H. Res. 599 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
May 28, 2014. 
Whereas on June 4, 1989, peaceful demonstrations held in 
and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square were brutally 
crushed by the People’s Liberation Army, carrying out 
the orders of China’s Communist Party leadership; 
Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the 
Chinese Communist Party to eliminate corruption, accel-
erate economic and political reforms, and protect human 
rights, particularly the freedoms of expression and assem-
bly; 
Whereas by early May 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 people 
joined the protests in Tiananmen Square and citizens in 
over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests for demo-
cratic reform, including not only students, but also gov-
ernment employees, journalists, workers, police officers, 
members of the armed forces, and other citizens; 
Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Bei-
jing, China, after authorities had failed to persuade dem-
onstrators 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 to ‘‘clear 
the Square’’ and surrounding streets of demonstrators;
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Whereas on the night of June 3, 1989, and continuing into 
the morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers fired into crowds, 
inflicting high civilian casualties, killing or injuring un-
armed civilians; 
Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlook-
ers; 
Whereas independent observers report that hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, were killed and wounded by the People’s Lib-
eration Army soldiers and other security forces; 
Whereas 20,000 people throughout China suspected of taking 
part in the democracy movement were reportedly arrested 
and sentenced without trial to prison or reeducation 
through labor, and many were reportedly tortured, with 
many being imprisoned for decades; 
Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and 
friends of those killed in June 1989 whose demands in-
clude 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, with the 
group’s website blocked in China and international cash 
donations made to the group to support families of vic-
tims reportedly frozen by Chinese authorities; 
Whereas the Chinese Government undertakes active measures 
to deny its citizens the truth about the Tiananmen 
Square Massacre, including the blocking of uncensored 
Internet sites and weblogs, and the placement of mis-
leading information on the events of June 3, 1989,
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through June 4, 1989, on Internet sites available in 
China; 
Whereas the Chinese Government continues to suppress dis-
sent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists, lawyers, 
journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, mem-
bers of ethnic minority rights organizations, and other in-
dividuals in Xinjiang and Tibet who seek to express their 
political or religious views or their ethnic identity in a 
peaceful manner; 
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain 
peaceful advocates for human rights, religious freedom, 
ethnic minority rights and the rule of law, and their fam-
ily members, such as Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo 
and his wife Liu Xia, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, 
Peng Ming, Zhu Yufu, Lobsang Tsering, Ilham Tohti, 
Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), Sun 
Desheng, Liu Yuandong, Guo Quan, Liu Xianbin, Yang 
Rongli, Alimujiang Yimiti, Yang Tianshui, Wang Zhiwen, 
Li Chang, Gulmira Imin, Dhondup Wangchen, and Chen 
Kegui, nephew of blind human rights activists Chen 
Guangcheng; 
Whereas according to the Prisoner Database maintained by 
the United States Congressional-Executive Commission 
on China, the Communist Government of China continues 
to detain over 1,300 prisoners of conscience, though the 
number may be much higher; 
Whereas the Chinese authorities continue to maintain a sys-
tem of labor camps and ‘‘black jails’’ to detain peaceful 
advocates for human rights and democratic freedoms, 
harasses and detains human rights lawyers who take on 
cases deemed politically sensitive, limits the number of 
children Chinese couples may have, including through the
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recognized as such under the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights; and 
Whereas a Government of China which respects the indi-
vidual rights of all its people would be more likely to have 
productive economic, political, and security relations with 
its neighbors and the United States: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) urges the Government of the People’s Republic 
of China to stop censoring information about the 
Tiananmen Square massacre; 
(2) expresses sympathy to the families of those 
killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their par-
ticipation in the democracy protests of June 4, 1989, in 
Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People’s Republic of 
China; 
(3) supports all peaceful advocates for human rights 
and the rule of law in China for their efforts to advance 
democratic reforms and human rights during the past; 
(4) condemns the ongoing human rights abuses and 
persecution by the Government of the People’s Republic 
of China and its efforts to quell peaceful political dis-
sent, censor the Internet, suppress ethnic and religious 
minorities, limit the number of children had by Chinese 
couples through coercion and violence, and harass and 
detain lawyers and freedom advocates seeking the Gov-
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ernment’s commitment, in law and practice, to inter-
national human rights treaties and covenants to which it 
is a party; 
(5) calls on the Broadcasting Board of Governors 
(BBG) to take all appropriate steps to circumvent Chi-
nese Internet censorship and to provide information to 
the people of China about the Tiananmen Square Mas-
sacre; 
(6) calls on the United States Government to— 
(A) make human rights, including religious 
freedom, a priority in bilateral discussions with the 
Chinese Government; and 
(B) instruct the United States representative 
at the United Nations Human Rights Council to in-
troduce a resolution calling for an examination of 
the human rights practices of the Government of 
the People’s Republic of China; 
(7) calls on the Government of the People’s Repub-
lic of China to— 
(A) end the harassment, detention, torture, 
and imprisonment of Chinese citizens expressing 
their legitimate freedom of religion, expression, and 
association, including on the Internet; 
(B) release all remaining prisoners of con-
science who continue to be detained as a result of
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their participation in the peaceful pro-democracy 
demonstrations 
in 
1989, 
especially 
around 
Tiananmen Square; 
(C) end the harassment and discrimination of 
those involved in the 1989 protests and their fami-
lies, permit Chinese citizens to freely commemorate 
and share information about Tiananmen; 
(D) 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 fully 
repeal any laws or decrees that deny them the abil-
ity to travel to China; and 
(E) end Internet, media, and academic censor-
ship of discussions of the Tiananmen Protests and 
events surrounding it; 
(8) calls on the Administration and Members of 
Congress to take steps to continue to mark the events 
of Tiananmen Square— 
(A) meeting with participants in the dem-
onstrations, or their families, who are living in the 
United States;
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(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 independent and credible accounting of 
the events surrounding June 4, 1989; and 
(D) supporting those advocating for account-
able and democratic governance, human rights, and 
the rule of law in China; and 
(9) finds that United States relations with China 
are more likely to further improve once the Government 
recognizes and respects the individual human rights of 
all its people. 
Attest: 
Clerk.