H. Res. 599 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

May 28, 2014. 

Whereas on June 4, 1989, peaceful demonstrations held in 

and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square were brutally 

crushed by the People’s Liberation Army, carrying out 

the orders of China’s Communist Party leadership; 

Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the 

Chinese Communist Party to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and political reforms, and protect human 

rights, particularly the freedoms of expression and assembly; 

Whereas by early May 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 people 

joined the protests in Tiananmen Square and citizens in 

over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests for democratic reform, including not only students, but also government employees, journalists, workers, police officers, 

members of the armed forces, and other citizens; 

Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Beijing, China, after authorities had failed to persuade demonstrators to leave Tiananmen Square; 

Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours 

of June 3, 1989, thousands of armed troops, supported 

by tanks and other armor, moved into Beijing to ‘‘clear 

the Square’’ and surrounding streets of demonstrators; 
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•HRES 599 EH 

Whereas on the night of June 3, 1989, and continuing into 

the morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers fired into crowds, 

inflicting high civilian casualties, killing or injuring unarmed civilians; 

Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlookers; 

Whereas independent observers report that hundreds, perhaps 

thousands, were killed and wounded by the People’s Liberation Army soldiers and other security forces; 

Whereas 20,000 people throughout China suspected of taking 

part in the democracy movement were reportedly arrested 

and sentenced without trial to prison or reeducation 

through labor, and many were reportedly tortured, with 

many being imprisoned for decades; 

Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and 

friends of those killed in June 1989 whose demands include the right to mourn victims publicly, to call for a full 

and public accounting of the wounded and dead, and the 

release of those who remain imprisoned for participating 

in the 1989 protests; 

Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have 

faced arrest, harassment, and discrimination, with the 

group’s website blocked in China and international cash 

donations made to the group to support families of victims reportedly frozen by Chinese authorities; 

Whereas the Chinese Government undertakes active measures 

to deny its citizens the truth about the Tiananmen 

Square Massacre, including the blocking of uncensored 

Internet sites and weblogs, and the placement of misleading information on the events of June 3, 1989, 
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through June 4, 1989, on Internet sites available in 

China; 

Whereas the Chinese Government continues to suppress dissent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists, lawyers, 

journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, members of ethnic minority rights organizations, and other individuals in Xinjiang and Tibet who seek to express their 

political or religious views or their ethnic identity in a 

peaceful manner; 

Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain 

peaceful advocates for human rights, religious freedom, 

ethnic minority rights and the rule of law, and their family members, such as Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo 

and his wife Liu Xia, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, 

Peng Ming, Zhu Yufu, Lobsang Tsering, Ilham Tohti, 

Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), Sun 

Desheng, Liu Yuandong, Guo Quan, Liu Xianbin, Yang 

Rongli, Alimujiang Yimiti, Yang Tianshui, Wang Zhiwen, 

Li Chang, Gulmira Imin, Dhondup Wangchen, and Chen 

Kegui, nephew of blind human rights activists Chen 

Guangcheng; 

Whereas according to the Prisoner Database maintained by 

the United States Congressional-Executive Commission 

on China, the Communist Government of China continues 

to detain over 1,300 prisoners of conscience, though the 

number may be much higher; 

Whereas the Chinese authorities continue to maintain a system of labor camps and ‘‘black jails’’ to detain peaceful 

advocates for human rights and democratic freedoms, 

harasses and detains human rights lawyers who take on 

cases deemed politically sensitive, limits the number of 

children Chinese couples may have, including through the 
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•HRES 599 EH 

practice of forced abortions and sterilizations, restricts 

severely the religious activity of Protestants, Catholics, 

Tibetan Buddhists, and Uyghur Muslims, conducted a 

15-year campaign to eradicate Falun Gong practice in 

China, publicly vilifies, and refuses to negotiate with, the 

Dalai Lama over Tibetan issues, and, forcibly repatriates 

thousands of refugees to North Korea who face persecution, imprisonment, and possible execution in violation of 

its international commitments; 

Whereas the Government of China maintains tight control of 

speech, religion, and assembly, and has continually received poor rankings focused on civil liberties and political rights by nongovernmental organizations; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s most recent annual report has found 

that the ‘‘Chinese government continues to perpetrate 

particularly severe violations of religious freedom’’, with 

conditions ‘‘worse now than at any time in the past decade’’ for religious minorities, findings which again contributed to the Commission recommending that China be 

designated as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’; 

Whereas the United States Department of State’s most recent human rights report on China found ‘‘extrajudicial 

killings’’ occurred in China; 

Whereas the United States Department of State’s most recent human rights report on China found that the Government continued to target ‘‘for arbitrary detention or 

arrest’’ ‘‘human rights activists, journalists * * * and 

former political prisoners and their family members’’; 

Whereas freedom of expression and assembly are fundamental human rights that belong to all people, and are 
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recognized as such under the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil 

and Political Rights; and 

Whereas a Government of China which respects the individual rights of all its people would be more likely to have 

productive economic, political, and security relations with 

its neighbors and the United States: Now, therefore, be 

it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) urges the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China to stop censoring information about the 

Tiananmen Square massacre; 

(2) expresses sympathy to the families of those 

killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their participation in the democracy protests of June 4, 1989, in 

Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People’s Republic of 

China; 

(3) supports all peaceful advocates for human rights 

and the rule of law in China for their efforts to advance 

democratic reforms and human rights during the past; 

(4) condemns the ongoing human rights abuses and 

persecution by the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China and its efforts to quell peaceful political dissent, censor the Internet, suppress ethnic and religious 

minorities, limit the number of children had by Chinese 

couples through coercion and violence, and harass and 

detain lawyers and freedom advocates seeking the Gov-
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ernment’s commitment, in law and practice, to international human rights treaties and covenants to which it 

is a party; 

(5) calls on the Broadcasting Board of Governors 

(BBG) to take all appropriate steps to circumvent Chinese Internet censorship and to provide information to 

the people of China about the Tiananmen Square Massacre; 

(6) calls on the United States Government to— 

(A) make human rights, including religious 

freedom, a priority in bilateral discussions with the 

Chinese Government; and 

(B) instruct the United States representative 

at the United Nations Human Rights Council to introduce a resolution calling for an examination of 

the human rights practices of the Government of 

the People’s Republic of China; 

(7) calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to— 

(A) end the harassment, detention, torture, 

and imprisonment of Chinese citizens expressing 

their legitimate freedom of religion, expression, and 

association, including on the Internet; 

(B) release all remaining prisoners of conscience who continue to be detained as a result of 
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their participation in the peaceful pro-democracy 

demonstrations in 1989, especially around 

Tiananmen Square; 

(C) end the harassment and discrimination of 

those involved in the 1989 protests and their families, permit Chinese citizens to freely commemorate 

and share information about Tiananmen; 

(D) allow protest participants who escaped to 

or are living in exile in the United States and other 

countries, or who reside outside of China because 

they have been ‘‘blacklisted’’ in China as a result of 

their peaceful protest activity, to return to China 

without risk of retribution or repercussion and fully 

repeal any laws or decrees that deny them the ability to travel to China; and 

(E) end Internet, media, and academic censorship of discussions of the Tiananmen Protests and 

events surrounding it; 

(8) calls on the Administration and Members of 

Congress to take steps to continue to mark the events 

of Tiananmen Square— 

(A) meeting with participants in the demonstrations, or their families, who are living in the 

United States; 
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•HRES 599 EH 

(B) meeting with others outside of China who 

have been ‘‘blacklisted’’ in China as a result of their 

peaceful protest activities; 

(C) signaling support for those in China who 

demand an independent and credible accounting of 

the events surrounding June 4, 1989; and 

(D) supporting those advocating for accountable and democratic governance, human rights, and 

the rule of law in China; and 

(9) finds that United States relations with China 

are more likely to further improve once the Government 

recognizes and respects the individual human rights of 

all its people. 

Attest: 

Clerk.