IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 393 
Remembering the victims of the violent suppression of democracy protests 
in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3 and 4, 1989, 
and calling on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to 
respect the universally recognized human rights of all people living in 
China and around the world. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 21, 2019 
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. 
MALINOWSKI, Ms. WILD, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. BERA, Mr. 
ALLRED, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. KEATING, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. SCHRIER, Mr. 
VARGAS, Mrs. TORRES of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. SHERMAN, Mrs. 
WAGNER, and Mr. MAST) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Remembering the victims of the violent suppression of de-
mocracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere 
in China on June 3 and 4, 1989, and calling on the 
Government of the People’s Republic of China to respect 
the universally recognized human rights of all people 
living in China and around the world. 
Whereas June 4, 2019, marks the 30th anniversary of the 
violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations held in and 
around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square by the People’s Lib-
eration Army, carrying out the orders of the Government 
of the People’s Republic of China; 
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Whereas an estimated 1,000,000 people joined the protests in 
Tiananmen Square and citizens in over 400 Chinese cit-
ies staged similar protests calling for democratic reform, 
including not only students, but also government employ-
ees, 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 elimi-
nate 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 
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 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 and sur-
rounding 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 injur-
ing many unarmed civilians; 
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Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlook-
ers and seriously injured many others; 
Whereas independent observers reported that hundreds, per-
haps 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 in-
clude the right to mourn victims publicly and who call for 
a full, public, and independent accounting of the wound-
ed, 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-
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 sys-
tem and its obligations under international treaties and 
covenants, the political reforms and the protection of uni-
versally recognized rights sought by the Tiananmen dem-
onstrators 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 pro- 
democracy activists, human rights lawyers, citizen jour-
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nalists, 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 in-
creasingly 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 advo-
cates 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 Jin-
gling, Liu Feiyue, Wang Yi, Jiang Rong, Cao Yuguang, 
Abdurehim Heyit, Eziz Emet, Hebibulla Tohti, Drugdra, 
Lobsang Gephel, Sonam Dargye, Thardoe Gyaltsen, 
Gulmira Imin, and Huang Qi, among many others; 
Whereas according to the Political Prisoner Database main-
tained 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 lau-
reate to die in state custody since Carl Von Ossietzky 
died in 1938 after being detained by the Nazi German 
government; 
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Whereas over a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic 
and religious minorities are interned in political reeduca-
tion camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and 
elsewhere in China and are subjected to the forced renun-
ciation 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 Chi-
nese workers from forming independent unions and en-
gages in an ongoing crackdown on labor advocates, orga-
nizations, and their supporters; restricts severely the reli-
gious activity of Protestants, Catholics, Tibetan Bud-
dhists, and Turkic Muslims and has sought to eradicate 
Falun Gong practice in China; vilifies publicly and re-
fuses to negotiate with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or 
his representatives over Tibetan issues and asserts con-
trol over the reincarnation process through which the 
next Dalai Lama will be recognized; repatriates forcibly 
refugees to North Korea and pressures neighboring gov-
ernments 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 neigh-
bors and the United States; and 
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Whereas the United States Congress annually observes the 
1989 Tiananmen demonstrations and their violent sup-
pression— 
(1) because of the enduring impact this historical 
episode has had on United States-China relations; 
(2) because there has been no justice for those who 
lost their lives seeking freedom and political reform dur-
ing the Spring of 1989; 
(3) because the Government of the People’s Republic 
of China censors research, discussion and commemora-
tion of Tiananmen in China; 
(4) 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; 
(5) 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 
(6) because, despite persistent, ongoing, and some-
times brutal repression, there continue to be Chinese citi-
zens bravely seeking to exercise universally recognized 
human rights, ensure the rule of law, and promote polit-
ical 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 demonstra-
tions during the spring of 1989 in Beijing and in 
other cities across the People’s Republic of China; 
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(2) supports the leaders of the Tiananmen dem-
onstrations and all those who peacefully sought po-
litical 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 inde-
pendent accounting of the government’s actions 
and number of deaths that occurred during the 
violent suppression of the spring 1989 Tianan-
men 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 
(C) cease the censoring of information and 
discussion about the Tiananmen Square mas-
sacre, including at Confucius Institutes world-
wide; 
(4) calls on the Government of the People’s Re-
public 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 ‘‘black-
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listed’’ in China as a result of their peaceful protest 
activity, to return to China without risk of repercus-
sions or retribution; and 
(5) condemns the ongoing restrictions on uni-
versally 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 re-
flected in the Chinese constitution. 
Æ 
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