Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate condemning threats to Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy on the 31st anniversary of the violent repression of the peaceful protests centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 608 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 608

 Expressing the sense of the Senate condemning threats to Hong Kong's 
freedoms and autonomy on the 31st anniversary of the violent repression 
    of the peaceful protests centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 4, 2020

 Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Gardner, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. 
  Daines, Mr. King, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Peters, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
 Hawley, and Mr. Young) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate condemning threats to Hong Kong's 
freedoms and autonomy on the 31st anniversary of the violent repression 
    of the peaceful protests centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Whereas the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre is an especially 
        poignant milestone, particularly as the autonomy of the Hong Kong 
        Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (``Hong 
        Kong'') and freedoms guaranteed to the people of Hong Kong are currently 
        under threat by possible national security legislation from the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China (``China'');
Whereas, during the spring of 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 people engaged in 
        Tiananmen Square protests, and citizens in over 400 Chinese cities 
        staged similar protests, including among many others, students, workers, 
        academics, journalists and government employees;
Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the Government of China 
        to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and political reform, and 
        protect human rights, particularly the freedoms of expression and 
        assembly, issues that remain relevant in United States-China relations 
        31 years later;
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, since June 4, 1989, the Government of China censors any mention of 
        Tiananmen Square and imprisons and harasses its own citizens who attempt 
        to discuss or commemorate Tiananmen Square protests and their violent 
        suppression;
Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers--a group in China composed of parents and family 
        members of individuals killed on or around June 4, 1989--have annually 
        called upon the Government of China to reveal the truth of the events;
Whereas people of mainland China and Macau are again barred this year from 
        commemorating the lives lost and the legacy of the 1989 massacre;
Whereas the Government of China continues to view the demands of the Tiananmen 
        protesters, including democracy, transparency, rights protections, and 
        freedom of speech, as threats to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist 
        Party's hold on political power;
Whereas the people of Hong Kong have commemorated the Tiananmen massacre each 
        year faithfully in large numbers;
Whereas the Hong Kong Police Force has blocked the annual candlelight vigil to 
        commemorate Tiananmen this year;
Whereas Hong Kong's guaranteed freedoms and the rule of law have allowed it to 
        be a prosperous bridge between mainland China and the world;
Whereas Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms have been eroded by the actions of the 
        Government of Hong Kong and the Government of China, particularly over 
        the past several years, with disqualifications of elected members of 
        Hong Kong's Legislative Council, blocking citizens from running for 
        office, failing to address the petitions of the Hong Kong people, 
        banning a political party advocating Hong Kong independence, and failing 
        to address police excessive use of force;
Whereas the political turmoil in Hong Kong is primarily the result of actions of 
        the Government of Hong Kong and the Government of China, including the 
        arbitrary arrests of peaceful protesters, including well-known democracy 
        advocates such as Martin Lee, Jimmy Lai, Lee Cheuk Yan, Margaret Ng, 
        Albert Ho, Leung Kwok-hung, Au Nok-hin, Figo Chan, and others;
Whereas China's National People's Congress has decided to impose national 
        security legislation with respect to Hong Kong;
Whereas the implementation of that legislation signals a severe blow to Hong 
        Kong's autonomy and would violate the Joint Declaration of the 
        Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 
        and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of 
        Hong Kong, done at Beijing on December 19, 1984;
Whereas Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pursuant to the United States-Hong Kong 
        Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-383), has determined that Hong Kong 
        no longer manifests a ``high degree of autonomy'' distinct from mainland 
        China;
Whereas vague national security laws are used widely in mainland China to 
        imprison or arbitrarily detain dissidents, rights defenders, civil 
        society advocates, religious leaders and adherents, and persons from 
        ethnic minorities;
Whereas human rights, democracy, and religious freedom advocates have been 
        imprisoned or arbitrarily detained under vague national security laws in 
        mainland China, including Wu Gan, Qin Yongmin, Zhou Shifeng, Yu 
        Wensheng, Wang Yi, and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died in state 
        custody nearly three years ago;
Whereas the United States Congress, particularly in recent years, has passed 
        numerous measures articulating the longstanding and bipartisan 
        commitment to human rights in China, including--

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

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

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

    (4) the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 (Public Law 
116-76); and

    (5) the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act (S. 3744, 116th Congress);

Whereas, on this day, we stand in solidarity with human rights lawyers, labor 
        and free speech advocates, religious groups, and ethnic minorities in 
        China, such as Tibetans, and also Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim 
        ethnic minorities who face mass internment and surveillance, forced 
        labor and family separations, and who are often forced to renounce their 
        faith; and
Whereas, on this day, we remember the words of the late Nobel Laureate Liu 
        Xiaobo, who said 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) will commemorate the Tiananmen protests and their 
        violent repression at least until such time as Chinese citizens 
        are able to do so freely and publicly everywhere across their 
        country;
            (2) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed, 
        tortured, imprisoned, or exiled for their participation in the 
        pro-democracy demonstrations during the spring of 1989;
            (3) calls on the Government of China to allow those 
        Tiananmen demonstration participants currently living in exile 
        in the United States and other countries to return to China 
        without risk of repercussions or retribution;
            (4) condemns the use of violence, torture, and arbitrary 
        detention as a means to repress the legitimate aspirations of 
        the people of China to speak and associate freely, including to 
        petition the government and challenge the policies and ideology 
        of the Chinese Communist Party;
            (5) calls on the Government of China to release all 
        prisoners of conscience, including prisoners detained because 
        of their participation in Tiananmen Square commemorations or 
        actions calling for the type of political reforms and rights 
        protections pursued by those who gathered in Tiananmen Square 
        in 1989 and including over one million Uyghurs and other 
        predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur 
        Autonomous Region;
            (6) condemns any forced imposition of national security 
        legislation with respect to Hong Kong;
            (7) calls upon the United States Government to use all 
        available authorities to protect United States interests in 
        Hong Kong and the freedoms of the Hong Kong people, including--
                    (A) encouraging the Standing Committee of the 
                National People's Congress of China ``to work with the 
                Hong Kong [Special Administrative Region] Government 
                and the people of Hong Kong to find a mutually 
                acceptable accommodation that will honor China's 
                international obligations under the UN-filed Sino-
                British Joint Declaration,'' as called for by the Joint 
                Statement of the Governments of the United States, 
                Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom; and
                    (B) using all available diplomatic means and 
                targeted sanctions to encourage the repeal of the 
                national security legislation adopted by the Standing 
                Committee of the National People's Congress of China on 
                May 28, 2020;
            (8) calls upon the President to encourage an international 
        coalition to demand that China adhere to its international 
        agreements and human rights obligations; and
            (9) calls upon Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to 
        allow the Hong Kong people to exercise their ``freedoms of 
        speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of 
        association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration,'' 
        as guaranteed in Article 27 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong 
        Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of 
        China.
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