III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 55 

Recognizing the contributions of the late Zhao Ziyang to the people of 

China. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2005 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. BROWNBACK, and Mr. 

DORGAN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the contributions of the late Zhao Ziyang to 

the people of China.

Whereas leading reformist and former Chinese Communist 

Party Secretary General, Zhao Ziyang, died under house 

arrest in China on January 17, 2005, at the age of 85; 

Whereas Zhao implemented important agricultural, industrial, and economic reforms in China and rose to the 

prominent positions of premier and Secretary General 

within the Communist Party despite criticisms of his capitalist ideals; 

Whereas, in the early summer of 1989, students gathered in 

Tiananmen Square to voice their support for democracy 

and to protest the Communist government that continues 

to deny them that democracy; 
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•SRES 55 IS

Whereas Secretary General Zhao advised against the use of 

military force to end the pro-democracy protests in 

Tiananmen Square; 

Whereas, on May 19, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Zhao 

warned the tens of thousands of students clamoring for 

democracy that the authorities were approaching and 

urged them to return to their homes; an action that illustrated his sympathy for their cause; 

Whereas Zhao was consequently relieved of all leadership responsibilities following his actions in Tiananmen Square 

that summer and was placed under house arrest for the 

remaining years of his life; 

Whereas the Government of China remained indecisive regarding a ceremony for Zhao for several days before allowing a relatively modest ceremony at the Babaoshan 

Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing, where Zhao was cremated on January 29, 2005; 

Whereas the Government of China’s fear of civil unrest resulted in the prohibition of political dissidents and others 

from the funeral, and the thousands who were in attendance were surrounded in an intimidating environment 

without adequate time to mourn and grieve; 

Whereas news of Zhao’s death was announced only in a brief 

notice by the Communist government and was forbidden 

to be covered by the radio or national television, while eulogies were erased by censors from memorial websites; 

Whereas, upon the announcement of Zhao’s death, Chinese 

news agencies were certain to reference the ‘‘serious mistake’’ committed by Zhao at what they refer to as a political incident in 1989; 
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•SRES 55 IS

Whereas mourning the death of Zhao in the Hong Kong Legislative Council was deemed unconstitutional and lawmakers in Hong Kong were refused the opportunity to 

observe a moment of silence in honor of his life; 

Whereas the death of Zhao has renewed the desire of certain 

Chinese people for a reassessment of the crackdown in 

1989 in order to acknowledge the merit of pro-democracy 

student demonstrations and complaints of government 

corruption; and 

Whereas Zhao will continue to serve as a symbol of the 

dreams and purpose of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration, which survived the Tiananmen massacre but 

which have still not been realized for the people of China: 

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes that Zhao Ziyang made an im3 portant contribution to the people of China by pro4 viding assistance to the students in Tiananmen 

5 Square in 1989, and that through this contribution 

6 and his decisions to actively seek reform, Zhao re7 mains a symbol of hope for reform and human 

8 rights for the people of China; 

9 (2) expresses sympathy for Zhao’s family and 

10 to the people of China who were unable to appro11 priately mourn his death or to celebrate his life; 

12 (3) calls on the Government of China— 

13 (A) to release all prisoners of conscience, 

14 including those persons still in prison as a re-
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•SRES 55 IS

1 sult of their participation in the peaceful pro2 democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 

3 1989; and 

4 (B) to allow those people exiled on account 

5 of their activities to return to live in freedom in 

6 China; and 

7 (4) stands with the people of China as they 

8 strive to improve their way of life and create a gov9 ernment that is truly democratic and respectful of 

10 international norms in the area of human rights.

Æ