III

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 212

Expressing the sense of the Senate that at the upcoming United StatesChina summit the President should demand the release of all persons

remaining imprisoned in China and Tibet for political or religious reasons, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 22, 1998

Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. INHOFE, Mr.

BROWNBACK, and Mr. FEINGOLD) submitted the following resolution;

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate that at the upcoming

United States-China summit the President should demand the release of all persons remaining imprisoned

in China and Tibet for political or religious reasons,

and for other purposes.

Whereas Chinese dissident Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989

pro-democracy demonstrations that were crushed at

Tiananmen Square in 1989 was released on April 18,

1998, from a Chinese jail;

Whereas China’s ‘‘most famous dissident’’ Wei Jingsheng

was released on November 16, 1997, from a Chinese jail;

Whereas Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan were released from

prison ostensibly for medical reasons, it is clear that their
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•SRES 212 IS

release into exile was intended as a political gesture to

diminish public U.S. criticism of China’s human rights

practices;

Whereas, in addition to Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, thousands of other political, religious, and labor dissidents are

imprisoned in China and Tibet for peacefully expressing

their beliefs and exercising their internationally recognized rights of free association and expression, including—

(1) Gao Yu, a journalist sentenced to 6 years in

prison in November 1994 and honored by UNESCO in

May 1997, who has a heart condition;

(2) Chen Longde, a leading human rights advocate

now serving a 3-year reeducation through labor sentence

imposed without trial in August 1996, who has reportedly

been subject to repeated beatings and electric shocks at

a labor camp for refusing to confess his guilt;

(3) Li Hai, sentenced to 9 years in prison on December 18, 1996, for collecting information on those imprisoned after the 1989 crackdown; he was convicted of

‘‘prying into and gathering information about persons

sentenced for criminal activity during the June 4, 1989,

period’’;

(4) Yang Qinheng, apprehended February 26, 1998,

and assigned to 3 years’ ‘‘reeducation through labor’’ in

March for ‘‘disturbing social order’’, who had called for

independent trade unions;

(5) Shen Liangqing, former public prosecutor and

petitioner, who was apprehended on February 25, 1998,

and assigned to 2 years’ labor on April 4, 1998, for ‘‘unauthorized contact with foreign journalists’’;

(6) Tu Guangwen, an organizer of a street protest,

who was sentenced by the Jiangxia district court on Feb-
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•SRES 212 IS

ruary 19, 1998, to 3 years’ imprisonment after being

convicted of ‘‘gathering a crowd to disrupt orderly traffic’’ during a demonstration by laid-off workers; and

(7) Ngawang Choephel, a Tibet Fulbright scholar

sentenced to 18 years in prison by Chinese authorities in

December 1996 on charges of ‘‘espionage’’;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China,

as detailed in successive annual reports on human rights

by the United States Department of State, routinely, systematically, and massively violates the human rights of

its citizens, including freedom of speech, assembly, worship, and peaceful political dissent;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

restricts the ability of religious adherents, including

Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and others, to practice

outside of state-approved religious organizations, and detains worshipers and clergy who participate in religious

services conducted outside state-approved religious organizations, as well as those who refuse to register with the

authorities, as required;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

routinely, systematically, and massively continues to commit widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, including

instances of death in detention, torture, arbitrary arrest,

detention without public trial, long detention of Tibetan

nationalists for peacefully expressing their religious and

political views, and intensified controls on religion and on

freedom of speech and the press, particularly for ethnic

Tibetans; and

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

engages in reprehensible, brutal, and coercive family

planning practices, including forced abortions and forced
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sterilization, resulting in widespread infanticide, particularly of female infants: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that—

2 (1) in the upcoming, proposed summit between

3 President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin of

4 China, President Clinton should demand the imme5 diate and unconditional release, consistent with es6 tablished international principles of human rights, of

7 all persons remaining imprisoned in China and Tibet

8 for political or religious reasons;

9 (2) the President should submit a report to

10 Congress as soon as possible after the proposed

11 summit in China concerning his progress in securing

12 the release of persons remaining imprisoned in

13 China and Tibet, as described in paragraph (1);

14 (3) the release of one prisoner into exile does

15 not change the fundamental flaws within the Chi16 nese judicial and penal system;

17 (4) the United States policy of granting conces18 sions to the Chinese government in exchange for the

19 release of high profile prisoners is an offense to the

20 thousands of dissidents remaining in prison; and

21 (5) the President should not offer to lift the

22 sanctions imposed on China after the 1989 crack23 down in Tiananmen Square.

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