H. Res. 489 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
June 2, 2009. 
Whereas freedom of expression and assembly are funda-
mental human rights that belong to all people, and are 
recognized as such under the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights; 
Whereas June 4th, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the 
day in 1989 when the People’s Liberation Army and 
other security forces finished carrying out the orders of 
Chinese leaders to use lethal force to disperse demonstra-
tors in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square; 
Whereas the death on April 15, 1989, of Hu Yaobang, 
former General Secretary of the Communist Party of 
China, was followed by peaceful protests calling for the 
elimination of corruption, acceleration of economic and 
political reforms, especially freedom of expression and 
freedom of assembly; and calling for a dialogue between 
protesters and Chinese authorities on these issues; 
Whereas by early May 1989, citizens advocating publicly for 
democratic reform across China included not only stu-
dents, but also government employees, journalists, work-
ers, police, members of the armed forces and other citi-
zens;
•HRES 489 EH 
Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Bei-
jing after authorities had failed to persuade demonstra-
tors to leave Tiananmen Square; 
Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours 
of June 3, 1989, ten- to fifteen thousand helmeted, 
armed troops carrying automatic weapons and traveling 
in large truck convoys moved into Beijing to ‘‘clear the 
Square’’ and surrounding streets of demonstrators; 
Whereas on the night of June 3 and continuing into the 
morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers in armored columns of 
tanks outside of Tiananmen Square fired directly at citi-
zens and indiscriminately into crowds, inflicting high ci-
vilian casualties, killing or injuring unarmed civilians who 
reportedly ranged in age from 9 years old to 61 years 
old; and whereas tanks crushed some protesters and on-
lookers to death; 
Whereas after 20 years, the exact number of dead and 
wounded remains unclear; credible sources believe that a 
number much larger than that officially reported actually 
died in Beijing during the period of military control; 
credible sources estimate the wounded numbered at least 
in the hundreds; detentions at the time were in the thou-
sands, and some political prisoners who were sentenced 
in connection with the events surrounding June 4, 1989, 
still languish in Chinese prisons; 
Whereas there are Chinese citizens still imprisoned for 
‘‘counter-revolutionary’’ offenses allegedly committed dur-
ing the 1989 demonstrations, even though, according to 
the 1997 revision of China’s Criminal Law, the ‘‘of-
fenses’’ for which they were convicted are no longer 
crimes;
•HRES 489 EH 
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; the group’s 
Web site is blocked in China; and international cash do-
nations made to the group to support families of victims 
reportedly have been frozen by Chinese authorities; 
Whereas Chinese authorities censor information that does not 
conform to the official version of events surrounding the 
Tiananmen crackdown, and limits or prohibits informa-
tion about the Tiananmen crackdown from appearing in 
textbooks in China; 
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to suppress peaceful 
dissent by harassing, detaining, or imprisoning advocates 
for democratic processes, journalists, advocates for work-
er rights, religious believers, and other individuals in 
China, including in Xinjiang and in Tibet, who seek to 
express their political dissent, ethnic identity, or religious 
views peacefully and freely; and 
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain 
advocates for democratic processes, such as Mr. Liu 
Xiaobo, a Tiananmen Square protester, prominent intel-
lectual, dissident writer, and more recently a signer of 
Charter 08 (a call for peaceful political reform and re-
spect for the rule of law published on-line in December 
2008 by over 300 citizens, and subsequently endorsed by 
thousands more), who remains under house arrest: Now, 
therefore, be it