I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5269
To encourage liberalization inside the People’s Republic of China and Tibet.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 7, 1994
Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mrs. UNSOELD, and Ms. PELOSI) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To encourage liberalization inside the People’s Republic of
China and Tibet.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.
(a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to create
principles governing the conduct of United States eco-
nomic cooperation projects in the People’s Republic of
China and Tibet.
(b) PRINCIPLES.—It is the sense of the Congress that
any United States economic cooperation project in the
People’s Republic of China or Tibet should adhere to the
following principles:
(1) Suspend the use of all goods, wares, arti-
cles, and merchandise that are mined, produced, or
manufactured, in whole or in part, by convict labor
or forced labor if there is reason to believe that the
material or product is produced or manufactured by
such convict or forced labor, and refuse to use forced
labor in the project.
(2) Seek to ensure that political or religious
views, sex, ethnic or national background, involve-
ment in political or labor activities or nonviolent
demonstrations, or association with suspected or
known dissidents will not prohibit hiring, lead to
harassment, demotion, or dismissal, or in any way
affect the status or terms of employment in the
project. The United States parent company of the
United States economic cooperation project should
not discriminate in terms or conditions of employ-
ment in the project against persons with past
records of arrests or internal exile for nonviolent
protest or membership in unofficial organizations
committed to nonviolence.
(3) Ensure that methods of production used in
the project do not pose an unnecessary physical dan-
ger to workers and neighboring populations and
property and that the project does not unnecessarily
risk harm to the surrounding environment, and con-
sult with community leaders regarding environ-
mental protection with respect to the project.
(4) Strive to use business enterprises that are
not controlled by the Government of the People’s
Republic of China or its authorized agents and de-
partments as potential partners in the project.
(5) Prohibit any military presence on the prem-
ises of the project.
(6) Undertake to promote freedom of associa-
tion and assembly among the employees of the
project. The United States economic cooperation
project should protest any infringement by the Gov-
ernment of the People’s Republic of China of these
freedoms to the appropriate authorities of that Gov-
ernment and to the International Labor Organiza-
tion, which has an office in Beijing.
(7) Use every possible channel of communica-
tion with the Government of the People’s Republic
of China to urge that Government to disclose pub-
licly a complete list of all those individuals arrested
since March 1989, to end incommunicado detention
and torture, and to provide international observers
access to all places of detention in the People’s Re-
public of China and Tibet and to trials of prisoners
arrested in connection with the pro-democracy
events of April through June of 1989 and the pro-
democracy demonstrations which have taken place in
Tibet since 1987.
(8) Discourage or undertake to prevent compul-
sory political indoctrination programs from taking
place on the premises of the operations of the
project.
(9) Promote freedom of expression, including
the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information
and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either
orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or
through any media. To this end, the United States
economic cooperation project should raise with ap-
propriate authorities of the Government of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China concerns about restrictions
on importation of foreign publications.
(c) PROMOTION
OF PRINCIPLES
BY OTHER NA-
TIONS.—The Secretary shall forward a copy of the prin-
ciples set forth in subsection (b) to the member nations
of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel-
opment and encourage them to promote principles similar
to these principles.
SEC. 2. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each United States parent com-
pany conducting a United States economic cooperation
project in the People’s Republic of China or Tibet shall
register with the Secretary and indicate whether such
company agrees to implement the principles set forth in
section 1(b). No fee shall be required for registration
under this subsection.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The registration require-
ment of subsection (a) shall take effect 6 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) REPORT.—Each United States parent company
conducting a United States economic cooperation project
in the People’s Republic of China or Tibet shall report
to the Secretary describing such company’s adherence to
the principles. Such company shall submit a completed re-
porting form furnished by the Secretary. The first report
shall be submitted not later than 1 year after the date
on which the national registers under section 2 and not
later than the end of each 1-year period occurring there-
after.
(b) REVIEW OF REPORT.—The Secretary shall review
each report submitted under subsection (a) and determine
whether the United States parent company submitting the
report is adhering to the principles. The Secretary may
request additional information from the United States
parent company and other sources to verify the informa-
tion contained in the report submitted by the company.
(c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit a
report to the Congress and to the Secretariat of the Orga-
nization for Economic Cooperation and Development de-
scribing the level of adherence to the principles by United
States parent companies subject to the reporting require-
ment of subsection (a). This report shall be submitted not
later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this
Act and not later than the end of each 1-year period occur-
ring thereafter.
SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.
(a) SUPPORT.—A Federal agency may intercede with
a foreign government or foreign national regarding export
marketing activity in the People’s Republic of China or
Tibet on behalf of a United States parent company subject
to the reporting requirements of section 3(a) only if that
company adheres to the principles.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef-
fect 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the terms ‘‘adhere to the principles’’, ‘‘ad-
hering to the principles’’ and ‘‘adherence to the prin-
ciples’’ mean—
(A) agreeing to implement the principles
set forth in section 1(b);
(B) implementing those principles by tak-
ing good faith measures with respect to each
such principle; and
(C) reporting accurately to the Secretary
on the measures taken to implement those prin-
ciples;
(2) the term ‘‘intercede with a foreign govern-
ment or foreign national’’ includes any contact by an
officer or employee of the United States with offi-
cials of any foreign government or foreign national
involving or contemplating any effort to assist in
selling a good, service, or technology in the People’s
Republic of China or Tibet, except that such term
does not include multilateral or bilateral govern-
ment-to-government trade negotiations intended to
resolve trade issues which may affect United States
parent companies who do not adhere to the prin-
ciples;
(3) the term ‘‘organized under the laws of the
United States’’ means organized under the laws of