I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H.R. 967
To prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for the participation
of certain Chinese officials in international conferences, programs, and
activities and to provide that certain Chinese officials shall be ineligible
to receive visas and excluded from admission to the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 6, 1997
Mr. GILMAN (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. COX of California,
Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. ROHRABACHER,
Mr. PAYNE, and Mr. LANTOS) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to
the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the use of United States funds to provide for
the participation of certain Chinese officials in inter-
national conferences, programs, and activities and to pro-
vide that certain Chinese officials shall be ineligible to
receive visas and excluded from admission to the United
States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Despite public assurances by the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China that it would
abide by the principles of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and despite the United Nations
Charter requirement that all members promote re-
spect for and observance of basic human rights, in-
cluding freedom of religion, the Chinese Government
continues to place severe restrictions on religious ex-
pression and practice.
(2) It has been reported that at an internal
Central Communist Party meeting in 1994, Presi-
dent Jiang Zemin asserted that religion is one of the
biggest threats to Communist Party rule in China
and Tibet.
(3) On January 31, 1994, Premier Li Peng
signed decrees number 144 and 145 which restrict
worship, religious education, distribution of Bibles
and other religious literature, and contact with for-
eign coreligionists.
(4) The Chinese Government has created offi-
cial religious organizations that control all religious
worship, activity, and association in China and Tibet
and supplant the independent authority of the
Roman Catholic Church, independent Protestant
churches, and independent Buddhist, Taoist, and Is-
lamic associations.
(5) In July 1995, Ye Xiaowen, a rigid com-
munist hostile to religion, was appointed to head the
Bureau of Religious Affairs, a Chinese Government
agency controlled by the United Front Work Depart-
ment of the Chinese Communist Party. The Bureau
of Religious Affairs has administrative control over
all religious worship and activity in China and Tibet
through a system of granting or denying rights
through an official registration system. Those who
fail to or are not allowed to register are subject to
punitive measures.
(6) In the past year, the Chinese Government
has expressed great concern over the spread of
Christianity and particularly over the rapid growth
of Christian religious institutions other than those
controlled by the Chinese Government, including the
Roman Catholic Church and the evangelical Chris-
tian ‘‘house churches’’.
(7) Soon after the establishment of the People’s
Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese Government
imprisoned Christians who refused to relinquish
their faith to become servants of communism, charg-
ing them as ‘‘counter-revolutionaries’’ and sentenc-
ing them to 20 years or more in ‘‘reeducation
through labor camps’’.
(8) Hundreds of Chinese Protestants and
Catholics are among those now imprisoned, detained,
or continuously harassed because of their religious
beliefs or activities.
(9) The prisons and labor camps which hold
these religious prisoners are run by the Ministry of
Public Security and the Ministry of Justice of the
Chinese Government.
(10) Although some negotiations have taken
place, the Chinese Government refuses to permit the
appointment by the Vatican of Catholic bishops and
the ordination of priests not approved by the Gov-
ernment and insists on appointing its own ‘‘Catholic
bishops’’.
(11) The Tenth Panchen Lama died in January
1989 at Tashilhunpo Monastery, his traditional spir-
itual seat in Shigatze, Tibet’s second largest city.
(12) It has always been the right and the role
of the Dalai Lama to recognize the successor to the
Panchen Lama. On May 14, 1995, His Holiness the
Dalai Lama announced recognition of a six-year-old
boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the Eleventh Pan-
chen Lama, according to Tibetan tradition.
(13) The young boy recognized by the Dalai
Lama and his family have been brought to Beijing
by Chinese authorities and have not been seen for
months. The Chinese authorities announced publicly
in June 1996 that they are holding Gedhun Choekyi
Nyima.
(14) Chadrel Rimpoche, abbot of Tashilhunpo
Monastery and head of the original search commit-
tee for the Eleventh Panchen Lama, and his assist-
ant, Champa Chung, are believed to have been
seized and detained by Chinese authorities in May of
1995.
(15) Chinese Government authorities subse-
quently detained other Tibetan Buddhists in connec-
tion with the selection of the Eleventh Panchen
Lama, including Gyatrol Rimposhe, Shepa Kelsang,
Lhakpa Tsering, and Ringkar Ngawang.
(16) The Chinese Government convened a con-
ference in Beijing where Tibetan monks were co-
erced to select a rival candidate to the child recog-
nized by the Dalai Lama as the Eleventh Panchen
Lama.
(17) On November 29, 1995, officials of the
Chinese Government orchestrated an elaborate cere-
mony designating a six-year-old boy selected by the
Chinese Government as the Eleventh Panchen Lama
and on December 8, 1995, a Government-sponsored
ceremony was held in Shigatze, Tibet, where the boy
selected by the Government was enthroned as the
Eleventh Panchen Lama.
(18) By seeking to impose its own candidate as
the Eleventh Panchen Lama and detaining the six-
year-old boy recognized for that position in accord-
ance with Tibetan tradition, the Chinese Govern-
ment is infringing on a purely Tibetan religious mat-
ter, in blatant violation of the fundamental human
rights of the Tibetan people.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the sense of the Congress that the President
should make freedom of religion one of the major objec-
tives of United States foreign policy with respect to China.
As part of this policy, the Department of State should
raise in every relevant bilateral and multilateral forum the
issue of individuals imprisoned, detained, confined, or oth-
erwise harassed by the Chinese Government on religious
grounds. In its communications with the Chinese Govern-
ment, the Department of State should provide specific
names of individuals of concern and request a complete
and timely response from the Chinese Government regard-
ing the individuals’ whereabouts and condition, the
charges against them, and sentence imposed. The goal of
these official communications should be the expeditious re-
lease of all religious prisoners in China and Tibet and the
end of the Chinese Government’s policy and practice of
harassing and repressing religious believers.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR THE PARTICI-
PATION OF CERTAIN CHINESE OFFICIALS IN
CONFERENCES, 
EXCHANGES, 
PROGRAMS,
AND ACTIVITIES.
(a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, for fiscal years after fiscal year 1997, no funds
appropriated or otherwise made available for the Depart-
ment of State, the United States Information Agency, and
the United States Agency for International Development
may be used for the purpose of providing travel expenses
and per diem for the participation of nationals of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China described in paragraphs (1) and
(2) in conferences, exchanges, programs, and activities:
(1) The head or political secretary of any of the
following Chinese Government-created or approved
organizations:
(A) The Chinese Buddhist Association.
(B) The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Asso-
ciation.
(C) The National Congress of Catholic
Representatives.
(D) The Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Con-
ference.
(E) The Chinese Protestant ‘‘Three Self’’
Patriotic Movement.
(F) The China Christian Council.
(G) The Chinese Taoist Association.
(H) The Chinese Islamic Association.
(2) Any military or civilian official or employee
of the Government of the People’s Republic of China
who is directly involved in any of the following poli-
cies or practices or who was responsible for the su-
pervision of persons directly involved in such policies
or practices:
(A) Formulating, drafting, or implement-
ing repressive religious policies.
(B) Imprisoning, detaining, or harassing
individuals on religious grounds.
(C) Promoting or participating in policies
or practices which hinder religious activities or
the free expression of religious beliefs.
(b) CERTIFICATION.—
(1) Each Federal agency subject to the prohibi-
tion of subsection (a) shall certify in writing to the
appropriate congressional committees no later than
120 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
and every 90 days thereafter, that it did not pay, ei-
ther directly or through a contractor or grantee, for
travel expenses or per diem of any national of the
People’s Republic of China described in subsection
(a).
(2) Each certification under paragraph (1) shall
be supported by the following information:
(A) The name of each employee of any
agency of the Government of the People’s Re-
public of China whose travel expenses or per
diem were paid by funds of the reporting agen-
cy of the United States Government.
(B) The procedures employed by the re-
porting agency of the United States Govern-
ment to ascertain whether each individual
under subparagraph (A) did or did not partici-
pate in activities described in subsection (a)(2).
(C) The reporting agency’s basis for con-
cluding that each individual under subpara-
graph (A) did not participate in such activities.
(c) DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL
COMMITTEES.—For purposes of this section the term ‘‘ap-
propriate congressional committees’’ means the Commit-
tee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee
on International Relations of the House of Representa-
tives.
SEC. 4. CERTAIN OFFICIALS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA INELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE VISAS
AND EXCLUDED FROM ADMISSION.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any na-
tional of the People’s Republic of China described in para-
graphs (1) or (2) of section 3(a) shall be ineligible to re-
ceive visas and shall be excluded from admission into the
United States.
SEC. 5. SUNSET PROVISION.
Sections 3 and 4 shall cease to have effect 4 years
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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