitting the

26 report is adhering to the principles. The Secretary may
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1 request additional information from the United States

2 parent company and other sources to verify the informa3 tion contained in the report submitted by the company.

4 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit a

5 report to the Congress and to the Secretariat of the Orga6 nization for Economic Cooperation and Development de7 scribing the level of adherence to the principles by United

8 States parent companies subject to the reporting require9 ment of subsection (a). This report shall be submitted not

10 later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this

11 Act and not later than the end of each 1-year period occur12 ring thereafter.

13 SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.

14 (a) SUPPORT.—A Federal agency may intercede with

15 a foreign government or foreign national regarding export

16 marketing activity in the People’s Republic of China or

17 Tibet on behalf of a United States parent company subject

18 to the reporting requirements of section 3(a) only if that

19 company adheres to the principles.

20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef21 fect 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

23 For purposes of this Act—
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1 (1) the terms ‘‘adhere to the principles’’, ‘‘ad2 hering to the principles’’ and ‘‘adherence to the prin3 ciples’’ mean—

4 (A) agreeing to implement the principles

5 set forth in section 1(b);

6 (B) implementing those principles by tak7 ing good faith measures with respect to each

8 such principle; and

9 (C) reporting accurately to the Secretary

10 on the measures taken to implement those prin11 ciples;

12 (2) the term ‘‘intercede with a foreign govern13 ment or foreign national’’ includes any contact by an

14 officer or employee of the United States with offi15 cials of any foreign government or foreign national

16 involving or contemplating any effort to assist in

17 selling a good, service, or technology in the People’s

18 Republic of China or Tibet, except that such term

19 does not include multilateral or bilateral govern20 ment-to-government trade negotiations intended to

21 resolve trade issues which may affect United States

22 parent companies who do not adhere to the prin23 ciples;

24 (3) the term ‘‘organized under the laws of the

25 United States’’ means organized under the laws of
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1 the United States, any State of the United States,

2 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of

3 Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern

4 Mariana Islands, or any other territory or possession

5 of the United States;

6 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

7 of State;

8 (5) the term ‘‘United States economic coopera9 tion project’’ means—

10 (A) an equity joint venture, a cooperative

11 joint venture, or a wholly foreign-owned enter12 prise established under the laws of the People’s

13 Republic of China, in which—

14 (i) a corporation, partnership, wholly15 owned subsidiary, or other business asso16 ciation organized under the laws of the

17 United States is an investor, or

18 (ii) a corporation, partnership, or

19 other business association organized under

20 the laws of a country other than the

21 United States or under the laws of a terri22 tory or possession of a country other than

23 the United States, which is wholly owned

24 by a corporation, partnership, or other
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1 business association organized under the

2 laws of the United States, is an investor,

3 and which employs more than 50 individuals in

4 the People’s Republic of China or Tibet; or

5 (B) a branch office or representative of6 fice—

7 (i) of a corporation, partnership, whol8 ly-owned subsidiary, or other business as9 sociation organized under the laws of the

10 United States, or

11 (ii) of a corporation, partnership, or

12 other business association organized under

13 the laws of a country other than the Unit14 ed States or under the laws of a territory

15 or possession of a country other than the

16 United States, which is wholly owned by a

17 corporation, partnership, or other business

18 association organized under the laws of the

19 United States,

20 which employs more than 25 employees in the

21 People’s Republic of China or Tibet; and

22 (6) the term ‘‘United States parent company’’

23 means a corporation, partnership, or other business

24 association organized under the laws of the United

25 States which is—
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1 (A) the direct investor in a United States

2 economic cooperation project as described in

3 paragraph (5)(A)(i), or the sole owner of the in4 vestor in a United States economic cooperation

5 project as described in paragraph (5)(A)(ii); or

6 (B) the registrant in the People’s Republic

7 of China of a branch office or representative of8 fice as described in paragraph (5)(B)(i), or the

9 sole owner of the registrant of a branch office

10 or representative office as described in para11 graph (5)(B)(ii).

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