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for opposing the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-
tests, and are trying to erase his name from history;
Whereas Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when
he 
tearfully 
begged 
student 
protesters 
to 
leave
Tiananmen Square, and was then promptly put under
house arrest and purged;
Whereas the Communist Government of China declared mar-
tial law the next day and troops backed by tanks crushed
the student movement on June 3–4, 1989;
Whereas the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square were the
manifestation of a democratic movement that had begun
to spread across China following the death of the former
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China on April 15, 1989, and that had
given rise to peaceful protests throughout China calling
for the establishment of a dialogue with government and
party leaders on democratic reforms, including freedom
of expression, freedom of assembly, and the elimination
of corruption by government officials;
Whereas after that date thousands of pro-democracy dem-
onstrators continued to protest peacefully in and around
Tiananmen Square in Beijing until June 3 and 4, 1989,
when Chinese authorities ordered the People’s Liberation
Army and other security forces to use lethal force to dis-
perse demonstrators in Beijing, especially around
Tiananmen Square;
Whereas the report of the Chinese Red Cross on June 7,
1989, and the United States Department of State Coun-
try Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1989, gave
various estimates of the numbers of people killed and
wounded in 1989 by the People’s Liberation Army sol-
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diers and other security forces, and it is now believed by
many that thousands were killed;
Whereas 20,000 people nationwide suspected of taking part
in the democracy movement were arrested and sentenced
without trial to prison or reeducation through labor, and
many were reportedly tortured;
Whereas the Communist Government of China continues to
suppress dissent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists,
journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, and
other individuals in China and Tibet who seek to express
their political or religious views in a peaceful manner;
Whereas credible sources estimate that the Communist Gov-
ernment of China continues to imprison as many as
2,000 Tiananmen Square activists, such as Yang Jianli,
and denies such activists their basic human rights, such
as access to legal counsel, contact with their families, and
trials within reasonable times;
Whereas security agents of the People’s Republic of China
have detained Chinese citizens who were planning activi-
ties to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square massacre, including the preparation
of a video for presentation at this year’s United Nations
Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva on the
deaths of their relatives and other victims who perished
in Tiananmen Square;
Whereas coincident with the 15th anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square massacre, the Communist Govern-
ment of China has frustrated the efforts of Chinese citi-
zens in Hong Kong to establish a gradual and orderly
process toward universal suffrage and the democratic
election of the legislature and chief executive in Hong
•HRES 655 EH
Kong as promised at the time of the reversion of Hong
Kong to China in 1997 and as envisioned by the Basic
Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
Whereas despite an unprecedented public protest in Hong
Kong on July 1, 2003, reminiscent of protests in Beijing
shortly before June 4, 1989, the Standing Committee of
the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic
of China declared on April 26, 2004, that universal suf-
frage would not apply to the selection of the Chief Execu-
tive in Hong Kong in 2007 or to the selection of mem-
bers of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong in 2008;
and
Whereas June 4, 2004, is the 15th anniversary of the date
of the Tiananmen Square massacre: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) expresses sympathy to the families of those
killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their par-
ticipation in the democracy protests of June 3–4, 1989,
in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People’s Republic
of China, and to all those persons who have suffered for
their efforts to keep that struggle alive during the past
15 years, and to all the people of China who lack funda-
mental human rights;
(2) commends all persons who are peacefully advo-
cating for democracy and human rights in China;
(3) calls upon those nations participating in the
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to use opportunities cre-
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ated by the Games to urge China to fully comply with
the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights;
(4) calls upon the Communist Government of
China, its National People’s Congress, and any other
groups appointed by the Communist Government of
China to honor its pledge of a ‘‘high degree of auton-
omy’’ made at the time of the Hong Kong reversion in
1997, by permitting immediate elections for the Legisla-
tive Council of Hong Kong according to rules approved
by the Hong Kong people through an election-law con-
vention, referendum, or both, and by leaving all revisions
of Hong Kong law to a legislature elected by universal
suffrage; and
(5) condemns the ongoing and egregious human
rights abuses by the Communist Government of China
and calls on that Government to—
(A) reevaluate the official verdict on the June
4, 1989, Tiananmen pro-democracy activities and
order formal investigations into the reported killing,
torture, and imprisonment of democracy activists
with the goal of bringing those responsible to jus-
tice;
(B) establish a June Fourth Investigation
Committee, the proceedings and findings of which
should be accessible to the public, to make a just
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and independent inquiry into all matters related to
June 4, 1989;
(C) release all prisoners of conscience, includ-
ing those persons still in prison as a result of their
participation in the peaceful pro-democracy protests
of 1989, provide just compensation to the families
of those killed in those protests, and allow those ex-
iled on account of their activities in 1989 to return
and live in freedom in China; and
(D) release Dr. Yang Jianli, an organizer of
the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, who has
been illegally detained incommunicado by the Com-
munist Government of China since April 26, 2002,
and whose wife and 2 children are United States
citizens, and put an immediate end to the harass-
ment, detention, and imprisonment of all Chinese
citizens exercising their legitimate freedoms of ex-
pression, association, and religion.
Attest:
Clerk.