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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 489 Engrossed in House (EH)]

H. Res. 489

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                          June 2, 2009.
Whereas freedom of expression and assembly are fundamental human rights that 
        belong to all people, and are recognized as such under the Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights;
Whereas June 4th, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the day in 1989 when the 
        People's Liberation Army and other security forces finished carrying out 
        the orders of Chinese leaders to use lethal force to disperse 
        demonstrators in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square;
Whereas the death on April 15, 1989, of Hu Yaobang, former General Secretary of 
        the Communist Party of China, was followed by peaceful protests calling 
        for the elimination of corruption, acceleration of economic and 
        political reforms, especially freedom of expression and freedom of 
        assembly; and calling for a dialogue between protesters and Chinese 
        authorities on these issues;
Whereas by early May 1989, citizens advocating publicly for democratic reform 
        across China included not only students, but also government employees, 
        journalists, workers, police, members of the armed forces and other 
        citizens;
Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Beijing after authorities 
        had failed to persuade demonstrators to leave Tiananmen Square;
Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989, ten- 
        to fifteen thousand helmeted, armed troops carrying automatic weapons 
        and traveling in large truck convoys moved into Beijing to ``clear the 
        Square'' and surrounding streets of demonstrators;
Whereas on the night of June 3 and continuing into the morning of June 4, 1989, 
        soldiers in armored columns of tanks outside of Tiananmen Square fired 
        directly at citizens and indiscriminately into crowds, inflicting high 
        civilian casualties, killing or injuring unarmed civilians who 
        reportedly ranged in age from 9 years old to 61 years old; and whereas 
        tanks crushed some protesters and onlookers to death;
Whereas after 20 years, the exact number of dead and wounded remains unclear; 
        credible sources believe that a number much larger than that officially 
        reported actually died in Beijing during the period of military control; 
        credible sources estimate the wounded numbered at least in the hundreds; 
        detentions at the time were in the thousands, and some political 
        prisoners who were sentenced in connection with the events surrounding 
        June 4, 1989, still languish in Chinese prisons;
Whereas there are Chinese citizens still imprisoned for ``counter-
        revolutionary'' offenses allegedly committed during the 1989 
        demonstrations, even though, according to the 1997 revision of China's 
        Criminal Law, the ``offenses'' for which they were convicted are no 
        longer crimes;
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; the group's Web site is blocked in China; and 
        international cash donations made to the group to support families of 
        victims reportedly have been frozen by Chinese authorities;
Whereas Chinese authorities censor information that does not conform to the 
        official version of events surrounding the Tiananmen crackdown, and 
        limits or prohibits information about the Tiananmen crackdown from 
        appearing in textbooks in China;
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to suppress peaceful dissent by harassing, 
        detaining, or imprisoning advocates for democratic processes, 
        journalists, advocates for worker rights, religious believers, and other 
        individuals in China, including in Xinjiang and in Tibet, who seek to 
        express their political dissent, ethnic identity, or religious views 
        peacefully and freely; and
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain advocates for 
        democratic processes, such as Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a Tiananmen Square 
        protester, prominent intellectual, dissident writer, and more recently a 
        signer of Charter 08 (a call for peaceful political reform and respect 
        for the rule of law published on-line in December 2008 by over 300 
        citizens, and subsequently endorsed by thousands more), who remains 
        under house arrest: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed, tortured, 
        and imprisoned as a result of their participation in the democracy 
        protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3 and 4, 
        1989, and thereafter, and to all those persons who have suffered for 
        their peaceful efforts to keep that struggle alive during the last two 
        decades;
            (2) calls on the People's Republic of China to invite full and 
        independent investigations into the Tiananmen Square crackdown, assisted 
        by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the 
        International Committee of the Red Cross;
            (3) calls on the legal authorities of People's Republic of China to 
        review immediately the cases of those still imprisoned for participating 
        in the 1989 protests for compliance with internationally recognized 
        standards of fairness and due process in judicial proceedings, and to 
        release those individuals imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising 
        their internationally-recognized rights;
            (4) calls on the People's Republic of China to end its harassment 
        and detention of and its discrimination against those who were involved 
        in the 1989 protests not only in Beijing, but in other parts of China 
        where protests took place, and to end its harassment and detention of 
        those who continue to advocate peacefully for political reform such as 
        Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a signer of Charter 08 who remains under house arrest, 
        and his wife, Liu Xia;
            (5) calls on the People's Republic of China to 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
            (6) calls on the Administration and Members of the Congress to mark 
        the 20th Anniversary of the events at Tiananmen Square appropriately and 
        effectively by taking steps that includes--
                    (A) meeting whenever and wherever possible with participants 
                in the demonstrations who are living in the United States;
                    (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 
                accounting of the events surrounding June 4th, 1989; and
                    (D) expressing support for those advocating for accountable 
                and democratic governance in China.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.
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