Source: United States Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen
June 06, 2023
Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the Chair and Ranking Member of the East Asia, The Pacific, & International Cybersecurity Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with U.S. Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), introduced a resolution to recognize the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square Massacre, during which thousands of peaceful protesters were injured and killed at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. The resolution also condemns the Chinese government’s ongoing and increasing repression of human rights and civic freedoms in mainland China as well as in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
“As the Government of China censors its own history and continues to smother dissent, the world must keep alive the memory of those brave souls at Tiananmen Square who boldly aspired to more freedom and self-determination in China. We must honor their sacrifice and all those who struggle for justice by ensuring America remains a strong force for human rights and democracy around the world,” said Chair Van Hollen.
“Thirty-four years after the massacre in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses continue today,” said Ranking Member Romney. “The CCP commits genocide against the Uyghur people; crushes promised freedoms in Hong Kong; censors print, broadcast, and social media; and imprisons and executes dissidents. With this resolution, we remember the brave victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and condemn the CCP’s continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights and basic freedoms in China and Hong Kong.”
The full text of the resolution can be found at this link and below.
RESOLUTION
Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and condemning the continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights and basic freedoms within the People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Communist Party, and for other purposes.
Whereas, on April 15, 1989, peaceful demonstrators gathered in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing to mourn the death of former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Hu Yaobang, who was compelled to resign in 1987 for supporting political reforms within the CCP;
Whereas, throughout April and May 1989, peaceful demonstrations continued in Tiananmen Square and in an estimated 400 cities across the People’s Republic of China;
Whereas, by May 17, 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 Chinese citizens from all walks of life, including students, government employees, journalists, workers, police officers, and members of the armed forces, gathered peacefully in Tiananmen Square to call for democratic reforms;
Whereas the peaceful demonstrators of 1989 called upon the Government of the People’s Republic of China to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and political reform, and protect human rights, particularly the freedoms of expression and assembly;
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, the Government of the People’s Republic of China declared martial law;
Whereas, during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989, the People’s Republic of China leadership sent armed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops and tanks into Beijing and surrounding areas;
Whereas, on the night of June 3, and continuing into the morning of June 4, 1989, PLA soldiers, at the direction of CCP leadership, fired indiscriminately into crowds of peaceful protesters, killing and injuring thousands of demonstrators and other unarmed civilians;
Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China continues to censor any mention of the crackdown centered on Tiananmen Square, prevents the victims from being publicly mourned and remembered, and harasses, detains, and arrests those who call for a full, public, and independent accounting of the wounded, dead, and those imprisoned for participating in the spring 1989 demonstrations;
Whereas the sovereignty of Hong Kong transferred from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 under the terms of 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 (hereafter the ‘‘Joint Declaration’’), which guaranteed the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will ‘‘enjoy a high degree of autonomy,’’ and committed the PRC to keep the ‘‘social and economic systems in Hong Kong’’ unchanged through 2047;
Whereas the Joint Declaration states that ‘‘Rights and freedoms, including those of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of travel, of movement, of correspondence, of strike, of choice of occupation, of academic research and of religious belief will be ensured by law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’’ and that those rights are reiterated in Chapter III of the Basic Law of the HKSAR of the People’s Republic of China;
Whereas the people of Hong Kong have held an annual Tiananmen Square vigil since 1990, and has been the only such mass gathering on Chinese territory because commemorations are banned in mainland China;
Whereas, on June 4, 2020, thousands of people in Hong Kong defied a ban by the Hong Kong Police Force and gathered at the city’s annual June 4 vigil to memorialize the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre;
Whereas, on June 30, 2020, China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee flagrantly undermined the high degree of autonomy promised to Hong Kong in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law by passing and imposing upon Hong Kong the oppressive and intentionally vague Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the HKSAR (‘‘national security law’’);
Whereas the central Government of the People’s Republic of China and the HKSAR Government have since used the national security law to suppress democratic voices in Hong Kong, including by barring candidates from standing for election and by arresting prodemocracy activists and opposition leaders;
Whereas, on March 11, 2021, China’s National People’s Congress adopted the ‘‘Decision of the National People’s Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’’, thereby further restricting Hong Kong’s electoral freedom and democratic
representation;
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Police Force officially banned the June 4 vigil for the second consecutive year, citing a ban on large gatherings in light of the coronavirus pandemic;
Whereas this ban has continued through 2022 and through 2023, despite the pandemic restrictions being largely removed in Hong Kong;
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed legislation amending local election laws to bring them in line with the China’s National People’s Congress March 11 ‘‘Decision of the National People’s Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’’;
Whereas, on March 4, 2023, the HKSAR West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court convicted three standing committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China—Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, and Tsui Hon-kwong—under the National Security Law, and the Alliance was an organizer of the annual Tiananmen vigil;
Whereas June 4, 2023, marks the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre;
Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang; and
Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China continues to violate the human rights of prodemocracy activists, members of ethnic groups, including individuals in the Tibetan regions, religious believers, human rights lawyers, citizen journalists, and labor union leaders, among many others seeking to express their political or religious views or ethnic identity in a peaceful manner:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate—
1. expresses its deepest respect for and solidarity with the families and friends of those killed, tortured, and imprisoned for participating in the prodemocracy demonstrations during the spring of 1989, and with those who have continued to suffer for their fight to publicly mourn the Tiananmen Square massacre victims;
2. reaffirms its support for those who continue to work for political reform, rule of law, and protections for human rights in China;
3. condemns the Government of the People’s Republic of China for its continued human rights abuses, including suppressing peaceful political dissent and ethnic and religious minorities;
4. calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to—
- cease censoring information and discussion about the Tiananmen Square massacre;
- invite and cooperate with a full and independent investigation into the Tiananmen Square massacre by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights;
- uphold its international legal obligations to Hong Kong under 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 (‘‘Joint Declaration’’) and cease undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy; and
- allow those participants in the Tiananmen demonstrations who fled overseas or reside outside of China after being ‘‘blacklisted’’ for their peaceful protest activity to return to China without risk of retribution;
5. calls on the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the relevant authorities in the Government of the People’s Republic of China to—
- respect and uphold the personal rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and the independence of Hong Kong’s legal system;
- restore independent democratic representation to the people of Hong Kong in line with the ‘‘One Country, Two Systems’’ arrangement set forth in the Joint Declaration and its implementing document, the Basic Law; and
- allow those living in exile for engaging in prodemocracy activities to return to Hong Kong without fear of detention or other repercussions;
6. calls on the United States Government and members of Congress to mark the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, including through meetings with participants of the Tiananmen Square protests who live outside of China and the families and friends of the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre based outside China; and
7. supports ongoing peaceful movements for human rights in China and of the people in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang.