H. Res. 393 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

June 4, 2019. 

Whereas, on June 4, 1989, a violent crackdown on peaceful 

demonstrations held in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen 

Square was carried out by the People’s Liberation Army, 

following orders given by the Government of the People’s 

Republic of China; 

Whereas an estimated 1,000,000 people joined the protests in 

Tiananmen Square and citizens in over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests calling for democratic reform, 

including not only students, but also government employees, journalists, workers, police officers, members of the 

armed forces, and other citizens; 

Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the 

Government of the People’s Republic of China to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and political reform, 

and protect human rights, particularly the freedoms of 

expression and assembly, issues that remain relevant in 

United States-China relations 30 years later; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

takes active measures to deny its citizens the truth about 

the Tiananmen Square massacre, including the blocking 

of uncensored internet sites and social media commentary 

on microblog and other messaging services, and the 
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placement of misleading information on the events of 

June 3 and 4, 1989, on internet sites available in China; 

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 and surrounding streets; 

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

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

inflicting high casualties on the demonstrators and injuring many unarmed civilians; 

Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlookers and seriously injured many others; 

Whereas independent observers reported that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed and wounded by People’s 

Liberation Army soldiers and other security forces in 

Beijing and other cities in China; 

Whereas tens of thousands were detained and sent to prison 

or reeducation through labor, often without trial and 

many were tortured and 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 and who call for 

a full, public, and independent accounting of the wounded, dead, and those imprisoned for participating in the 

spring 1989 demonstrations; 

Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have 

faced arrest, harassment, and discrimination, with the 

group’s website blocked in China and the freezing by Chi-
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nese authorities of international cash donations made to 

the group to support families of victims; 

Whereas despite the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China’s integration into the international economic system and its obligations under international treaties and 

covenants, the political reforms and the protection of universally recognized rights sought by the Tiananmen demonstrators have not been realized during the past 30 

years; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

continues to actively suppress universally recognized 

rights by imprisoning or restricting the activities of prodemocracy activists, human rights lawyers, citizen journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, members 

of ethnic minorities, and individuals in the Xinjiang and 

Tibetan regions, among many others who seek to express 

their political or religious views or their ethnic identity in 

a peaceful manner, including in Hong Kong where the 

Government of the People’s Republic of China has increasingly exerted influence, eroding freedoms there, and 

placing its special status at risk; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

continues to harass, disappear, and detain peaceful advocates for human rights, religious freedom, ethnic minority 

rights and the rule of law, and their family members, 

such as Ilham Tohti, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, 

Lobsang Tsering, Yang Maodong (also known as Guo 

Feixiong), Liu Xianbin, Qin Yongmin, Wu Gan, Zhang 

Haitao, Wang Quanzhang, Tashi Wangchug, Tang Jingling, Liu Feiyue, Wang Yi, Jiang Rong, Cao Yuguang, 

Abdurehim Heyit, Eziz Emet, Hebibulla Tohti, Drugdra, 
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Lobsang Gephel, Sonam Dargye, Thardoe Gyaltsen, 

Gulmira Imin, and Huang Qi, among many others; 

Whereas according to the Political Prisoner Database maintained by the United States Congressional-Executive 

Commission on China, the Government of the People’s 

Republic of China continues to detain over 1,500 political 

and religious prisoners, though the number is presumed 

to be much higher; 

Whereas Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent advocate 

for human rights and political reform Liu Xiaobo died in 

state custody in 2017, the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in state custody since Carl Von Ossietzky 

died in 1938 after being detained by the Nazi German 

government; 

Whereas over a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic 

and religious minorities are interned in political reeducation camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and 

elsewhere in China and are subjected to the forced renunciation of faith, torture, and forced assimilation of their 

language and culture through actions that may constitute 

crimes against humanity; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

harasses, detains, and tortures human rights lawyers who 

take on cases deemed politically sensitive; prevents Chinese workers from forming independent unions and engages in an ongoing crackdown on labor advocates, organizations, and their supporters; restricts severely the religious activity of Protestants, Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists, and Turkic Muslims and has sought to eradicate 

Falun Gong practice in China; vilifies publicly and refuses to negotiate with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or 

his representatives over Tibetan issues and asserts con-
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trol over the reincarnation process through which the 

next Dalai Lama will be recognized; repatriates forcibly 

refugees to North Korea and pressures neighboring governments to repatriate refugees from China who reach 

their territory in contravention of the international legal 

principle of non-refoulement; restricts the activities of 

and detains citizen journalists; and continues to limit the 

size of Chinese families; 

Whereas the protection of universally recognized human 

rights, in law and practice, would allow the Government 

of the People’s Republic of China to establish more stable 

economic, political, and security relations with its neighbors and the United States; and 

Whereas this historical episode has had an enduring impact 

on United States-China relations— 

(1) because there has been no justice for those who 

lost their lives seeking freedom and political reform during the Spring of 1989; 

(2) because the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China censors research, discussion and commemoration of Tiananmen in China; 

(3) because the demonstrations showed that the 

ideas of democracy and freedom, human rights and the 

rule of law are not foreign to the people of China; 

(4) because the demonstrations and their violent 

suppression showed the lengths to which the leaders of 

the Government of the People’s Republic of China will go 

to suppress universally recognized rights and to maintain 

their hold on power; and 

(5) because, despite persistent, ongoing, and sometimes brutal repression, there continue to be Chinese citizens bravely seeking to exercise universally recognized 
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human rights, ensure the rule of law, and promote political reform thus carrying on the legacy of the Tiananmen 

demonstrations: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) expresses sympathy and solidarity to the families of those killed, tortured, and imprisoned for their 

participation in the pro-democracy demonstrations during the spring of 1989 in Beijing and in other cities 

across the People’s Republic of China; 

(2) supports the leaders of the Tiananmen demonstrations and all those who peacefully sought political 

reform, democratic transparency, the rule of law, and 

protections for universally recognized human rights in 

China; 

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

(A) support a full, transparent, and independent accounting of the government’s actions and 

number of deaths that occurred during the violent 

suppression of the spring 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations; 

(B) rehabilitate the reputations of those who 

participated in the demonstrations and those detained for seeking to commemorate the anniversary 

of the demonstrations; and 
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(C) cease the censoring of information and discussion about the Tiananmen Square massacre, including at Confucius Institutes worldwide; 

(4) calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to allow Tiananmen demonstration 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 repercussions or retribution; and 

(5) condemns the ongoing restrictions on universally 

recognized human rights by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and its efforts to quell peaceful 

political dissent, censor the internet, brutally suppress 

ethnic and religious minorities, and detain and torture 

lawyers and rights advocates seeking the Government’s 

commitment, in law and practice, to international human 

rights treaties and covenants to which it is a party and 

that are reflected in the Chinese constitution. 

Attest: 

Clerk.