IV
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 188
To express the sense of the House of Representatives that the Olympics
in the year 2000 should not be held in Beijing or elsewhere in the
People’s Republic in China.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 27, 1993
Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. HOYER, Mr. GILMAN, Ms.
PELOSI, Mr. PORTER, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr.
LEWIS of Georgia, and Mr. TORRES) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
To express the sense of the House of Representatives that
the Olympics in the year 2000 should not be held in
Beijing or elsewhere in the People’s Republic in China.
Whereas the International Olympic Committee is now in the
process of determining the venue of the Olympic Games
in the year 2000;
Whereas the governments of the city of Beijing and of the
People’s Republic of China have made a proposal to the
International Olympic Committee that the Summer
Olympic Games in the year 2000 be held in Beijing;
Whereas the State Department’s Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 1992 specifies that the Chinese
‘‘government’s human rights practices have remained re-
HRES 188 IH
pressive, falling far short of internationally accepted
norms,’’ ‘‘torture and degrading treatment of detained
and imprisoned persons persisted,’’ ‘‘conditions in all
types of Chinese penal institutions are harsh and fre-
quently degrading,’’ and the Chinese ‘‘government still
has not satisfactorily accounted for the thousands of per-
sons throughout the country who were arrested or held
in ‘detention during the investigation’ or ‘administrative
detention’ status for activities related to the 1989 pro-
democracy demonstrations’’;
Whereas the Government of China has failed to respect civil
liberties and, according to the State Department’s Coun-
try Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1992, ‘‘free-
dom of speech and self-expression remain severely re-
stricted’’;
Whereas the Government of China has engaged in massive
transfers of population in order to marginalize the Tibet-
ans inside Tibet and has engaged in systematic suppres-
sion of the Tibetan people, their culture and religion;
Whereas the Government of China has imposed tighter con-
trol over religious practice and engaged in greater repres-
sion of religion;
Whereas the Government of China does not permit the estab-
lishment of independent Chinese organizations that pub-
licly monitor or comment on human rights conditions in
China, and Chinese authorities have refused requests by
international human rights delegations to meet with polit-
ical prisoners and former detainees and have expelled for-
eign visitors who have indicated an interest in monitoring
human rights conditions;
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Whereas workers in China are denied the right to organize
independent trade unions and to bargain collectively, and
products manufactured by forced labor have been ex-
ported to the United States;
Whereas, in the spring of 1989, then mayor of Beijing, Chen
Xitong, called for a crackdown on the pro-democracy
demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, and on May 20,
1989, signed a martial law decree authorizing the entry
of troops into the city;
Whereas Chen Xitong is currently chairman of the Beijing
2000 Olympic Bid Committee, and Mr. Chen has assured
the International Olympic Committee in China’s formal
application that ‘‘neither now, or in the future, will there
emerge in Beijing organizations opposing Beijing’s bid’’
to host the Olympics, thus boasting of the Chinese re-
gime’s determination to crush dissent; and
Whereas holding the Olympic games in countries, such as the
People’s Republic of China, which engage in massive vio-
lations of human rights serves to shift the focus from the
high ideals behind the Olympic tradition and is counter-
productive for the Olympic movement: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) strongly opposes the holding of the Olympic
Summer Games in the year 2000 in the city of
Beijing or elsewhere in the People’s Republic of
China and urges the International Olympic Commit-
tee to find another, more suitable venue for the
Games;
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(2) urges the United States Representative to
the International Olympic Committee to vote against
holding the Olympic Summer Games in the year
2000 in the city of Beijing or elsewhere in the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China; and
(3) directs the Clerk of the House of
Representatives to transmit a copy of this resolution
to the Chairman of the International Olympic Com-
mittee and to the United States representative to
the International Olympic Committee with the re-
quest that it be circulated to all members of the
Committee.
Æ