105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 967

AN ACT

To prohibit the use of United States funds to procluded from admission to the United States. cials shall be ineligible to receive visas and ex- activities and to provide that certain Chinese offi- cials in international conferences, programs, and vide for the participation of certain Chinese offi-
105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 967

AN ACT

To prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for

the participation of certain Chinese officials in international conferences, programs, and activities and to provide that certain Chinese officials shall be ineligible to

receive visas and excluded from admission to the United

States.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT OF POLICY.

4 It is the sense of the Congress that the President

5 should make freedom of religion one of the major objec6 tives of United States foreign policy with respect to China.

7 As part of this policy, the Department of State should

8 raise in every relevant bilateral and multilateral forum the

9 issue of individuals imprisoned, detained, confined, or oth10 erwise harassed by the Chinese Government on religious

11 grounds. In its communications with the Chinese Govern12 ment, the Department of State should provide specific

13 names of individuals of concern and request a complete

14 and timely response from the Chinese Government regard15 ing the individuals’ whereabouts and condition, the

16 charges against them, and sentence imposed. The goal of

17 these official communications should be the expeditious re18 lease of all religious prisoners in China and Tibet and the

19 end of the Chinese Government’s policy and practice of

20 harassing and repressing religious believers.
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR THE PARTICI2 PATION OF CERTAIN CHINESE OFFICIALS IN

3 CONFERENCES, EXCHANGES, PROGRAMS,

4 AND ACTIVITIES.

5 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi6 sion of law, for fiscal years after fiscal year 1997, no funds

7 appropriated or otherwise made available for the Depart8 ment of State, the United States Information Agency, and

9 the United States Agency for International Development

10 may be used for the purpose of providing travel expenses

11 and per diem for the participation of nationals of the Peo12 ple’s Republic of China described in paragraphs (1) and

13 (2) in conferences, exchanges, programs, and activities:

14 (1) The head or political secretary of any of the

15 following Chinese Government-created or approved

16 organizations:

17 (A) The Chinese Buddhist Association.

18 (B) The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Asso19 ciation.

20 (C) The National Congress of Catholic

21 Representatives.

22 (D) The Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Con23 ference.

24 (E) The Chinese Protestant ‘‘Three Self’’

25 Patriotic Movement.

26 (F) The China Christian Council.
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1 (G) The Chinese Taoist Association.

2 (H) The Chinese Islamic Association.

3 (2) Any military or civilian official or employee

4 of the Government of the People’s Republic of China

5 who carried out or directed the carrying out of any

6 of the following policies or practices:

7 (A) Formulating, drafting, or implement8 ing repressive religious policies.

9 (B) Imprisoning, detaining, or harassing

10 individuals on religious grounds.

11 (C) Promoting or participating in policies

12 or practices which hinder religious activities or

13 the free expression of religious beliefs.

14 (b) CERTIFICATION.—

15 (1) Each Federal agency subject to the prohibi16 tion of subsection (a) shall certify in writing to the

17 appropriate congressional committees no later than

18 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act,

19 and every 90 days thereafter, that it did not pay, ei20 ther directly or through a contractor or grantee, for

21 travel expenses or per diem of any national of the

22 People’s Republic of China described in subsection

23 (a).

24 (2) Each certification under paragraph (1) shall

25 be supported by the following information:
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1 (A) The name of each employee of any

2 agency of the Government of the People’s Re3 public of China whose travel expenses or per

4 diem were paid by funds of the reporting agen5 cy of the United States Government.

6 (B) The procedures employed by the re7 porting agency of the United States Govern8 ment to ascertain whether each individual

9 under subparagraph (A) did or did not partici10 pate in activities described in subsection (a)(2).

11 (C) The reporting agency’s basis for con12 cluding that each individual under subpara13 graph (A) did not participate in such activities.

14 (c) DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL

15 COMMITTEES.—For purposes of this section the term ‘‘ap16 propriate congressional committees’’ means the Commit17 tee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee

18 on International Relations of the House of Representa19 tives.

20 SEC. 3. CERTAIN OFFICIALS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC

21 OF CHINA INELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE VISAS

22 AND EXCLUDED FROM ADMISSION.

23 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding any other pro24 vision of law, any national of the People’s Republic of

25 China described in section 2(a)(2) (except the head of
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1 state, the head of government, and cabinet level ministers)

2 shall be ineligible to receive visas and shall be excluded

3 from admission into the United States.

4 (b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the require5 ment in subsection (a) with respect to an individual de6 scribed in such subsection if the President—

7 (1) determines that it is vital to the national in8 terest to do so; and

9 (2) provides written notification to the appro10 priate congressional committees (as defined in sec11 tion 2(c)) containing a justification for the waiver.

12 SEC. 4. SUNSET PROVISION.

13 Sections 2 and 3 shall cease to have effect 4 years

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives November 6,

1997.

Attest:

Clerk.