IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 160

Calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately

and unconditionally release Li Shaomin and all other American scholars

of Chinese ancestry being held in detention, calling on the President

of the United States to continue working on behalf of Li Shaomin

and the other detained scholars for their release, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 2001

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN)

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee

on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China

to immediately and unconditionally release Li Shaomin

and all other American scholars of Chinese ancestry

being held in detention, calling on the President of the

United States to continue working on behalf of Li

Shaomin and the other detained scholars for their release, and for other purposes.

Whereas in recent months the Government of the People’s

Republic of China has targeted, arrested, and detained

several scholars and intellectuals of Chinese ancestry with

ties to the United States, including at least 2 United

States citizens and 3 permanent residents of the United

States;
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Whereas according to the Department of State’s 2000 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in China, and

international human rights organizations, the Government of the People’s Republic of China ‘‘has continued

to commit widespread and well-documented human rights

abuses, in violation of internationally accepted norms’’;

Whereas the targeting of intellectuals and scholars for harassment, arbitrary arrest, detention, and criminal charges

has created a chilling effect on the freedom of expression,

in contravention of internationally accepted norms, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights, which the People’s Republic of China signed in

October 1998;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

frequently uses torture and other human rights violations

to produce coerced ‘‘confessions’’ from detainees;

Whereas the Department of State’s 2000 Country Reports on

Human Rights Practices in China has extensively documented that human rights abuses in the People’s Republic of China ‘‘included instances of extrajudicial killings,

the use of torture, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest

and detention, the mistreatment of prisoners, lengthy incommunicado detention, and denial of due process’’, and

also found that ‘‘[p]olice and prosecutorial officials often

ignore the due process provisions of the law and of the

Constitution . . . [f]or example, police and prosecutors

can subject prisoners to severe psychological pressure to

confess, and coerced confessions frequently are introduced as evidence’’;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

has reported that some of the scholar detainees have

‘‘confessed’’ to their ‘‘crimes’’ of ‘‘spying’’, but it has yet
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to produce any evidence of spying, and has refused to

permit the detainees to confer with their families or lawyers;

Whereas the Department of State’s 2000 Country Reports on

Human Rights Practices in China also found that ‘‘police

continue to hold individuals without granting access to

family or a lawyer, and trials continue to be conducted

in secret’’;

Whereas Dr. Li Shaomin is a United States citizen and

scholar who has been detained by the Government of the

People’s Republic of China for more than 100 days, and

was formally charged with spying for Taiwan on May 15,

2001;

Whereas Dr. Li Shaomin has been deprived of his basic

human rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, and has

not been allowed to contact his wife and child (both

United States citizens), or his lawyer;

Whereas Dr. Gao Zhan is a permanent resident of the United

States and scholar who has been detained by the Government of the People’s Republic of China for more than

114 days, and was formally charged with ‘‘accepting

money from a foreign intelligence agency’’ on April 4,

2001;

Whereas Dr. Gao Zhan has been deprived of her basic human

rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, and has not

been allowed to contact her husband and child (both

United States citizens), her lawyer, or Department of

State consular personnel in China;

Whereas Wu Jianmin is a United States citizen and author

who has been detained by the Government of the People’s

Republic of China, has been deprived of his basic human
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rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, has been denied

access to lawyers and family members, and has yet to be

formally charged with any crimes;

Whereas Tan Guangguang is a permanent resident of the

United States and researcher who has been detained by

the Government of the People’s Republic of China on

suspicions of ‘‘leaking state secrets’’, has been deprived

of his basic human rights by arbitrary arrest and detention, has been denied access to lawyers and family members, and has yet to be formally charged with any crimes;

Whereas Teng Chunyan is a permanent resident of the

United States, Falun Gong practitioner, and researcher

who has been sentenced to three years in prison for spying by the Government of the People’s Republic of China,

apparently for conducting research which documented

violations of the human rights of Falun Gong adherents

in China, has been deprived of her basic human rights by

being placed on trial in secret, and by being forced to undergo three months of ‘‘thought re-education’’ while she

awaited an appeal to the Beijing Higher People’s Court,

which was denied on May 11, 2001;

Whereas Liu Yaping is a permanent resident of the United

States and a businessman who was arrested and detained

in Inner Mongolia in March 2001 by the Government of

the People’s Republic of China for alleged failure to pay

income taxes, has been deprived of his basic human

rights by being denied any access to family members, by

being denied regular access to lawyers, is reported to be

suffering from severe health problems, and has yet to be

formally charged with any crimes;

Whereas because there is documented evidence that the Government of the People’s Republic of China uses torture
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to coerce confessions from suspects, and because there is

no evidence that any of the detained scholars and intellectuals are spies, there is reason to believe that the

‘‘confessions’’ of Dr. Li Shaomin and Dr. Gao Zhan may

have been coerced; and

Whereas the arbitrary imprisonment of United States citizens

and residents by the Government of the People’s Republic

of China, and the continuing violations of their fundamental human rights, demands an immediate and forceful response by Congress and the President of the United

States: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That—

2 (1) the House of Representatives—

3 (A) condemns and deplores the continued

4 detention of Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu

5 Jianmin, Tan Guangguang, Teng Chunyan, and

6 other scholars detained on false charges by the

7 Government of the People’s Republic of China,

8 and calls for their immediate and unconditional

9 release;

10 (B) condemns and deplores the lack of due

11 process afforded to these detainees, and the

12 probable coercion of confessions from some of

13 them;

14 (C) condemns and deplores the ongoing

15 and systematic pattern of human rights viola16 tions by the Government of the People’s Repub17 lic of China, of which the unjust detentions of
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1 Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Tan

2 Guangguang, and Teng Chunyan, are only im3 portant examples;

4 (D) strongly urges the Government of the

5 People’s Republic of China to consider carefully

6 the implications to the broader United States7 Chinese relationship of detaining and coercing

8 confessions from United States citizens and

9 permanent residents on unsubstantiated spying

10 charges or suspicions;

11 (E) urges the Government of the People’s

12 Republic of China to consider releasing Liu

13 Yaping on humanitarian grounds; and

14 (F) believes that human rights violations

15 inflicted on United States citizens and residents

16 by the Government of the People’s Republic of

17 China will reduce opportunities for United

18 States-Chinese cooperation on a wide range of

19 issues; and

20 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa21 tives that the President—

22 (A) should make the immediate release of

23 Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Tan

24 Guangguang, and Teng Chunyan a top priority
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1 of United States foreign policy with the Govern2 ment of the People’s Republic of China;

3 (B) should continue to make every effort

4 to assist Li Shaomin, Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin,

5 Tan Guangguang, and Teng Chunyan, and

6 their families, while discussions of their release

7 are ongoing;

8 (C) should make it clear to the Govern9 ment of the People’s Republic of China, that

10 the detention of United States citizens and resi11 dents on unsubstantiated charges or suspicions

12 of spying, and the infliction of human rights

13 violations upon United States citizens and resi14 dents, is not in the interests of the Government

15 of the People’s Republic of China because it will

16 reduce opportunities for United States-Chinese

17 cooperation on other matters; and

18 (D) should immediately send a special,

19 high ranking representative to the Government

20 of the People’s Republic of China to reiterate

21 the deep concern of the United States regarding

22 the continued imprisonment of Li Shaomin,

23 Gao Zhan, Wu Jianmin, Tan Guangguang,

24 Teng Chunyan, and Liu Yaping, and to discuss
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1 their legal status and immediate humanitarian

2 needs.

Æ