IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 610 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 

Government should take immediate steps to boycott the Summer Olympic 

Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Chinese regime stops 

engaging in serious human rights abuses against its citizens and stops 

supporting serious human rights abuses by the Governments of Sudan, 

Burma, and North Korea against their citizens. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 3, 2007 

Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. PITTS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. 

MCCOTTER, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. WOLF, and 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the United States Government should take immediate 

steps to boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing 

in August 2008 unless the Chinese regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses against its citizens 

and stops supporting serious human rights abuses by 

the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea 

against their citizens. 

Whereas the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin in 1936 

showed that the integrity of the host country is of the utVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:12 Aug 05, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR610.IH HR610

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•HRES 610 IH 

most importance so as not to stain the participating athletes or the character of the Games; 

Whereas the Chinese regime regularly denies the right to 

freedom of conscience, expression, religion, and association; 

Whereas the Chinese regime also holds thousands of political 

prisoners without charge or trial, including democracy activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, religious leaders, 

journalists, trade unionists, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighurs, 

unregistered church members, Falun Gong practitioners, 

and political dissidents; 

Whereas the Chinese regime has long-standing economic and 

military ties with Sudan and continues to strengthen 

these ties, including providing military assistance, in spite 

of the ongoing human rights abuses amounting to genocide in Darfur, Sudan; 

Whereas China reportedly purchases as much as 70 percent 

of Sudan’s oil, currently has at least $3 billion invested 

in the Sudanese energy sector, for a total of $10 billion 

since the 1990s; is building infrastructure in Sudan and 

provided funds for a presidential palace in Sudan at a reported cost of approximately $20 million; and has reportedly cancelled approximately $100 million in debt owed 

by the Sudanese Government; 

Whereas the Chinese regime has long-standing political, economic, and military ties with Burma and continues to 

strengthen these ties in spite of serious human rights 

abuses and house arrest of Noble Peace Price winner 

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; 

Whereas in May 2007, the military junta in Rangoon extended for one year the house arrest order against Daw 


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Aung San Suu Kyi and continues to deny access to her 

by United States Government officials and others in the 

international community, including representatives of 

human rights organizations; 

Whereas China is one of the largest importers of Burma’s 

natural resources, extraction of which has led to destruction of villages, increased human rights abuses against civilians, particularly ethnic minorities, and the rampant 

use of forced labor; 

Whereas China has sold Burma’s military regime over $2 billion worth of arms and military equipment since 1989, 

which have been used to commit grave human rights violations and mass atrocities against Burma’s ethnic minority civilians resulting in the destruction of over 3,000 

villages; 

Whereas China’s steadfast support for Burma’s military regime in the United Nations Security Council, including 

by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution 

on Burma, and other international fora is emboldening 

the regime to further perpetrate economic mismanagement, crackdowns, and attacks on civilians that harm the 

stability of the region; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, China holds 

more than a quarter of a million people under the ‘‘ReEducation through Labor’’ detention system in labor 

camps, without benefit of charge or trial; 

Whereas local police officers in China are empowered to imprison people under this detention system; 

Whereas in the face of a serious food shortage and political 

repression, thousands of North Koreans have fled across 

the border to China; 


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Whereas hundreds, possibly thousands, of North Koreans 

have been detained by the Chinese authorities and forcibly returned across the border where they face arbitrary 

detention, torture, and even summary execution; 

Whereas in 2004, Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the United Nations 

Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea, 

concluded that because North Korea considers fleeing the 

country a criminal offense punishable by death, North 

Koreans who have fled to other countries should be considered ‘‘refugees sur place’’, and therefore China, as a 

signatory to 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees and its 1969 Protocol, should not repatriate refugees to North Korea; 

Whereas the Chinese regime continues to violate its commitments under the 1951 United Nations Convention on 

Refugees and its 1969 Protocol by repatriating North 

Korean refugees against their will to North Korea, where 

such refugees face imprisonment, torture, and at times 

execution, for the crime of leaving their country, rather 

than allowing them safe passage to countries like the Republic of Korea where such refugees would have automatic citizenship, and the United States which has offered them resettlement; 

Whereas Chinese security officials, rather than working with 

the humanitarian community to help these refugees, hunt 

down and jail humanitarian workers who try to feed and 

shelter refugees, including United States citizen Steve 

Kim of Huntington, New York, and South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese citizens; 

Whereas the Chinese regime refuses to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the 

internationally-recognized organization whose sole funcVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:12 Aug 05, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR610.IH HR610

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tion is to help refugees, access to the North Korean refugees in China and denies the refugees access to the 

UNHCR and therefore to much needed assistance; 

Whereas China continues to hold the 11th Panchen Lama, 

who was selected by the Dalai Lama; 

Whereas the Panchen Lama was only 6 years old when he 

was taken away by the Chinese authorities and is held in 

a secret location; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, China continues to execute political prisoners and nonviolent offenders, and accounts for over 80 percent of all executions documented in the world; 

Whereas Chinese authorities have engaged in removing organs from executed prisoners as well as Falun Gong 

practitioners held in detention, frequently without the 

consent of the prisoners, the Falun Gong practitioners, or 

the families of both; 

Whereas China continues to allow forced abortion and sterilization to enforce its ‘‘One Child’’ policy, as per family 

population control measures; 

Whereas according to United States Department of State’s 

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, 

the Chinese regime’s birth planning policies retain harshly coercive elements in law and practice; 

Whereas the laws restrict the rights of families to choose the 

number of children they have and the period of time between births; 

Whereas the penalties for violating these laws are strict, leaving some women little choice but to abort pregnancies; 


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Whereas in addition, the implementation of these laws by 

local officials has resulted in serious violations of human 

rights; 

Whereas reports of forced sterilization and abortions, in violation of the national law, continue to be documented in 

rural areas; 

Whereas in 2007, officials in Chongqing municipality and in 

Fujian Province reportedly forcibly sterilized women; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese 

regime consistently blocked access to Internet sites it 

deemed controversial, such as sites discussing Tibetan 

independence, underground religious and spiritual organizations, democracy activists, and the 1989 Tiananmen 

massacre; 

Whereas the Chinese regime at times blocked access to selected Internet sites operated by major foreign news outlets, health organizations, and educational institutions; 

Whereas China’s Internet control system reportedly employs 

tens of thousands of persons; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, sexual and 

physical abuse and extortion were reported in some detention centers; 

Whereas Falun Gong activists reported that police raped female practitioners, including an incident in November 

2005 at the Dongchengfang police station in Tunzhou 

City, Hebei Province, in which two women were raped 

while in detention; 


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Whereas according to Amnesty International, China executes 

political prisoners from the Uighur ethnic minority in the 

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region; 

Whereas there are concerns that abuses committed against 

the Uighur ethnic minority could amount to genocide; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese 

regime has not provided a comprehensive, credible account of all those killed, missing, or detained in connection with the violent suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen 

demonstrations; 

Whereas there are nongovernmental organization reports of 

hundreds, if not thousands, who died during the crackdown against the Tiananmen demonstrations; 

Whereas according the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, since the 

crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, estimates of 

the numbers of Falun Gong adherents who have died in 

custody because of torture, abuse, and neglect range from 

several hundred to a few thousand; 

Whereas in March 2006, United Nations Special Rapporteur 

Manfred Nowak reported that Falun Gong practitioners 

accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture 

while in custody by the Chinese regime; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, regulations 

for committing a person into the psychiatric facility at 

Ankang, China, were not clear; 

Whereas credible reports indicate that a number of political 

and trade union activists, underground religious believers, 

persons who repeatedly petitioned the Chinese regime, 


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members of the banned China Democratic Party, and 

Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such psychiatric facilities during 2006; 

Whereas China is preparing to host the Summer Olympic 

Games in August 2008, the most honorable, venerated, 

and prestigious international sporting event, and China 

has selected ‘‘One World, One Dream’’ as a slogan for 

those games; 

Whereas China should act consistently with the Olympic 

standard of preserving human dignity for its citizens and 

for the people of the Darfur region of Sudan, Burma, 

and North Korea; 

Whereas the spirit of the Olympics, which is to bring together 

nations and people from all over the world in peace, is 

incompatible with Chinese actions; and 

Whereas China continues to seriously abuse the rights of its 

citizens and continues to assist Sudan, Burma, and 

North Korea in committing human rights abuses against 

their citizens: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) it is the duty and responsibility of the 

3 United States to take effective steps to stop serious 

4 human rights abuses by the Chinese regime against 

5 its citizens and to stop the Chinese regime from sup6 porting serious human rights abuses by Sudan, 

7 Burma, and North Korea against their citizens; and 

8 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa9 tives that the United States Government should take 

10 immediate steps to boycott the Summer Olympic 


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1 Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Chinese 

2 regime stops engaging in serious human rights 

3 abuses against its citizens and stops supporting seri4 ous human rights abuses by the Governments of 

5 Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citi6 zens. 

Æ 


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