105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2358
AN ACT
To provide for improved monitoring of human
rights violations in the People’s Republic of China.
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2358
AN ACT
To provide for improved monitoring of human rights
violations in the People’s Republic of China.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Political Freedom in
China Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Congress concurs in the following con-
clusions of the United States State Department on
human rights in the People’s Republic of China in
1996:
(A) The People’s Republic of China is ‘‘an
authoritarian state’’ in which ‘‘citizens lack the
freedom to peacefully express opposition to the
party-led political system and the right to
change their national leaders or form of govern-
ment’’.
(B) The Government of the People’s Re-
public of China has ‘‘continued to commit wide-
spread and well-documented human rights
abuses, in violation of internationally accepted
norms, stemming from the authorities’ intoler-
ance of dissent, fear of unrest, and the absence
or inadequacy of laws protecting basic free-
doms’’.
(C) ‘‘[a]buses include torture and mistreat-
ment of prisoners, forced confessions, and arbi-
trary and incommunicado detention’’.
(D) ‘‘[p]rison conditions remained harsh
[and] [t]he Government continued severe re-
strictions on freedom of speech, the press, as-
sembly, association, religion, privacy, and work-
er rights’’.
(E) ‘‘[a]lthough the Government denies
that it holds political prisoners, the number of
persons detained or serving sentences for
‘counterrevolutionary crimes’ or ‘crimes against
the state’, or for peaceful political or religious
activities are believed to number in the thou-
sands’’.
(F) ‘‘[n]onapproved religious groups, in-
cluding Protestant and Catholic groups * * *
experienced intensified repression’’.
(G) ‘‘[s]erious human rights abuses persist
in minority areas, including Tibet, Xinjiang,
and Inner Mongolia[, and] [c]ontrols on religion
and on other fundamental freedoms in these
areas have also intensified’’.
(H) ‘‘[o]verall in 1996, the authorities
stepped up efforts to cut off expressions of pro-
test or criticism. All public dissent against the
party and government was effectively silenced
by intimidation, exile, the imposition of prison
terms, administrative detention, or house ar-
rest. No dissidents were known to be active at
year’s end.’’.
(2) In addition to the State Department, credi-
ble independent human rights organizations have
documented an increase in repression in China dur-
ing 1995, and effective destruction of the dissident
movement through the arrest and sentencing of the
few remaining pro-democracy and human rights ac-
tivists not already in prison or exile.
(3) Among those were Wang Dan, a student
leader of the 1989 pro-democracy protests, sen-
tenced on October 30, 1996, to 11 years in prison
on charges of conspiring to subvert the government;
Li Hai, sentenced to 9 years in prison on December
18, 1996, for gathering information on the victims
of the 1989 crackdown, which according to the
court’s verdict constituted ‘‘state secrets’’; Liu
Nianchun, an independent labor organizer, sentenced
to 3 years of ‘‘re-education through labor’’ on July
4, 1996, due to his activities in connection with a
petition campaign calling for human rights reforms;
and Ngodrup Phuntsog, a Tibetan national, who was
arrested in Tibet in 1987 immediately after he re-
turned from a 2-year trip to India, where the Ti-
betan government in exile is located, and following
a secret trial was convicted by the Government of
the People’s Republic of China of espionage on be-
half of the ‘‘Ministry of Security of the Dalai
clique’’.
(4) Many political prisoners are suffering from
poor conditions and ill-treatment leading to serious
medical and health problems, including—
(A) Wei Jingsheng, sentenced to 14 years
in prison on December 13, 1996, for conspiring
to subvert the government and for ‘‘communica-
tion with hostile foreign organizations and indi-
viduals, amassing funds in preparation for over-
throwing the government and publishing anti-
government articles abroad,’’ is currently held
in Jile No. 1 Prison (formerly the Nanpu New
Life Salt Farm) in Hebei province, where he re-
portedly suffers from severe high blood pressure
and a heart condition, worsened by poor condi-
tions of confinement;
(B) Gao Yu, a journalist sentenced to 6
years in prison in November 1994 and honored
by UNESCO in May 1997, has a heart condi-
tion; and
(C) Chen Longde, a leading human rights
advocate now serving a 3-year reeducation
through labor sentence imposed without trial in
August 1995, has reportedly been subject to re-
peated beatings and electric shocks at a labor
camp for refusing to confess his guilt.
(5) The People’s Republic of China, as a mem-
ber of the United Nations, is expected to abide by
the provisions of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
(6) The People’s Republic of China is a party
to numerous international human rights conventions,
including the Convention Against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punish-
ment.
SEC. 3. CONDUCT OF FOREIGN RELATIONS.
(a) RELEASE
OF PRISONERS.—The Secretary of
State, in all official meetings with the Government of the
People’s Republic of China, should request the immediate
and unconditional release of Ngodrup Phuntsog and other
prisoners of conscience in Tibet, as well as in the People’s
Republic of China.
(b) ACCESS TO PRISONS.—The Secretary of State
should seek access for international humanitarian organi-
zations to Drapchi prison and other prisons in Tibet, as
well as in the People’s Republic of China, to ensure that
prisoners are not being mistreated and are receiving nec-
essary medical treatment.
(c) DIALOGUE ON FUTURE OF TIBET.—The Sec-
retary of State, in all official meetings with the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China, should call on that
country to begin serious discussions with the Dalai Lama
or his representatives, without preconditions, on the future
of Tibet.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR ADDI-
TIONAL PERSONNEL AT DIPLOMATIC POSTS
TO MONITOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PEO-
PLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
There are authorized to be appropriated to support
personnel to monitor political repression in the People’s
Republic of China in the United States Embassies in
Beijing and Kathmandu, as well as the American con-
sulates in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu, and
Hong Kong, $2,200,000 for fiscal year 1998 and
$2,200,000 for fiscal year 1999.
SEC. 5. DEMOCRACY BUILDING IN CHINA.
(a) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS
FOR
NED.—In addition to such sums as are otherwise author-
ized to be appropriated for the ‘‘National Endowment for
Democracy’’ for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, there are au-
thorized to be appropriated for the ‘‘National Endowment
for Democracy’’ $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1998 and
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, which shall be available
to promote democracy, civil society, and the development
of the rule of law in China.
(b) EAST
ASIA-PACIFIC
REGIONAL
DEMOCRACY
FUND.—The Secretary of State shall use funds available
in the East Asia-Pacific Regional Democracy Fund to pro-
vide grants to nongovernmental organizations to promote
democracy, civil society, and the development of the rule
of law in China.
SEC. 6. HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA.
(a) REPORTS.—Not later than March 30, 1998, and
each subsequent year thereafter, the Secretary of State
shall submit to the International Relations Committee of
the House of Representatives and the Foreign Relations
Committee of the Senate an annual report on human
rights in China, including religious persecution, the devel-
opment of democratic institutions, and the rule of law. Re-
ports shall provide information on each region of China.
(b) PRISONER INFORMATION REGISTRY.—The Sec-
retary of State shall establish a Prisoner Information Reg-
istry for China which shall provide information on all po-
litical prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and prisoners of
faith in China. Such information shall include the charges,
judicial processes, administrative actions, use of forced
labor, incidences of torture, length of imprisonment, phys-
ical and health conditions, and other matters related to
the incarceration of such prisoners in China. The Sec-
retary of State is authorized to make funds available to
nongovernmental organizations presently engaged in mon-
itoring activities regarding Chinese political prisoners to
assist in the creation and maintenance of the registry.
SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING ESTABLISH-
MENT OF A COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN ASIA.
It is the sense of the Congress that Congress, the
President, and the Secretary of State should work with
the governments of other countries to establish a Commis-
sion on Security and Cooperation in Asia which would be
modeled after the Commission on Security and Coopera-
tion in Europe.
SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DEMOCRACY IN
HONG KONG.
It is the sense of the Congress that the people of
Hong Kong should continue to have the right and ability
to freely elect their legislative representatives, and that the
procedure for the conduct of the elections of the first legis-
lature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
should be determined by the people of Hong Kong through
an election law convention, a referendum, or both.
SEC. 9. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS RELATING TO ORGAN
HARVESTING AND TRANSPLANTING IN THE
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
It is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the Government of the People’s Republic of
China should stop the practice of harvesting and
transplanting organs for profit from prisoners that
it executes;
(2) the Government of the People’s Republic of
China should be strongly condemned for such organ
harvesting and transplanting practice;
(3) the President should bar from entry into
the United States any and all officials of the Gov-
ernment of the People’s Republic of China known to
be directly involved in such organ harvesting and
transplanting practice;
(4) individuals determined to be participating in
or otherwise facilitating the sale of such organs in
the United States should be prosecuted to the fullest
possible extent of the law; and
(5) the appropriate officials in the United
States should interview individuals, including doc-
tors, who may have knowledge of such organ har-
vesting and transplanting practice.
TITLE II—AGREEMENT ON
NUCLEAR COOPERATION
(a) AMENDMENT TO JOINT RESOLUTION RELATING
TO AGREEMENT FOR NUCLEAR COOPERATION.—The
joint resolution entitled ‘‘Joint Resolution relating to the
approval and implementation of the proposed agreement
for nuclear cooperation between the United States and the
People’s Republic of China (Public Law 99–183; approved
December 16, 1985) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘and subject to section
2,’’ after ‘‘or any international agreement,’’;
and
(B) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘thirty’’
and inserting ‘‘120’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 2. (a) ACTION BY CONGRESS TO DISAPPROVE
CERTIFICATION.—No license may be issued for the export
to the People’s Republic of China of any nuclear material,
facilities, or components subject to the Agreement, and no
approval for the transfer or retransfer to the People’s Re-
public of China of any nuclear material, facilities, or com-
ponents subject to the Agreement shall be given if, during
the 120-day period referred to in subsection (b)(1) of the
first section, there is enacted a joint resolution described
in subsection (b) of this section.
‘‘(b) DESCRIPTION OF JOINT RESOLUTION.—A joint
resolution is described in this subsection if it is a joint
resolution which has a provision disapproving the Presi-
dent’s certification under subsection (b)(1), or a provision
or provisions modifying the manner in which the Agree-
ment is implemented, or both.
‘‘(c) PROCEDURES FOR CONSIDERATION OF JOINT
RESOLUTIONS.—
‘‘(1) REFERENCE TO COMMITTEES.—Joint res-
olutions—
‘‘(A) may be introduced in either House of
Congress by any Member of such House; and
‘‘(B) shall be referred, in the House of
Representatives, to the Committee on Inter-
national Relations and, in the Senate, to the
Committee on Foreign Relations.
It shall be in order to amend such joint resolutions
in the committees to which they are referred.
‘‘(2) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.—(A) The provi-
sions of section 152(d) and (e) of the Trade Act of
1974 (19 U.S.C. 2192(d) and (e)) (relating to the
floor consideration of certain resolutions in the
House and Senate) apply to joint resolutions de-
scribed in subsection (b).
‘‘(B) It is not in order for—
‘‘(i) the House of Representatives to con-
sider any joint resolution described in sub-
section (b) that has not been reported by the
Committee on International Relations; and
‘‘(ii) the Senate to consider any joint reso-
lution described in subsection (b) that has not
been reported by the Committee on Foreign Re-
lations.
‘‘(c) CONSIDERATION OF SECOND RESOLUTION NOT
IN ORDER.—It shall not be in order in either the House
of Representatives or the Senate to consider a joint resolu-
tion described in subsection (b) (other than a joint resolu-
tion described in subsection (b) received from the other
House), if that House has previously adopted such a joint
resolution.
‘‘(d) PROCEDURES RELATING TO CONFERENCE RE-
PORTS IN THE SENATE.—
‘‘(1) CONSIDERATION.—Consideration in the
the Senate of the conference report on any joint res-
olution described in subsection (b), including consid-
eration of all amendments in disagreement (and all
amendments thereto), and consideration of all debat-
able motions and appeals in connection therewith,
shall be limited to 10 hours, to be equally divided
between, and controlled by, the majority leader and
the minority leader or their designees. Debate on
any debatable motion or appeal related to the con-
ference report shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equal-
ly divided between, and controlled by, the mover and
the manager of the conference report.
‘‘(2) DEBATE ON AMENDMENTS IN DISAGREE-
MENT.—In any case in which there are amendments
in disagreement, time on each amendment shall be
limited to 30 minutes, to be equally divided between,
and controlled by, the manager of the conference re-
port and the minority leader or his designee. No
amendment to any amendment in disagreement shall
be received unless it is a germane amendment.
‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION
OF
VETO
MESSAGE.—
Consideration in the Senate of any veto message
with respect to a joint resolution described in sub-
section (b), including consideration of all debatable
motions and appeals in connection therewith, shall
be limited to 10 hours, to be equally divided be-
tween, and controlled by, the majority leader and the
minority leader or their designees.’’.
Passed the House of Representatives November 5,
1997.
Attest:
Clerk.