IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 655
Condemning the crackdown on democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square, 
Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China on the 15th anniversary 
of that tragic massacre. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 1, 2004
Mr. COX (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, 
Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. STRICKLAND, and Mr. WU) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Inter-
national Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the crackdown on democracy protestors in 
Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People’s Republic 
of China on the 15th anniversary of that tragic mas-
sacre.
Whereas the United States was founded on the principle that 
all men and women are created equal and entitled to the 
exercise of their basic human rights; 
Whereas freedom of expression, assembly, association, and re-
ligion are fundamental human rights that belong to all 
people and are recognized as such under the United Na-
tions Declaration of Human Rights and the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
•HRES 655 IH 
Whereas the horrific events of June 3–4, 1989, in Tiananmen 
Square, Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China, re-
minded the world that these universal human rights are 
denied to the citizens of the most populous nation on 
earth by the Communist Party that rules in China; 
Whereas in recent days the Communist Government of China 
has stepped up harassment of the relatives of people who 
lost their lives in the 1989 crackdown on democracy 
protestors in Tiananmen Square, in an apparent effort to 
control dissent ahead of the 15th anniversary of that 
tragic massacre; 
Whereas in recent weeks China’s Communist Party leaders 
have been working to eliminate the residual influence of 
Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as Communist Party chief 
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
•HRES 655 IH 
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-
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;
•HRES 655 IH 
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 
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—
•HRES 655 IH 
(1) expresses sympathy to the families of those 
killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their 
participation in the democracy protests of June 3–
4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the Peo-
ple’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 fundamental human rights; 
(2) commends all persons who are peacefully 
advocating for democracy and human rights in 
China; 
(3) calls upon those nations participating in the 
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to use opportunities 
created 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 au-
tonomy’’ made at the time of the Hong Kong rever-
sion in 1997, by permitting immediate elections for 
the Legislative Council of Hong Kong according to 
rules approved by the Hong Kong people through an 
election-law convention, referendum, or both, and by
•HRES 655 IH 
leaving all revisions of Hong Kong law to a legisla-
ture 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 activi-
ties and order formal investigations into the re-
ported killing, torture, and imprisonment of de-
mocracy activists with the goal of bringing 
those responsible to justice; 
(B) establish a June Fourth Investigation 
Committee, the proceedings and findings of 
which should be accessible to the public, to 
make a just and independent inquiry into all 
matters related to June 4, 1989; 
(C) release all prisoners of conscience, in-
cluding those persons still in prison as a result 
of their participation in the peaceful pro-democ-
racy protests of 1989, provide just compensa-
tion to the families of those killed in those pro-
tests, and allow those exiled on account of their 
activities in 1989 to return and live in freedom 
in China; and
•HRES 655 IH 
(D) release Dr. Yang Jianli, an organizer 
of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, who 
has been illegally detained incommunicado by 
the Communist Government of China since 
April 26, 2002, and whose wife and 2 children 
are United States citizens, and put an imme-
diate end to the harassment, detention, and im-
prisonment of all Chinese citizens exercising 
their legitimate freedoms of expression, associa-
tion, and religion.
Æ