H. Res. 1717 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

December 8, 2010. 

Whereas Liu Xiaobo played a leading role in the 1989 

Tiananmen Square demonstration for democratic reform, 

insisting on peaceful means and democratic process; 

Whereas since 1989, Liu Xiaobo has been a leading figure 

promoting democratic reform and respect for human 

rights, including by writing hundreds of notable essays on 

these subjects; 

Whereas between June 6, 1989, and October 1999, Chinese 

officials detained Liu Xiaobo 3 times, totaling over 4 

years confinement for his role in Tiananmen Square and 

continued promotion of political reform; 

Whereas in 2008, Liu Xiaobo was one of the principal drafters and organizers as well as one of the first signers of 

Charter 08, a manifesto that proposed democratic reform 

in China; 

Whereas, on December 8, 2008, Chinese officials detained 

Liu Xiaobo for his role in Charter 08, and found him 

guilty of ‘‘inciting subversion of state power’’ in 2009 

and sentenced him to 11 years imprisonment; 

Whereas since December 2008, thousands of Chinese citizens 

from all walks of life have signed Charter 08, and Chi-
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nese officials have detained, placed under house arrest, or 

harassed many of them; 

Whereas in 2010, many persons from around the world nominated Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Prize, including 

the 14th Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Vaclav 

Havel, and 7 members of the United States House of 

Representatives; 

Whereas, on October 8, 2010, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced its award of the 2010 Nobel Peace 

Prize to Liu Xiaobo for his ‘‘long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China’’; 

Whereas the Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that, ‘‘the 

campaign to establish universal human rights also in 

China is being waged by many Chinese * * * through the 

severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the 

foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human 

rights in China’’; 

Whereas when on October 9, 2010, Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo’s 

wife, notified her husband that he had been awarded the 

Nobel Peace Prize, he responded by dedicating the prize 

to ‘‘the Tiananmen martyrs’’; 

Whereas Chinese officials responded to the award by placing 

Liu Xia under house arrest, harassing and detaining Liu 

Xiaobo’s friends and supporters, censoring Internet Web 

sites and blacking out television broadcasts that reported 

the award, and defaming Liu Xiaobo by describing him 

as a ‘‘criminal’’, a ‘‘political tool of the West’’, and a 

‘‘traitorous operative’’; 

Whereas Chinese officials have claimed that the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo is an internal matter and that the 
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award constitutes meddling in China’s internal affairs; 

and 

Whereas President Barack Obama, the recipient of the 2009 

Nobel Peace Prize, has congratulated Liu Xiaobo on the 

award and called on Chinese officials to release him from 

prison: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) congratulates Liu Xiaobo on the award of the 

2010 Nobel Peace Prize; 

(2) honors Liu Xiaobo’s promotion of democratic 

reform in China, and the courage with which he has bore 

repeated imprisonment by Chinese officials; 

(3) states that in honoring Liu Xiaobo, it also honors all those who have promoted democratic reform in 

China, including all those who participated in the 1989 

Tiananmen Square demonstration for democratic reform; 

(4) asserts that Liu Xiaobo is a political prisoner, 

and that Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo’s supporters, and all signers of Charter 08 who have been detained, placed under 

house arrest, or harassed, are the victims of political 

persecution; 

(5) calls on Chinese officials to release Liu Xiaobo 

from prison, and to release Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo’s supporters, and all signers of Charter 08 from detention, 

house arrest, and harassment; 
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(6) calls on Chinese officials to cease censoring 

media and Internet reporting of the award of the Nobel 

Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo and to cease their campaign 

of defamation against Liu Xiaobo; 

(7) urges President Barack Obama to continue to 

work for the release of Liu Xiaobo from prison, as well 

as the release of Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo’s supporters, and 

all signers of Charter 08 from detention, house arrest, 

and harassment; and 

(8) emphasizes that violations of human rights in 

general, and the persecution of Liu Xiaobo, Liu Xia, Liu 

Xiaobo’s supporters, and all signers of Charter 08 specifically, are matters of legitimate concern to other governments. 

Attest: 

Clerk.