IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 597 
Urging the Government of the People’s Republic of China to respect the 
freedom of assembly, expression, and religion and all fundamental human 
rights and the rule of law for all its citizens and to stop censoring 
discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and their 
violent suppression. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 23, 2014 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Urging the Government of the People’s Republic of China 
to respect the freedom of assembly, expression, and reli-
gion and all fundamental human rights and the rule 
of law for all its citizens and to stop censoring discussion 
of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and their 
violent suppression. 
Whereas on June 4, 1989, peaceful demonstrations held in 
and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square were brutally 
crushed by the People’s Liberation Army, carrying out 
the orders of China’s Communist Party leadership; 
Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the 
Chinese Communist Party to eliminate corruption, accel-
erate economic and political reforms, and protect human 
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•HRES 597 IH 
rights, particularly the freedoms of expression and assem-
bly; 
Whereas by early May 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 people 
joined the protests in Tiananmen Square and citizens in 
over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests for demo-
cratic reform, including not only students, but also gov-
ernment employees, journalists, workers, police officers, 
members of the armed forces, and other citizens; 
Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Bei-
jing, China, after authorities had failed to persuade dem-
onstrators to leave Tiananmen Square; 
Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours 
of June 3, 1989, thousands of armed troops, supported 
by tanks and other armor, moved into Beijing to ‘‘clear 
the Square’’ and surrounding streets of demonstrators; 
Whereas on the night of June 3, 1989, and continuing into 
the morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers fired into crowds, 
inflicting high civilian casualties, killing or injuring un-
armed civilians; 
Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlook-
ers; 
Whereas independent observers report that hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, were killed and wounded by the People’s Lib-
eration Army soldiers and other security forces; 
Whereas 20,000 people throughout China suspected of taking 
part in the democracy movement were reportedly arrested 
and sentenced without trial to prison or reeducation 
through labor, and many were reportedly tortured, with 
many being imprisoned for decades; 
Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and 
friends of those killed in June 1989 whose demands in-
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•HRES 597 IH 
clude the right to mourn victims publicly, to call for a full 
and public accounting of the wounded and dead, and the 
release of those who remain imprisoned for participating 
in the 1989 protests; 
Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have 
faced arrest, harassment, and discrimination, with the 
group’s website blocked in China and international cash 
donations made to the group to support families of vic-
tims reportedly frozen by Chinese authorities; 
Whereas the Chinese Government undertakes active measures 
to deny its citizens the truth about the Tiananmen 
Square Massacre, including the blocking of uncensored 
Internet sites and weblogs, and the placement of mis-
leading information on the events of June 3, 1989, 
through June 4, 1989, on Internet sites available in 
China; 
Whereas the Chinese Government continues to suppress dis-
sent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists, lawyers, 
journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, mem-
bers of ethnic minority rights organizations, and other in-
dividuals in Xinjiang and Tibet who seek to express their 
political or religious views or their ethnic identity in a 
peaceful manner; 
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain 
peaceful advocates for human rights, religious freedom, 
ethnic minority rights and the rule of law, and their fam-
ily members, such as Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo 
and his wife Liu Xia, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, 
Peng Ming, Zhu Yufu, Lobsang Tsering, Ilham Tohti, 
Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), Sun 
Desheng, Liu Yuandong, Guo Quan, Liu Xianbin, Yang 
Rongli, Alimujiang Yimiti, Yang Tianshui, Wang Zhiwen, 
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