[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 462 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 462
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 1, 2023
Mr. Bera (for himself, Mrs. Kim of California, Mr. Carson, Ms. Titus,
Ms. Norton, Mr. Waltz, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Kim of
New Jersey, Mr. Keating, Mrs. Wagner, and Mr. Connolly) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
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 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 (PRC) 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 PRC declared martial law;
Whereas, during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989, the
CCP 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 PRC 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
PRC 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 PRC;
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 PRC on
Safeguarding National Security in the HKSAR (``national security law'');
Whereas the central Government of the PRC 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 likely 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 PRC has committed genocide and crimes against
humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and
religious minority groups in Xinjiang; and
Whereas the Government of the PRC continues to violate the human rights of
prodemocracy activists, members of ethnic minorities, 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 House of Representatives--
(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 (PRC) for its continued human rights abuses, including
suppressing peaceful political dissent and ethnic and religious
minorities;
(4) calls on the Government of the PRC to--
(A) cease censoring information and discussion
about the Tiananmen Square massacre;
(B) invite and cooperate with a full and
independent investigation into the Tiananmen Square
massacre by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights;
(C) 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
(D) 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 PRC to--
(A) respect and uphold the personal rights and
freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and the
independence of Hong Kong's legal system;
(B) 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
(C) 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.
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