Recognizing the twentieth anniversary of the suppression of protesters and citizens in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, People's Republic of China, on June 3 and 4, 1989 and expressing sympathy to the families of those killed, tortured, and imprisoned in connection with the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and other parts of China on June 3 and 4, 1989 and thereafter.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

And I thank him and Sander Levin and Congresswoman Ileana Ros- Lehtinen for bringing this legislation to the floor. I associate myself with the comments of Mr. Poe and my friend, Mr. Wolf. We have been working on this issue for a very long time in our task force on China ever since I think even before Tiananmen.

Human rights in China is a very, very important issue. China is a very important country. The relationship between our two countries is very important economically, security-wise, culturally, and in every way. But the size of the economy, the size of the country, and the size of the relationship doesn't mean that we shouldn't speak out. I have said that if we don't speak out about our concerns regarding human rights in China and Tibet, then we lose all moral authority to discuss it about any other country in the world.

Today we come together to support a resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives recognizing that 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Again, I thank my colleagues for bringing this legislation to the floor.

Twenty years ago, a generation ago, thousands, millions of Chinese students, workers, and citizens assembled in Tiananmen Square and all of the streets leading to it and from it to bravely speak out. It was about promoting more freedom in China in terms of accountability of the government in ending corruption. It was about, again, more transparency and the ability to speak and to assemble. It was about the aspirations of people in a country that they love and their desire to have dialogue with their leaders on the future of China.

It will be forever seared in our memory what happened next. The People's Liberation Army, the People's Army was used against the people, crushing demonstrators in Tiananmen Square and crushing dissent throughout China. And so again, Tiananmen Square is the place where many people assembled, but the demonstrations were beyond that and well into Beijing and across the country.

We remember, again, one of the most enduring images which actually happened after the crush, after the order was given to clear Tiananmen Square by such and such a time on June 4. A day or two later, a brave man stood before the tank. One of the most enduring images of the 20th century will forever be seared again in the conscience of the world, the picture of the lone man standing before the tank in the street bringing a line of tanks to a halt. When the tanks moved, he moved. He even climbed on the tank to communicate to the person in charge of the tank that Beijing was their city and they did not want tanks overtaking it. Today that spirit of Tiananmen lives in the hearts and minds of those continuing to work for freedom in China and beyond. The heroes had the courage to speak out for freedom.

There will be other observances of the Berlin Wall coming down throughout Europe in the next weeks and months. And actually, while the Chinese students, workers, and demonstrators used the Goddess of Democracy as the symbol in Tiananmen Square, inspired by our Founders, they, in turn, inspired others throughout Europe and the rest of the world to speak out for freedom, and they did achieve freedom. Unfortunately, the Chinese did not.

Some of the people arrested at the time of Tiananmen Square are still in prison. We really don't have all of their names, but we do have the names of some prisoners of conscience that I brought to the attention of the Chinese Government. In a letter to the President of China, I included some of those, and I want to read them into the Record. And I will submit their names and the description of their situation into the Record.

Before I read them all, I want to talk particularly about Liu Xiaobo. Liu Xiaobo is one of those individuals who spoke for freedom. He spent 5 years in prison and in reeducation-through-labor camps for supporting the Tiananmen students and for questioning the one-party system. Late last year, he was again arrested for being one of the organizers of the Charter '08, an online public petition for democracy and the rule of law. About 5,000 people signed it. Imagine the courage of these people to sign such a petition. Liu continues to be held without charges. We call for his immediate and unconditional release.

Let me read the name of Dr. Wang Bingzhang. He is very famous. There was an article in the paper yesterday about him. Hu Jia, Shi Tao, Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng, Yan Zhengxue, Pastor Zhang Rongliang, Bangri Chogtrul Rinpoche, and Ronggyal Adrag are being held. Some of these are from Tibet as well. There are others, but I want to submit these names for the Record as they are representative of the situation.

I just had the privilege of visiting China last week. We had magnificent hospitality from the Chinese Government, and I am grateful for the opportunity they gave us to hear about their plans for climate change and issues of global concern. It also afforded me the opportunity to speak about human rights in China and Tibet and congressional concern about it to the President, the Premier and the Chairman of the National People's Congress. In terms of our dialogue, congressional and interparliamentary dialogue, I think it was clear from our visit that this concern is bipartisan, and any dialogue we had between our two congresses would have to include a discussion of human rights.

When we were there, the first meeting we had was with Bishop Jin of Shanghai to discuss the status of religious freedom in China. He was optimistic about the Catholics that he led in Shanghai having some more freedom and making progress in that regard. And I respect that. But that is not the case for all who wish to exercise their religious freedom in China. And again, China is a country of contradictions. You see progress here and you see oppression there. Perhaps it is how regions deal with these issues. But the fact is that much more needs to be done in terms of religious freedom.

I mentioned that we had submitted this letter to the Chinese Government. When we were in Hong Kong we met with Han Dongfang. Mr. Wolf, you know him. Han Dongfang was in Tiananmen Square as a bus driver at the time, and he gave us his view about what was happening and what opportunities that could be there.

It is something that is not taught to children. What we learned is that some

students in Beijing University did not have any idea of who the man before the tank was. They didn't have any idea. They could not relate to that. It was not part of their knowledge. It didn't trigger anything that they had heard about in China. That is pretty remarkable. But the fact is that the world will never forget, and that image is one that inspires those who aspire to freedom wherever it is in the world.

I do believe that all countries of the world have to get to a place of more openness, more transparency and more accountability of government. And perhaps the issue we visited the Chinese about, climate change, is one that can open some doors. Environmental justice can help people have clean air and clean water and get answers from their government as to why they do not have it.

Today, on this floor, and this week we are observing something that is sacred ground when we talk about human rights in the world. It is a remarkable occurrence that will continue to inspire people throughout the world and also inspire those in China who hope for and aspire to freedom.

Mr. Lantos, our late colleague, introduced me to the Dalai Lama and the issue of human rights in China and Tibet. He was always saying to me, ``don't be discouraged; the fight for human rights is a long one.'' But who would have thought that 20 years after Tiananmen Square we would be observing this, that people would still be imprisoned and that we would be submitting names of people who want to be able to speak more freely, to assemble and have more accountability from their government?

For this and many other reasons, I'm grateful to our colleagues for their leadership in bringing this legislation to the floor. Thank you for that opportunity.

And with that, Madam Speaker, I want to submit, in full, my letter and the list of prisoners. This is important because they say the worst form of punishment for someone who is a political prisoner is to say that no one remembers that you are here. No one remembers why you are here. So think about that as you are in prison.

Well, we want them to know that in the Congress of the United States, we do know about them, we do care about them, and that we will continue to call for their freedom.

May 27, 2009.

Hon. Hu Jintao,

President,

People's Republic of China.

Dear President Hu: I am writing to ask for your assistance

in obtaining the release of certain individuals detained or

imprisoned in China. It is my understanding that these

individuals are prisoners of conscience and they are detained

or imprisoned for exercising rights that are guaranteed to

them under Chinese law or under international human rights

conventions that have been signed or ratified by the Chinese

government.

Attached is a list of selected prisoners and brief

descriptions of their cases. I look forward to working with

you on a positive outcome on these cases and for the welfare

of these individuals. Thank you for your consideration of

this request.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi,

Speaker of the House.

Key Prisoners in China Who Should Be Released--Submitted May 27, 2009

Liu Xiaobo was detained and transported to an undisclosed

location in December 2008 without any legal proceeding. He

was one of the original signers of Charter 08 that calls for

new policies to improve human rights and democracy in China.

Liu is reportedly under residential surveillance at a

location outside of his residence, in violation of China's

Criminal Procedure law. It is my understanding that he has

not been allowed to meet with his lawyer or family except for

one brief visit with his wife. Under Chinese law, a person

under residential surveillance does not need permission to

meet with his lawyer.

Dr. Wang Bingzhang was abducted by Chinese authorities in

Vietnam in June 2002 and brought to China. He was then

convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary

confinement in a trial that produced no evidence or witnesses

to prove the charges against him. Dr. Wang is an

internationally recognized pro-democracy activist and the UN

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Wang's

detention is arbitrary. Dr. Wang is a permanent resident of

the United States and his sister and daughter are U.S.

citizens. He is currently held in Beijiang Prison in

Shaoguan, Guangdong province, and suffers from phlebitis and

has had three major strokes. At minimum, he should be

released on medical parole.

Hu Jia was detained in December 2007 and sentenced to 3.5

years in prison in March 2008. The decision to take him into

custody seems to have been made after leaders in several

Chinese provinces issued a manifesto demanding broader land

rights for peasants whose property had been confiscated for

development. Hu pleaded not guilty on charges of ``inciting

subversion of state power'' at his trial.

Shi Tao is a Chinese journalist serving a ten-year prison

sentence for sending an email description of a government

order prohibiting Chinese media from recognizing the

fifteenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests to a

New York-based democracy website. Shi Tao was convicted with

email account information provided by Yahoo! China. His

lawyer, Guo Guoting, was repeatedly harassed in an effort to

prevent him from representing Shi Tao.

Chen Guangcheng, a self-trained legal advocate who tried in

June 2005 to investigate reports that officials in Linyi

city, Shandong province, had subjected thousands of people to

forced abortions, beatings, and compulsory sterilization in

order to meet population control targets. Although central

government officials agreed that the officials used illegal

means, authorities rejected the class-action lawsuit Chen

tried to file. Chen was tried on August 24, 2006, and

sentenced to four years and three months for ``intentional

destruction of property'' and ``gathering people to disturb

traffic order.'' Chen, who is blind, has reportedly been

severely beaten in jail and has gone on a hunger strike to

protest the beatings. He is serving his sentence in Linyi

Prison.

Gao Zhisheng, founder of a Beijing law firm, has

represented numerous activists, religious leaders, and

writers. On October 18, 2005, Gao wrote an open letter to Hu

Jintao and Wen Jiabao, exposing widespread torture against

Falun Gong practitioners. On November 4, officials shut down

his law firm and began a campaign of harassment against Gao,

his family, and associates. Authorities abducted Gao on

August 15, 2006 and convicted him on December 22 of

``inciting subversion of state power'' and subject to a

three-year sentence, suspended for five years. After Gao sent

an open letter to the U.S. Congress in September 2007, he was

taken away by the police for over 50 days, and tortured. Gao

disappeared again on January 19, 2009. His current

whereabouts are unknown.

Yan Zhengxue, a 63-year old writer and painter, was

detained on October 18, 2006, during a police raid on his

home in the Jiaojiang district of Taizhou city, Zhejiang

province. The Taizhou People's Intermediate Court convicted

him on April 13, 2007, of inciting subversion and sentenced

him to three years in prison after he attended a conference

in the U.S. several years earlier and published on the

Internet three articles critical of the Chinese government.

Yang's cell mate reportedly attacked him, causing head

injuries. Yang's family is concerned about his diminishing

physical and mental health due to harsh treatment in prison.

Pastor Zhang Rongliang is a Christian leader who was

detained in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, in December 2004

and sentenced in June 2006 to seven years and six months in

prison. Authorities charged him with ``fraudulently obtaining

border-exit documents'' and illegally crossing the border in

an effort to attend missions conferences. He had been beaten,

detained, and harassed a number of times since his conversion

to Christianity in 1969. He is reportedly in poor health and

suffering from diabetes.

Bangri Chogtrul Rinpoche, a lama who lived as a

householder, was convicted of inciting splittism and

sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2000. He and his

wife managed a children's home in Lhasa. The Lhasa

Intermediate People's Court commuted his sentence from life

imprisonment to a fixed term of 19 years in July 2003, and

then reduced his sentence by an additional year in November

2005. He is serving his sentence, which will be complete on

July 30, 2021, in Qushui Prison near Lhasa. He suffers from

heart disease and gall stones.

Ronggyal Adrag, a nomad, climbed onto a stage at a horse-

racing festival in Litang county, Sichuan province, on August

1, 2007, and shouted slogans calling for the Dalai Lama's

return to Tibet, the release of Gedun Choekyi Nyima (the

Panchen Lama identified by the Dalai Lama), freedom of

religion, and Tibetan independence. The Ganzi Intermediate

People's Court sentenced him on November 20, 2007, to eight

year's imprisonment for inciting splittism.

I thank the gentleman. I also want to thank the chairman and the ranking member and the Speaker for their efforts to bring this important resolution to the floor.

Twenty years after peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators gathered in Tiananmen Square and were brutally crushed, the human rights situation in China remains bleak. Not only does the government consistently silence dissent, repress religious believers and stifle opposition, but it is in the business

of actively rewriting history, almost like the communist government did in Russia.

Today's Washington Post features an op-ed, which I'd like to submit for the Record, which opens with an exchange that the author, Dan Southerland, had with a Chinese student a couple of years ago. Southerland, chief of the Washington Post's Beijing Bureau in the late Eighties, references his time as a reporter in Beijing on the now infamous June 4, 1989.

He writes, ``but it soon became clear that June 4 meant nothing to her,'' a student. ``Chinese censors have managed to erase all mention of that tragedy from the country's textbooks and state-run media.''

The human rights situation in China is made worse by America's diminished commitment to raise these issues and be a voice for the voiceless. I'm saddened to say today that this has been true of successive administrations of both political parties.

In her first trip to the region, Secretary of State Clinton failed to make even a cursory public mention of human rights, saying that, ``those issues can't interfere with economic, security or environmental matters.''

Now, why would the Secretary of State say that? A Washington Post editorial following her trip and similarly dismissive comments on human rights in Egypt said that Secretary Clinton is, quote the Washington Post, and I thank them for this editorial, ``sending a message to rulers around the world that their abuses won't be taken seriously by this U.S. administration.''

Nor were they taken seriously in the waning days of the last administration. Congressman Smith and I traveled to Beijing last July, just 1 month prior to the commencement of the 2008 Olympics. We brought with us a list of over 700 political prisoners to present to Ambassador Li, the current chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the National People's Congress, and pressed for the release of all political prisoners in China.

One night during our trip we were scheduled to meet with several human rights lawyers for dinner. All but one person scheduled to meet us was detained or otherwise prevented from attending by the Chinese security forces. The one activist with whom we were able to meet was arrested later that evening, and he and his family continue to face harassment by security forces. Very little was done by the Embassy or the State Department in the last administration when that took place. Silence was their response, basically, to this problem.

Now we see just this week, news reports indicate that Treasury Secretary Geithner desperately sought to assure China, our biggest creditor, that their billions of dollars in U.S. government debt were not a liability.

Why didn't Geithner at least raise the issue of human rights? Couldn't he have just said something about it? Couldn't he have made a statement about it? Couldn't he have done something about it? And the answer? He did nothing about it. Perhaps if he's caught up or wherever he is in Beijing today he will correct the record and at least say something.

Our own economic reality has effectively silenced our voice, a tragic loss for all those political dissidents who languish in the Chinese laogai, those house church Christians who worship secretly in their homes, the Tibetans--and I've been to Tibet. They have plundered Tibet. The Uyghurs who are being persecuted, the Muslims who are being persecuted by the Chinese Government.

And the Catholic Church. There are 34 bishops in jail today in the Catholic Church, and yet no one speaks out on behalf of the Catholic Church.

And lastly, the Falun Gong who have suffered so much.

Since my first trip to China in 1991 with my good friend, Congressman Smith, the human rights situation has gotten worse, despite promises to the contrary during the debate to grant China most favored nation status. One of the worst votes that this institution has ever cast was to give this evil empire, if you will, in China the most favored nation trading status.

It was during this trip that we visited Beijing Prison Number One. Chinese authorities informed us that approximately 40 Tiananmen Square protesters were in prison. Our requests to visit the demonstrators were denied. But instead, we found some demonstrators making socks for export to the United States whereby they were working on free and cheap labor to sell things to the United States.

Unbelievably, 20 years after Tiananmen, our own State Department Human Rights Report indicates that the Chinese Government still has not provided a comprehensible, credible accounting of all those killed, missing or detained in connection with the violent suppression of the 1989 demonstration.

But Tiananmen is not simply a commemoration of a past event. Dozens of people are still believed to be imprisoned in connection with the demonstrating at Tiananmen, and millions more Chinese citizens still hope for the end to their oppression.

In a Constitution Day speech, President Ronald Reagan described the United States Constitution as ``a covenant we have made, not only with ourselves, but with all of mankind.''

In closing, Madam Speaker, we have an obligation to keep the covenant. And I continue to pray, as many people prayed during the days of the evil empire in the Soviet Union, pray for the fall, the collapse of the Chinese, of the Russian Government, and the collapse of the Wall, many and millions are praying here in the United States and around the West for the fall, the fall of the Chinese Government, whereby there will be freedom, the government will be changed and the people of China, the good people of China, and they are good people.

The good people of China will be able to live in freedom, and there can be a rally in Tiananmen Square, a prayer meeting in Tiananmen Square, where millions can come from every denomination and worship in peace and have freedom and justice and democracy.

So we must remember, remember those who suffer. They are the heroes for China. And we will see this government change and we will see, in my lifetime, freedom in China.

[From the Washington Post, June 2, 2009]

Tiananmen: Days To Remember

(By Dan Southerland)

Two years ago I met a Chinese student who was entering

graduate school in the United States. I told her I had been

in Beijing during ``6-4,'' the Chinese shorthand for the

massacre of June 4, 1989.

``What are you talking about?'' she asked.

At first I thought she might not have understood my

Chinese, but it soon became clear that ``June 4'' meant

nothing to her. I probably shouldn't have been surprised.

In the 20 years since that day in 1989 when Chinese troops

opened fire on unarmed civilians near Tiananmen Square,

Chinese censors have managed to erase all mention of that

tragedy from the country's textbooks and state-run media.

But for me, Tiananmen is impossible to forget. As Beijing

bureau chief for The Post, I covered the student

demonstrations that began in mid-April, tried to track a

murky power struggle among top Chinese leaders and managed a

small team of young, Chinese-speaking American reporters.

What I remember best was the sudden openness of many

Beijing citizens of all professions. They were inspired by

throngs of students calling for political reform, media

freedom and an end to ``official profiteering.''

People I believed to be Communist Party supporters were

suddenly telling me what they really thought. Some who had

been silent in the past even debated politics on street

corners.

In early May, Chinese journalists petitioned for the right

to report openly on the Tiananmen protests, which on May 17

swelled to more than a million people marching in the

capital. Journalists from all the leading Chinese newspapers,

including the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist

Party, joined in. Their slogan was ``Don't force us to lie.''

For a brief period, Chinese journalists were allowed to

report objectively on the student protests. But this press

freedom was short-lived and ended May 20 with the imposition

of martial law and the entry of the People's Liberation Army

into Beijing.

At first, Beijing residents manning makeshift barriers

blocked the troops. But late on the evening of June 3, tanks,

armored personnel carriers and soldiers firing automatic

weapons broke through to the square.

The death toll quickly became a taboo subject for Chinese

media.

Chinese doctors and nurses who had openly sided with

students on the square, and who had allowed reporters into

operating rooms to view the wounded, came under pressure to

conceal casualty figures.

One brave doctor at a hospital not far from Tiananmen

Square led me and a colleague to a makeshift morgue, where we

saw some 20 bullet-riddled bodies laid out on a cement floor.

I later learned that the doctor was ``disciplined'' for

allowing us to view that scene.

A Chinese journalist I considered a friend tried to

convince me that government estimates of fewer than 300

killed were correct and that these included a large number of

military and police casualties. I later learned from

colleagues of his that this journalist was working for state

security.

After comparing notes with others, my guess was that the

actual death toll was at least 700, and that most of those

killed were ordinary Beijing residents.

It's almost incredible that the Chinese government has

succeeded for so long in covering up a tragedy of this

magnitude.

But for those who closely monitor the continued repression

of civil liberties in China--and the government's

stranglehold on news deemed ``sensitive''--it's not

surprising.

Chinese authorities continue to intimidate reporters, block

Web sites and jam broadcasts of outside news organizations.

China is the world's leading jailer of journalists and cyber-

dissidents.

Chinese youths are among the most Web-savvy in the world.

But Chinese search engines, chat and blog applications, as

well as Internet service providers, are equipped with filters

that block out certain keywords incorporated in a blacklist

that is continually updated.

China's censorship is multipronged, sometimes heavy-handed

and sometimes sophisticated, allowing debate on some issues

and shutting it down on others, such as Tiananmen.

Censors hold online service providers and Internet cafe

owners responsible for the content that users read and post.

A small blogging service will usually err on the side of

caution rather than lose its license because of a debate

about June 4.

Lines that cannot be crossed shift from time to time,

leaving citizens uncertain and therefore prone to self-

censorship.

The good news is that the blackout isn't complete. We know

from Radio Free Asia's call-in shows that some younger

Chinese know just enough about Tiananmen to want to learn

more.

I work with several Chinese broadcasters who were students

in Beijing on June 4. Many of them saw more than I did. And

they are here to remind me--and many Chinese--of a history we

should never forget.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank, Mr. Levin for introducing this important resolution commemorating the 20th anniversary of the brutal suppression of innocent men, women and children in China.

Twenty years ago, in May 1989, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China to express their desire for peaceful democratic reform. In the face of these massive demonstrations the Chinese Communist Party hesitated. There were apparently some decent men and women in the party's leadership, who had begun to understand what a tragedy Communist rule has been for the Chinese people, countless millions of whose lives had been destroyed by its famines and cultural revolutions and totalitarian social controls.

But we know what happened. Jiang Zemin [JANG ZUH-MEEN] pushed the reformers

aside, cleared Tiananmen Square with tanks, and shot to death thousands of peaceful demonstrators.

In December of 1996 here in Washington, at the invitation of President Bill Clinton, General Chi Haotian, the Defense Minister of the People's Republic of China, the general who was the operational commander of the soldiers who slaughtered pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square in June of 1989, said, ``Not a single person lost his life in Tiananmen Square.''

According to General Chi, the Chinese Army did nothing more violent than, and I quote him, ``pushing of people.''

General Chi not only met with Mr. Clinton in the White House but was accorded full military honors, including a 19-gun salute and visits to military bases. Rather than getting the red carpet, General Chi should have been held to account for his crimes against humanity.

To counter the big lie, I quickly put together and chaired a hearing of eyewitnesses to the Tiananmen Square massacre, including several Chinese, a former editor of the People's Daily, and Time Magazine's Beijing bureau chief.

I also invited General Chi or anyone else to testify before our committee from the government of China. They were no-shows, although I left a chair for them.

One of our witnesses, a man by the name of Xuecan Wu, the former editor of the People's Daily, was singled out by Li Peng for punishment and got 4 years in prison for trying to tell the truth to his readers in Beijing.

Mr. Wu called General Chi's lie about no one being killed ``shameless'' and told my subcommittee that he personally saw at least, and I quote him here, ``at least 30 carts carrying dead and wounded people.''

Eyewitness Jian-Ki Yang, Vice President of the Alliance for a Democratic China, testified, and I quote, ``I saw trucks of soldiers who got out and started firing automatic weapons at the people. Each time they fired the weapons, three or four people were hit, and each time the crowd went down to the ground. We were there for about an hour and a half. I saw 13 people killed. We saw four tanks coming from the square, and they were going very fast at a very high speed. The two tanks in front were chasing students.''

He went on to say, ``They ran over the students. Everyone was screaming. We counted 11 bodies.''

Time Magazine's David Aikman, another eyewitness said, and I quote, ``Children were killed holding hands with their mothers. A 9-year-old boy was shot seven or eight times in the back, and his parents placed the corpse on a truck and drove through the streets of northwest Beijing on Sunday morning. `This is what the government has done,' the distraught mother kept telling crowds of passersby through a makeshift speaker system.''

Madam Speaker, 20 years after Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government perpetuates General Chi's Orwellian fabrication that no one died. In truth, thousands died and approximately 7,000 were wounded.

Twenty years after Tiananmen Square, an untold number of democracy activists remain incarcerated for peacefully advocating human rights. To be jailed by the Chinese, as we all know, means torture, humiliation, and severe deprivations. The ugly spirit of the Tiananmen Square Massacre continues. The brave and noble human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng has been subjected to excruciating torture that continues today. We must raise our voice on his behalf--and for others like him.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she wouldn't let China's shameless human rights record ``interfere'' with other issues including and especially China's purchase of U.S. treasury securities to finance America's debt. Wittingly or not, that kind of attitude enables abuse and torture.

In the early 1990s, Congressman Frank Wolf and I visited Beijing Prison Number 1, a bleak gulag where 40 Tiananmen Square prisoners were being unjustly detained. We saw firsthand the price paid by brave and tenacious individuals for peacefully petitioning their government for freedom. And it was not pretty. They looked like the walking skeletons of Auschwitz.

Despite the hopes and expectations of some that robust trade with China would usher in at least a modicum of respect for human rights and fundamental liberties, the simple fact of the matter is that the dictatorship in China oppresses, tortures and mistreats millions of its own citizens.

Moreover, China is the land of the one-child-per-couple policy, a barbaric policy that makes brothers and sisters illegal. Forced abortion, force sterilization and ruinous fines are routinely deployed to ensure compliance with this Draconian and utterly cruel family planning policy.

The criminal slaughter of Tiananmen has had terrible and lasting consequences for the Chinese people, and for the world. China had reached a turning point, and failed to turn. Twenty years later, it still has not turned.

The Chinese people still live under a one-party government that ruthlessly represses dissenters and democratic activists, that controls all news media and blocks and censors the Internet. The Communist party still enforces a one-child policy that makes brothers and sisters illegal, and regularly conducts campaigns of forced abortion. It still persecutes religious believers, and it has stepped up its campaign of cultural genocide in Xinjiang [SHIN JANG] and Tibet.

The men and women who rule China today are the proteges of the criminals of Tiananmen, and, in order to claim legitimacy, do everything they can to suppress the facts about Tiananmen. Last summer Frank Wolf and I walked across Tiananmen Square--officials searched us before we entered the square, and squads of police surrounded us while we were on it, terrified we might hold up a simple sign or banner. Later, we tried to look up ``Tiananmen Square'' on the tightly- controlled Chinese Internet. Of course, mere mention of the slaughter has been removed from the Chinese Internet. As noted in the resolution before us, the Chinese authorities censor any effort to inform the public about what occurred in June 1989.

I also want to say that our government has not done enough to support the Chinese people. And our failure has been a defining event for our own foreign policy, also with terrible consequences for the world.

The Chinese Communist Party, and dictators around the world, drew the conclusion that America's talk of human rights was just hot air, that the only interests that really matter to us are financial.

Our government has a duty to speak up more on human rights in China. Unfortunately, they have been doing the opposite. President Obama has not shown much interest in human rights. In our policies towards Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and Russia, to name a few countries, human rights has been dramatically downgraded, and everyone understands this.

And Secretary Clinton has effectively taken human rights off the U.S. agenda with the Chinese Government, telling the global media that concern for the protection of human rights of the Chinese people can't be allowed to ``interfere'' with the economic crisis, climate change, and security--as if human rights were disconnected and irrelevant to those issues.

And so, Madam Speaker, it is all the more important that the House of Representatives pass this resolution, and by doing so:

express sympathy to the families of those who suffered so terribly as a result of the Chinese Government's actions 20 years ago, and our solidarity with those who continue to suffer human rights abuses at the hands of Chinese Government officials;

call for a full and independent investigation into what occurred during the Tiananmen Square suppression;

call on the Chinese Government to release all those, including those who participated in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, who are wrongfully imprisoned in violation of their human rights; and

call on the Administration to take aggressive action in support of China's human rights defenders.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman), the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, for his leadership on this issue and for his advocacy of human rights.

And I also want to thank my good friend, Congressman Sander Levin, for introducing this resolution.

I want to thank Congressmen Frank Wolf and Chris Smith for their dedication to promoting human rights in China.

And I especially want to thank the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for insisting that we keep alive the memory of Tiananmen Square.

Madam Speaker, 1989 was a tumultuous year. It was the year Solidarity won the elections in Poland, the year the people of Germany tore down the Berlin Wall, and the year six Jesuit priests were murdered by the Salvadoran military.

And in May and June of 1989, it was the year when the people of China spontaneously came together calling for political and economic reforms. Students, journalists, workers, government employees, police, and even members of the Armed Forces, nonviolently raised their voices and asked their government, the Chinese Government, to listen to the people and engage in direct dialogue on how to reform the nation.

Because the largest gathering was in the largest main square of China, Tiananmen Square in Beijing, this moment in history is known as Tiananmen Square.

After an internal struggle, the Chinese authorities decided they did not want to talk directly with their people. Instead, they chose to respond with brute force that forever links the words ``Tiananmen Square'' with the brutal quelling of democracy, dissent and human aspiration.

Earlier today the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing entitled, ``20 years After the Crackdown: Tiananmen Square and Human Rights in China.'' And I would like to briefly describe just two of the individuals who testified before the Commission.

Mr. Fang Zheng was leaving Tiananmen Square in the early morning of June 4, 1989, along with other student protesters in an orderly retreat. He suddenly realized that a military tank was approaching them from behind. Sensing the imminent danger, he used all his strength to push a female student out of the tank's path. In doing so, both his legs were crushed by the tank's rolling treads.

Fang Zheng has continued to live in China. He has refused to cooperate with the government in its effort to cover up the truth of his lost legs and the massacre that took place. For the past 20 years he's been harassed and closely monitored by the police.

Always an excellent athlete, he excelled at sports, even after his legs were amputated. He won two gold medals and broke two Chinese national records at the 1992 All-China Disabled Athletic Games. And in 1994 he was forbidden to participate in the Far East and South Pacific Region Games, and last year he was banned from competing in the 2008 Special Olympics held in Beijing.

With the help of the mothers of Tiananmen Square and other brave Chinese who keep alive the memory of Tiananmen Square inside China, Fang Zheng is here in Washington to remember the 20th anniversary.

And even before Tiananmen, another brave man, Mr. Wang Youcai, was active in the Chinese democracy movement. In 1989 he was the Secretary- General of the Beijing Higher Education Students Autonomous Union in the Tiananmen Square protest. A graduate student at Peking University, he was arrested in 1989 and sentenced in 1991 to 4 years in prison for counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement. He was paroled in 1991, following a visit by then-Secretary of State, James Baker.

In 1998, Wang and a group of fellow Chinese citizens tried to officially register the China Democracy Party, but it was banned by the Chinese Government. And in December of 1998, Wang was sentenced to 11 years in prison for subversion. He was released in 2004, due to U.S. and international pressure, and sent into exile.

He has since lived in the United States, studying at Harvard and the University of Illinois, and he continues to be a member of the Chinese Democracy Party and firmly believes that the transition to constitutional democracy will occur in China.

These are just two of the millions of stories surrounding the events known as Tiananmen Square. And I would like to take a moment to remember the hundreds, perhaps thousands who were murdered in Tiananmen Square or later imprisoned or sent into exile. And I want to remember the families and friends and the colleagues of those who died and those who survived.

Madam Speaker, I will enter into the Record articles by Dr. Jianli Yang and Mr. Ha Jin, both of whom live in Massachusetts, and have recently published reflections on Tiananmen Square. Dr. Jianli was a student in Tiananmen, and Mr. Ha, a member of the People's Liberation Army and a student in the United States.

This week there will be a number of events on Capitol Hill and around Washington to remember Tiananmen Square. I encourage my House colleagues, congressional staff and House employees to take advantage of this opportunity and hear from firsthand eyewitnesses like U.S. journalists.

They will be able to hear from firsthand eyewitnesses like U.S. journalists speaking at the Newseum on reporting live from Tiananmen Square, watching the documentary ``Tank Man'' in the Congressional Visitor Center, celebrating around a replica of the Goddess of Democracy Statue on the west lawn of the Capitol, or attending other hearings and events.

The Chinese Government wants not only the Chinese people but the world to forget Tiananmen Square. It is up to each of us to keep the memory alive.

[From the New York Times, May 31, 2009]

Exiled to English

(By Ha Jin)

Boston.--I was in the People's Liberation Army in the

1970s, and we soldiers had always been instructed that our

principal task was to serve and protect the people. So when

the Chinese military turned on the students in Tiananmen

Square, it shocked me so much that for weeks I was in a daze.

At the time, I was in the United States, finishing a

dissertation in American literature. My plan was to go back

to China once it was done. I had a teaching job waiting for

me at Shandong University.

After the crackdown, some friends assured me that the

Communist Party would admit its mistake within a year. I

couldn't see why they were so optimistic. I also thought it

would be foolish to wait passively for historical change. I

had to find my own existence, separate from the state power

in China.

That was when I started to think about staying in America

and writing exclusively in English, even if China was my only

subject, even if Chinese was my native tongue. It took me

almost a year to decide to follow the road of Conrad and

Nabokov and write in a language that was not my own. I knew I

might fail. I was also aware that I was forgoing an

opportunity: the Chinese language had been so polluted by

revolutionary movements and political jargon that there was

great room for improvement.

Yet if I wrote in Chinese, my audience would be in China

and I would therefore have to publish there and be at the

mercy of its censorship. To preserve the integrity of my

work, I had no choice but to write in English.

To some Chinese, my choice of English is a kind of

betrayal. But loyalty is a two-way street. I feel I have been

betrayed by China, which has suppressed its people and made

artistic freedom unavailable. I have tried to write honestly

about China and preserve its real history. As a result, most

of my work cannot be published in China.

I cannot leave behind June 4, 1989, the day that set me on

this solitary path. The memory of the bloodshed still

rankles, and working in this language has been a struggle.

But I remind myself that both Conrad and Nabokov suffered

intensely for choosing English--and that literature can

transcend language. If my work is good and significant, it

should be valuable to the Chinese.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in very strong support of this resolution ``recognizing the 20th anniversary of the suppression of protesters and citizens in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, People's Republic of China, on June 3 and 4, 1989.'' The words ``Tiananmen'' mean ``Gate of Heavenly Peace.'' Sadly, however, the events of that dark night 20 years ago were anything but heavenly or peaceful.

It was during that dark night that the hopes of a generation for a new and democratic China were cruelly smashed along with the papier- mache and wire statue of the Goddess of Democracy, built with youthful idealism by art students in Tiananmen Square. It was during that dark night that a single, brave figure in the picture seen around the world stood in silent defiance of army tanks as they rolled toward the square.

It was during that dark night that the people of China watched in horror as their own so-called ``People's Army'' turned assault weapons and bayonets on their own people, who reportedly ranged in age from 9 years old to 61 years old, all of whom were participating in a peaceful demonstration.

It was during that dark night that the blood of student martyrs stained a square where a previous generation of students had petitioned the rulers of China for democracy during the May 4 movement in 1919.

It was during that dark night that the pain began for the Tiananmen Mothers who, through two decades of harassment and intimidation, have displayed the courage to keep their dead children's hopes alive and their dreams alive of liberty.

It would be easy to forget that night of the long knives. It would be easy to look at the glittering business towers rising above an increasingly prosperous China and say that is in the past and

that it is over. That would be the easy thing to do, Madam Speaker. But that would not be the right thing to do.

A rising China is increasingly taking its place on the international stage. But it is a rising China that has no moral compass. That compass was lost in that dark night in Tiananmen Square when they murdered their own people, mostly students.

Now, two decades later, a time for truth and a time for truth telling is overdue. That is why this resolution calls on the Chinese authorities to invite full and independent investigations into the Tiananmen Square crackdown, assisted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A famous saying goes that ``Those who forget their past are destined to repeat it.'' Neither China nor the world could stand a repeat of that horrific tragedy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

It is time to honor the dead, express profound sympathy to the surviving family members, and to seek a full and honest accounting of the shocking events that occurred two decades ago this week before that gate which is meant to symbolize heavenly peace.

I urge my colleagues to strongly support this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Wolf), the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, and also, he's the co- chair of the Tom Lantos Congressional Human Rights Commission.

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, in 1992, I had the opportunity to go to Tiananmen Square. I was there by myself, but the square was packed. Once again, it was packed with a lot of people, with a lot of students. I was well- received by those students. They wanted to talk to me. They were very friendly, and they were friendly to me for the sole reason that I was an American. Otherwise, they did not know me at all.

While talking to some of the students who weren't afraid to talk to me because of the authorities that were nearby, one of them whispered to me in perfect English that we want what you have in America. Of course, he was speaking of that word ``liberty.'' Down in the soul of every person on Earth, I believe, is that spirit that the good Lord gives us for freedom. I think we are made that way. We are made that way in this country, but we are made that way throughout the world, and those students in China are made that way as well for they seek and hope to obtain the word ``liberty.''

The rulers in China need to release the Tiananmen Square students. China should show the world that they are no longer going to continue to murder their own people who peaceably disagree with the government.

In Beijing, not only is there Tiananmen Square, but also nearby is the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City got its name because it was a walled fortress where the emperors for thousands of years would live and rule the massive country of China, but they forbade the people to come into the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City still exists in a mentality way in China for the City of Beijing still forbids its own people the freedom to speak as they wish, the freedom to assemble, and it forbids the freedom of the people to disagree with their government in a peaceful way.

In the name of liberty and in the name of freedom in which we believe, we have an obligation here in the United States to speak out against the acts of terror that the Chinese Government imposes on their own people. We need to remember the dark nights of June 1989. We need to light a candle to bring openness and transparency to the acts that the Chinese Government committed on its own students.

And that's just the way it is.

I yield back.