III

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 244

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the ninth anniversary of the massacre

of pro-democracy demonstrators on Tiananmen Square by military forces

acting under orders from the Government of the People’s Republic of

China.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 5, 1998

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. LOTT, Mr. HUTCHINSON, and Mr. ABRAHAM)

submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the ninth anniversary

of the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators on

Tiananmen Square by military forces acting under orders

from the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

Whereas in the spring of 1989, thousands of students demonstrated in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in favor of

greater democracy, civil liberties, and freedom of expression in the People’s Republic of China (PRC);

Whereas these students’ protests against political repression

in their homeland were conducted peacefully and posed

no threat to their fellow Chinese citizens;

Whereas on the evening of June 4, 1989, these students were

brutally attacked by infantry and armored vehicles of the
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SRES 244 ATS

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) acting under orders

from the highest political and military leadership of the

PRC;

Whereas hundreds of these students were killed by the PLA

in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 for offenses no

more serious than that of seeking peacefully to assert

their most basic human, civil, and political rights;

Whereas many of the leaders of the student demonstrations

thus attacked were subsequently imprisoned, sought out

for arrest, or otherwise persecuted by the Government of

the PRC;

Whereas during or shortly after the brutal assault of June

4, 1989, at least 2,500 persons were arrested for socalled ‘‘counter-revolutionary offenses’’ across China and

dozens of persons were executed;

Whereas the Chinese government has never expressed regret

for its actions on June 4, 1989, still imprisons at least

150 persons in connection with the Tiananmen Square

demonstrations, and has continued to deny its citizens

basic internationally-recognized human, civil, and political

rights;

Whereas the Government of the PRC, as detailed in successive annual reports on human rights by the United States

Department of State, still routinely and systematically

violates the rights of its citizens, including their rights to

freedom of speech, assembly, worship, and peaceful dissent; and

Whereas the Tiananmen Square Massacre has become indelibly etched into the political consciousness of our times as

a symbol both of the impossibility of forever denying a

determined people the right to control their own destiny
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SRES 244 ATS

and of the oppressiveness and brutality of governments

that seek to do so: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That, in the interest of expressing support

2 for the observance of human, civil, and political rights in

3 China and around the world, it is the sense of the Senate

4 that—

5 (1) the United States Government should re6 main committed to honoring the memory and spirit

7 of the brave citizens of China who suffered and died

8 in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 for attempt9 ing to assert their internationally-recognized rights;

10 and

11 (2) supporting the peaceful transition to demo12 cratic governance and the observance of internation13 ally-recognzied human, civil, and political rights and

14 the rule of law in China should be a principal goal

15 of United States foreign policy.

16 SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit

17 a copy of this resolution to the President.

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