IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 456 
Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and con-
demning the continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights 
and basic freedoms within the People’s Republic of China, including 
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Com-
munist Party, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 4, 2021 
Mr. BERA (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, 
Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. COHEN, Ms. TITUS, Ms. CHENEY, Mr. GREEN of 
Tennessee, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. 
EVANS, and Mr. MEEKS) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square 
massacre and condemning the continued and intensifying 
crackdown on human rights and basic freedoms within 
the People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong 
Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Com-
munist Party, and for other purposes. 
Whereas, on April 15, 1989, peaceful demonstrators gathered 
in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing to mourn the 
death of former General Secretary of the Chinese Com-
munist Party (CCP) Hu Yaobang, who was compelled to 
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resign in 1987 for expressing support of students de-
manding political reform; 
Whereas, throughout April and May 1989, peaceful dem-
onstrations continued in Tiananmen Square and in an es-
timated 400 cities across China; 
Whereas, by May 17, 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 Chinese 
citizens from all walks of life, including students, govern-
ment employees, journalists, workers, police officers, and 
members of the armed forces, gathered peacefully in 
Tiananmen Square to call for democratic reforms; 
Whereas the peaceful demonstrators of 1989 called upon the 
Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to 
eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and political re-
form, and protect human rights, particularly the free-
doms of expression and assembly; 
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, the Government of the PRC de-
clared martial law; 
Whereas, during the late afternoon and early evening hours 
of June 3, 1989, the CCP leadership sent armed People’s 
Liberation Army (PLA) troops and tanks into Beijing 
and surrounding areas; 
Whereas, on the night of June 3 and continuing into the 
morning of June 4, 1989, PLA soldiers, at the direction 
of CCP leadership, fired indiscriminately into crowds of 
peaceful protesters, killing and injuring thousands of 
demonstrators and other unarmed civilians; 
Whereas the Government of the PRC continues to censor any 
mention of the crackdown centered on Tiananmen 
Square, prevents the victims from being publicly mourned 
and remembered, and harasses, detains, and arrests those 
who call for a full, public, and independent accounting of 
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the wounded, dead, and those imprisoned for partici-
pating in the spring 1989 demonstrations; 
Whereas the sovereignty of Hong Kong transferred from the 
United Kingdom to the PRC in 1997 under the terms of 
the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 
Government of the People’s Republic of China on the 
Question of Hong Kong (hereafter the ‘‘Joint Declara-
tion’’), which guaranteed the Hong Kong Special Admin-
istrative Region (HKSAR) will ‘‘enjoy a high degree of 
autonomy,’’ and committed the PRC to keep the ‘‘social 
and economic systems in Hong Kong’’ unchanged 
through 2047; 
Whereas the Joint Declaration states that ‘‘Rights and free-
doms, including those of the person, of speech, of the 
press, of assembly, of association, of travel, of movement, 
of correspondence, of strike, of choice of occupation, of 
academic research and of religious belief will be ensured 
by law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’’ 
and that those rights are reiterated in Chapter III of the 
Basic Law of the HKSAR of the PRC; 
Whereas the people of Hong Kong have held an annual 
Tiananmen Square vigil since 1990 and has been the 
only such mass gathering on Chinese territory because 
commemorations are banned in mainland China; 
Whereas, on June 4, 2020, thousands of people in Hong 
Kong defied a ban by the Hong Kong Police Force and 
gathered at the city’s annual June 4 vigil to memorialize 
the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; 
Whereas, on June 30, 2020, China’s National People’s Con-
gress Standing Committee flagrantly undermined the 
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high degree of autonomy promised to Hong Kong in the 
Joint Declaration and Basic Law by passing and impos-
ing upon Hong Kong the oppressive and intentionally 
vague Law of the PRC on Safeguarding National Secu-
rity in the HKSAR (‘‘national security law’’); 
Whereas the central Government of the PRC and the 
HKSAR Government have since used the national secu-
rity law to suppress democratic voices in Hong Kong, in-
cluding by barring candidates from standing for election 
and by arresting prodemocracy activists and opposition 
leaders; 
Whereas, on March 11, 2021, China’s National People’s Con-
gress adopted the ‘‘Decision of the National People’s 
Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong 
Kong Special Administrative Region’’, thereby further re-
stricting Hong Kong’s electoral freedom and democratic 
representation; 
Whereas, on May 6, 2021, a Hong Kong judge sentenced sev-
eral Hong Kong prodemocracy activists to between 4 and 
10 months in jail for participating in the unauthorized 
Tiananmen Square vigil in June 2020; 
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Police Force offi-
cially banned the June 4 vigil for the second consecutive 
year, citing a ban on large gatherings in light of the 
coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic; 
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Legislative 
Council passed legislation amending local election laws to 
bring them in line with the China’s National People’s 
Congress March 11 ‘‘Decision of the National People’s 
Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong 
Kong Special Administrative Region’’; 
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•HRES 456 IH 
Whereas June 4, 2021, marks the 32d anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre; 
Whereas the Government of the PRC has committed genocide 
and crimes against humanity against the predominantly 
Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority 
groups in Xinjiang; and 
Whereas the Government of the PRC continues to violate the 
human rights of prodemocracy activists, members of eth-
nic minorities, including individuals in the Tibetan re-
gions, religious believers, human rights lawyers, citizen 
journalists, and labor union leaders, among many others 
seeking to express their political or religious views or eth-
nic identity in a peaceful manner: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses its deepest respect for and soli-
darity with the families and friends of those killed, 
tortured, and imprisoned for participating in the 
prodemocracy demonstrations during the spring of 
1989, and with those who have continued to suffer 
for their fight to publicly mourn the Tiananmen 
Square massacre victims; 
(2) reaffirms its support for those who continue 
to work for political reform, rule of law, and protec-
tions for human rights in China; 
(3) condemns the Government of the People’s 
Republic of China (PRC) for its continued human 
rights abuses, including suppressing peaceful polit-
ical dissent and ethnic and religious minorities; 
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(4) calls on the Government of the PRC to— 
(A) cease censoring information and dis-
cussion about the Tiananmen Square massacre; 
(B) invite and cooperate with a full and 
independent investigation into the Tiananmen 
Square massacre by the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Human Rights; 
(C) uphold its international legal obliga-
tions to Hong Kong under the Joint Declara-
tion of the Government of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 
Government of the People’s Republic of China 
on the Question of Hong Kong (‘‘Joint Declara-
tion’’) and cease undermining Hong Kong’s 
high degree of autonomy; and 
(D) 
allow 
those 
participants 
in 
the 
Tiananmen demonstrations who fled overseas or 
reside outside of China after being ‘‘blacklisted’’ 
for their peaceful protest activity to return to 
China without risk of retribution; 
(5) calls on the Government of the Hong Kong 
Special Administrative Region, and the relevant au-
thorities in the Government of the PRC to— 
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(A) respect and uphold the personal rights 
and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and 
the independence of Hong Kong’s legal system; 
(B) restore independent democratic rep-
resentation to the people of Hong Kong in line 
with the ‘‘One Country, Two Systems’’ arrange-
ment set forth in the Joint Declaration and its 
implementing document, the Basic Law; and 
(C) allow those living in exile for engaging 
in prodemocracy activities to return to Hong 
Kong without fear of detention or other reper-
cussions; 
(6) calls on the United States Government and 
Members of Congress to mark the 32d anniversary 
of the Tiananmen Square protests, including 
through 
meetings 
with 
participants 
of 
the 
Tiananmen Square protests who live outside of 
China and the families and friends of the victims of 
the Tiananmen Square massacre based outside 
China; and 
(7) supports ongoing peaceful movements for 
human rights in China and of the people in Hong 
Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang. 
Æ 
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