The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SENATE RESOLUTION 244--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF PRO-DEMOCRACY DEMONSTRATORS ON TIANAN-MEN SQUARE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S5701 on June 5, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SENATE RESOLUTION 244--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE NINTH
ANNIVERSARY OF PRO-DEMOCRACY DEMONSTRATORS ON TIANAN-MEN SQUARE
Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. Lott, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Abraham) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
S. Res. 244
Whereas in the spring of 1989, thousands of students demonstrated in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in favor of greater democracy, civil liberties, and freedom of expression in the People's Republic of China (PRC);
Whereas these students' protests against political repression in their homeland were conducted peacefully and posed no threat to their fellow Chinese citizens;
Whereas on the evening of June 4, 1989, these students were brutally attacked by infantry and armored vehicles of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) acting under orders from the highest political and military leadership of the PRC;
Whereas hundreds of these students were killed by the PLA in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 for offenses no more serious than that of seeking peacefully to assert their most basic human, civil, and political rights;
Whereas many of the leaders of the student demonstrations thus attacked were subsequently imprisoned, sought out for arrest, or otherwise persecuted by the Government of the PRC;
Whereas during or shortly after the brutal assault of June 4, 1989, at least 2,500 persons were arrested for so-called
``counter-revolutionary offenses'' across China and dozens of persons were executed;
Whereas the Chinese government has never expressed grief for its actions on June 4, 1989, still imprisons at least 150 persons in connection with the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and has continued to deny its citizens basic internationally-recognized human, civil, and political rights;
Whereas the Government of the PRC, as detailed in successive annual reports on human rights by the United States Department of State, still routinely and systematically violates the rights of its citizens, including their rights to freedom of speech, assembly, worship, and peaceful dissent; and
Whereas the Tiananmen Square Massacre has become indelibly etched into the political consciousness of our times as a symbol both of the impossibility of forever denying a determined people the right to control their own destiny and of the oppressiveness and brutality of governments that seek to do so: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That, in the interest of expressing support for the observance of human, civil, and political rights in China and around the world, it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the United States Government should remain committed to honoring the memory and spirit of the brave citizens of China who suffered and died in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 for attempting to assert their internationally-recognized rights; and
(2) supporting the peaceful transition to democratic governance and the observance of internationally-recognized human, civil, and political rights and the rule of law in China should be a principal goal of United States foreign policy.
Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the President.
____________________
