Title: A resolution recognizing the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and condemning the intensifying repression and human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party and the use of surveillance by Chinese authorities, and for other purposes.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses sympathy for the family and friends of the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre and condemns the use of violence against those who speak out against the Chinese Communist Party. The resolution also calls on the Chinese government to cease its current repression of the Chinese people. It calls on the international community to address the Chinese government's continued persecution and mass surveillance of its citizens.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 221 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 221

 Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and 
 condemning the intensifying repression and human rights violations by 
  the Chinese Communist Party and the use of surveillance by Chinese 
                  authorities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 23 (legislative day, May 22), 2019

  Mr. Gardner (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Risch, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
 Toomey, and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and 
 condemning the intensifying repression and human rights violations by 
  the Chinese Communist Party and the use of surveillance by Chinese 
                  authorities, and for other purposes.

Whereas the United States was founded on the principle that all persons are 
        endowed with certain unalienable rights;
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations 
        General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, enshrined the rights of 
        freedom of expression, assembly, and association;
Whereas, after the death on April 15, 1989, of former General Secretary of the 
        Chinese Communist Party Hu Yaobang, who was compelled to resign in 1987 
        for expressing support of students demanding political reform, thousands 
        of people gathered to mourn him and demonstrate peacefully in Beijing;
Whereas, throughout April and May 1989, peaceful demonstrations continued in 
        Tiananmen Square and in an estimated 400 other cities across China, with 
        total numbers of demonstrators reaching into the millions;
Whereas, on May 9, 1989, prompted by discontent over censorship of the coverage 
        of protests, more than 1,000 Chinese journalists signed a petition 
        calling for freedom of the press;
Whereas, by May 18, 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 Chinese citizens from all walks 
        of life, including students, teachers, workers, writers and other 
        individuals, gathered peacefully in Tiananmen Square to call for 
        political and economic reforms;
Whereas several Chinese individuals in positions of authority, including the 
        presidents of 8 Chinese universities and the central committees of the 
        Communist Youth League of China, called for the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China to accept the demands of the Tiananmen Square 
        protestors;
Whereas Chinese students abroad, including in the United States, organized 
        rallies in support of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations;
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        declared martial law in Beijing and deployed troops of the People's 
        Liberation Army within the city;
Whereas, on June 4, 1989, troops of the People's Liberation Army, at the behest 
        of Chinese Communist Party leadership, attacked Tiananmen Square to 
        repress demonstrators, crushing defenseless protestors with tanks and 
        firing on them indiscriminately, killing hundreds or possibly thousands 
        of individuals;
Whereas troops of the People's Liberation Army also suppressed protests in other 
        cities in China;
Whereas protestors braved the brutal repression ordered by the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China, including by facing down a column of tanks 
        sent to intimidate unarmed civilians;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China dishonestly portrayed 
        the individuals gathered as rioters;
Whereas, in 2019, the Government of the People's Republic of China censors any 
        mention of Tiananmen Square and imprisons its own citizens who attempt 
        to discuss Tiananmen Square;
Whereas, in recent years, Chinese Communist Party leadership, especially under 
        President Xi Jinping, has tightened its control over the lives of 
        Chinese citizens and suppressed beliefs and activities it views as 
        threatening to its rule, including through--

    (1) the ``709 Crackdown'', in which the Government of the People's 
Republic of China, on July 9, 2015, detained and imprisoned hundreds of 
lawyers working to uphold the rule of law;

    (2) the imprisonment of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace 
Prize winner and outspoken advocate for political reform, until his death 
in 2017; and

    (3) the internment of 800,000 to possibly more than 2,000,000 Uyghurs, 
ethnic Kazakhs, and other Muslims in internment camps in Xinjiang;

Whereas the 2018 Department of State annual Country Report on Human Rights 
        Practices for the People's Republic of China detailed the continued 
        violations of fundamental freedoms, including the freedoms of speech, 
        the press, religion, association, and assembly, by the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China;
Whereas Congress has passed numerous measures articulating the longstanding and 
        bipartisan commitment to support for human rights in China, including--

    (1) the sanctions imposed in response to the Tiananmen Square massacre 
under section 902 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 
1990 and 1991 (Public Law 101-246; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note);

    (2) the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-383; 
22 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.);

    (3) the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-
292; 22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.);

    (4) the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (division B of Public Law 106-
286; 22 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.);

    (5) the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (subtitle B of title VI of Public 
Law 107-228; 22 U.S.C. 6901 note);

    (6) the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Congressional Gold Medal Act (Public Law 
109-287; 31 U.S.C. 5111 note);

    (7) the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-333; 22 
U.S.C. 7801 et seq.);

    (8) the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public 
Law 110-346);

    (9) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of 
title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note);

    (10) the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017 (Public 
Law 115-198); and

    (11) the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-330);

Whereas, on December 31, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the 
        Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-409), which 
        condemned the ``forced disappearances, extralegal detentions, invasive 
        and omnipresent surveillance, and lack of due process in judicial 
        proceedings'' in China and authorized funding to promote democracy, 
        human rights, and the rule of law in China;
Whereas the full, complete, and timely implementation of all relevant laws of 
        the United States that address democracy, human rights, and the rule of 
        law in China, including the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 
        (Public Law 115-409), is critical to demonstrating the unwavering 
        support of the United States for the fundamental rights and freedoms of 
        the Chinese people and to providing full support for human rights 
        defenders in China;
Whereas the Chinese Communist Party has passed and implemented sweeping laws 
        that provide the Government of the People's Republic of China with broad 
        authority to suppress the legitimate freedoms and activities of Chinese 
        citizens, civil society, and international entities operating inside 
        China, including--

    (1) the 2014 Counterespionage Law;

    (2) the 2015 National Security Law;

    (3) the 2015 Counterterrorism Law;

    (4) the 2016 Charity Law;

    (5) the 2017 Law of the People's Republic of China on Administration of 
Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of 
China; and

    (6) the 2017 Cybersecurity Law;

Whereas the Chinese Communist Party has used surveillance since the founding of 
        the People's Republic of China in 1949 to maintain tight political and 
        social control;
Whereas the ability of the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        monitor its citizens and otherwise violate their fundamental rights and 
        liberties has been accelerated by the proliferation of closed-circuit 
        security cameras, the adoption of new technologies such as facial 
        recognition, and the use of big data and artificial intelligence;
Whereas the Chinese Communist Party has turned Xinjiang into a testing ground 
        for these intrusive, Orwellian surveillance measures;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China is promoting a state-
        controlled model of internet governance that is used to justify 
        government repression of expression online;
Whereas Chinese companies are exporting surveillance technologies to other 
        countries with poor human rights records, and the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China is providing training to officials in these 
        countries; and
Whereas, despite this long and intensifying record of oppression by the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China, selfless Chinese human 
        rights defenders continue their work and advocacy because, in the words 
        of Liu Xiaobo, there is ``no force that can put an end to the human 
        quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by 
        law, where human rights reign supreme'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses its deepest sympathy with the family, 
        friends, colleagues, and classmates of the victims of the 
        Tiananmen Square massacre;
            (2) condemns the use of violence as a means to repress the 
        legitimate aspirations of the Chinese people to speak and 
        associate freely, including to petition the government and 
        challenge the policies and ideology of the Chinese Communist 
        Party;
            (3) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China to invite full and independent investigations into the 
        Tiananmen Square massacre by the United Nations High 
        Commissioner for Human Rights;
            (4) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China to release all political prisoners, including prisoners 
        held because of their participation in the Tiananmen Square 
        protest or actions pursuing reforms called for by the 
        individuals gathered in Tiananmen Square;
            (5) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China to refrain from intimidating protest participants who 
        fled China and allow them to return to China without fear of 
        detention or other repercussions;
            (6) calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China to cease its current repression of the Chinese people, 
        including of lawyers and activists who stand up for the rights 
        of their fellow citizens;
            (7) urges the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        to cease the use of emerging technologies as tools of 
        oppression;
            (8) calls on the United States Government and Members of 
        Congress to mark the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
        protests, including by--
                    (A) meeting with participants of the Tiananmen 
                Square protests who now live outside of China;
                    (B) meeting with others outside of China who have 
                been blacklisted by the Government of the People's 
                Republic of China as a result of their peaceful protest 
                activities;
                    (C) supporting calls for accountability for the 
                officials who ordered the Tiananmen Square massacre; 
                and
                    (D) supporting individuals who continue to call for 
                reforms in China to further the freedom of speech, 
                freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom to 
                petition the government, and freedom of religion; and
            (9) calls on the international community to cooperate in 
        addressing the Government of the People's Republic of China's 
        continued persecution of its own citizens, including the use of 
        intrusive mass surveillance.
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