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“CALLING UPON THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO RELEASE U.S. CITIZEN, HARRY WU” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H6645-H6647 on June 29, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CALLING UPON THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO RELEASE U.S. CITIZEN,
HARRY WU
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on International Relations be discharged from further consideration of the resolution--House Resolution 178--calling upon the People's Republic of China to release U.S. citizen Harry Wu unconditionally and to provide for an accounting of his arrest and detention, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I do not intend to object. I simply want to commend the authors of the resolution for their excellent work in bringing this measure before the House in a timely fashion.
House Resolution 178 condemns the arbitrary detention of Mr. Harry Wu by the Chinese.
Mr. Wu is a dedicated human rights activist. He is highly respected by Members, many Members of this House. I support the resolution, and I call upon the Chinese Government to release Mr. Wu.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. HAMILTON. Further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.
Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I just want to join my colleagues and commend the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Smith], the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf] and so many others, particularly the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], for the work they have done on this issue.
I know Harry Wu. He has testified before my committee. The courage of this individual, who spent 19 years in slave labor camps in China, to go back to fight for other people's freedom and to continue to raise the issues of the Chinese Government's abuse of its own citizens is courage that it is hard for most of us to fathom.
There is a double outrage here. One is that Harry Wu, who suffered so much at the hands of the Chinese, is suffering there again today. But it does beyond that. Harry Wu Went to China as an American citizen with a valid American passport and a valid visa from the Chinese Government. This is someone who has had the courage to continue to work for his fellow man and for his fellow men and women of China who live under oppression.
This kind of action by the Chinese Government will only continue to isolate that Government. It is an outrage that we will not sit idly by. It will mobilize Members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle.
Harry Wu is a genuine hero today, and he will not be forgotten by this Congress. He must be released by the Chinese, and again I would like to commend the ranking Member, the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Smith], the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf], particularly on our side, the Gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], for the wonderful work she has done on this issue through the years.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. HAMILTON. Further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, our committee on International Relations reported out House Resolution 177, a resolution that calls upon the People's Republic of China to immediately and unconditionally release Harry Wu. Harry Wu is well-known to many Members of Congress for his testimony before a number of our committees about human rights abuses in China. Because of this, he was arrested in China on June 19.
I want to commend the chairman of the Human Rights and International Organization Subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Smith], for crafting the resolution before us and I want to thank the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Chairman, Mr. Bereuter, for coordinating his efforts with Mr. Smith to bring it so rapidly before us.
It is an outrage that an American citizen is being held by the Government of the People's Republic of China and they have denied our Government representatives access to him and have not told our representatives where he is or what charges are being contemplated against him.
That kind of action indicates that the Government is Beijing will disregard conventions and agreements whenever it suits them. A government that will sell restricted weapons technology to Iran will certainly not have a problem with breaking more mundane but no less important consular agreements.
Accordingly, I fully support this resolution and urge my colleagues to join us in voting for it.
{time} 2230
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], one of the chief sponsors of House Resolution 177.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I wanted to commend Chairman Gilman, Chairman Smith, and perhaps Harry Wu's best friend in the Congress, Frank Wolf. Harry Wu has friends on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Atlantic, and on both sides of the Pacific. He is a truly internationally recognized champion of freedom and democracy.
Who else is Harry Wu? Harry Wu, when 19 or 20 years old, criticized the Soviet invasion of Hungary. He was overheard doing that and sent as a political prisoner to a slave labor camp, where he served for 19 years. Eventually he came out and came to the United States, He is a U.S. citizen, but has not forgotten those who were left behind in these prison labor camps. He has written books describing the plight of those people, and worked tirelessly to try to expose the prison labor system in China.
Those of us who know Harry and appreciate the valuable contribution he has already made always discouraged him from going back to China, because this is what we did fear. Because of the international acclaim that he had received and the international attention that he had brought to both the slave labor issue in China and also the organ transplant issue which is associated with the slave labor camps, that the Chinese were not happy, and that he might be in danger should he go there. So we have discouraged him in recent years from returning there, and our worst fears have not been realized.
So, with that, I want to say, because I know time is of the essence and we want to get on with the evening, but to Harry Wu's wife Ching Li, we commend her for her courage. She is a source of strength and inspiration to us. She knows that Harry did what he did because he believed in freedom and democracy, and risked his life many times over the years. He did these outstanding things with the support of his friends in the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament and other places, and among those are the people who are here before us tonight, Mr. Gilman. Mr. Smith, and Mr. Wolf. It is one of the joys of my service in Congress to have worked with them on this issue and to support such an exceptional person as Harry Wu. I am grateful to all of our colleagues for allowing us this unanimous consent request this evening.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Smith], a chief sponsor of the resolution.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, the abuse of human rights by the People's Republic of China includes the thousands of people who languish in the gulag system and logai system which Harry Wu has so faithfully, as well as so courageously, exposed throughout the years, but the human rights abuses, as we all know, are legion in the People's Republic of China. Now they include again a U.S. citizen.
On June 19 of this year, just a couple of days ago, Harry Wu was arrested as he entered China. Harry Wu is well known to many of us in Washington. He is a former political prisoner. He was a prisoner in the logai system for 19 years.
Harry has tirelessly worked to expose Chinese human rights abuses. The extensive prison labor system, the backbone of China's export industry, the trafficking of body parts of prisoners for transplant and research, and he has also uncovered the numerous products manufactured in the slave labor camps which are being sold in the United States.
Knowing that each time he returned to China to investigate human rights abuses that he put himself in danger, Harry Wu continued to go back, remembering those millions who like he suffered, or like his brother, who died at the hands of the Chinese Government and military.
Mr. Chairman, on April 3 we had the privilege in the International Operations and Human Rights Committee to hear testimony from six survivors of the logai system. They gave extensive testimony, a Buddhist monk, a priest, and others who had been held by the Chinese, and, of course, I think the most riveting testimony was given by Harry Wu.
When talking about this, he said, ``I really want to forget the nightmares of that past period, buy, you know, some things simply will not go away. So, like a bad dream, they refuse to disappear.''
But he also said, ``I am a survivor. I think I have a responsibility to those inmates who are still there. Finally, I have got a chance to tell the truth to the world.''
Today again, sadly, Mr. Speaker, Harry Wu is not free. His whereabouts is not known. The U.S. Embassy for its part was informed of the arrest and tried, and tried very hard, to find out where he is, and has been stonewalled. Nine days have past since Harry Wu, a U.S. citizen, was arrested.
How much longer do we have to wait to find out where he is and exactly what kind of shape he is in? Harry Wu indeed has been a voice for those crying out for truth and for justice. I am very glad in a bipartisan way, Mr. Speaker, that we today will go on record calling on the People's Republic of China, working with the administration on this one, to try to get the freedom of this United States citizen, who has been unjustly and cruelly taken by the People's Republic of China.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, under the reservation of objection, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf], one of the chief sponsors of the resolution.
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, so much has been said, let me just cover a few other points. Harry is a scholar at the Hoover Institute. He is an author. His latest book is Bitter Winds, where he talks about his 19 years in the gulag.
With regard to these circumstances, as the gentleman from Connecticut
[Mr. Gejdenson] said, Harry is an American citizen. Harry Wu is an American citizen with a valid passport who has been arrested and detained by the Chinese Government. They have not even allowed our government to interview him, to see him. He is a moral leader, not only in the United States, but in the world. He is almost like the Sharanski of China, if you will.
I want to thank the people who moved this out of the committee so fast, and thank the leadership of the Congress. I think the fact that Congress has acted so quickly, I have never seen the Congress has acted so quickly, I have never seen the Congress act this quickly on anything, and the fact that in these busy days, staying in around the clock, that the Congress has brought this up is very, very important.
We are asking that he be released. Released. Unconditionally released, whereby he can return to his family. I do not know that Harry is listening at this moment, but I know his wife is, and we just remember Harry in our prayers and remember her.
I would just say to the Chinese Government, and I do not know if they are watching tonight, but if anything were to happen to Harry Wu, I just think that the Chinese Government would pay a price for the future that they do not even realize. We are not going to make any threats tonight, and I do not think it is appropriate to be combining this with MFN or all these other things. But if anything ever happened to Harry Wu, I pledge myself I would commit myself and dedicate myself to doing anything and everything I can to make sure that there had been a price paid.
So we call on the Chinese Government to release Harry Wu and let him return to his family.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for moving this resolution so fast.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman].
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am just asking the gentleman to yield in order for me to thank the ranking minority member for his cooperation and bringing the measure to the floor expeditiously. I want to commend the original sponsors, the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf], the gentleman from New Jersey
[Mr. Smith], and the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Bereuter] for joining together in moving this measure quickly through the House so we can bring the greatest pressure possible to the People's Republic of China for the early release of Mr. Wu.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi].
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding and his cooperation this evening. Just in closing I wanted to make it clear what we are asking for is for the Chinese Government to make us aware of Harry Wu's whereabouts, to allow him to have a visit as is appropriate in our relationship with China and the consular agreements, a visit from representatives of the American Embassy and consulate there, and also to free Harry Wu.
We will pursue this issue until he is free, and this evening's unanimous consent action is an important step for us in the direction. Once again, I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton] for his cooperation.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
Mr. SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 178
Whereas Peter H. Wu, known as Harry Wu, is a citizen of the United States;
Whereas Harry Wu entered the People's Republic of China with an American passport and a valid visa but has been detained incommunicado by Chinese authorities since June 19, 1995;
Whereas on June 23, 1995, the Government of the People's Republic of China notified the United States Government of its detention of Harry Wu;
Whereas on June 26, 1995, the United States Government requested that Chinese Government authorities provide prompt access to Harry Wu;
Whereas Article 35 of the United States-People's Republic of China Consular Convention of February 19, 1982, requires that access to a detained or arrested American citizen be granted no later than 48 hours after a request for such access is made;
Whereas, as of Wednesday, June 28, 1995, the People's Republic of China had failed to act in accordance with the 48 hour consular access provision of the Consular Convention; and
Whereas the Department of State has not been informed of where Harry Wu is being held, nor what charges, if any, are being contemplated, and has not received any assurances that the obligations of the Government of the People's Republic of China under the Consular Convention will be met: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) The House of Representatives expresses its condemnation of the arrest and detention of Harry Wu and its deep concern for his well-being and freedom;
(2) It is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
(A) The People's Republic of China must immediately comply with its commitments under the United States-People's Republic of China Consular Convention of February 19, 1982, by allowing consular access to Harry Wu;
(B) The People's Republic of China should provide a full accounting to the United States for Harry Wu's arrest and detention, and should immediately and unconditionally release him; and
(C) The President of the United States should use every diplomatic means available to ensure Harry Wu's safety and well-being, and to secure his immediate and unconditional release.
(3) The Clerk of the House shall transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States, and to President Jiang Zemin of the People's Republic of China.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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