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.
“SECRETARY CLINTON'S SILENCE IN CHINA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2812 on Feb. 25, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SECRETARY CLINTON'S SILENCE IN CHINA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today the State Department released its annual Human Rights Report, an exhaustive report which documents the human rights abuses of countries worldwide.
The report highlights several disturbing global trends in the area of human rights and goes on to say that these trends ``confirm the continuing need for vigorous United States diplomacy to act and speak out,'' and, yet, America's leading diplomat, Secretary of State Clinton, could not find it in herself to publicly press the Chinese Government on their human rights abuses during her recent visit.
Which begs the question, has the situation improved so dramatically so as to justify relegating human rights to the back burner? Was last year a banner year for the Chinese Government marked by tremendous reforms and greater freedom? Has a new day dawned for the people of China? The answer is no. We need look no further than the State Department's own report that came out today that says such notions could not be further from the truth and would be laughable if the reality of the situation wasn't so sobering.
A few excerpts from the report:
``The Government of China's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas. The government . . . tightly controlled freedom of speech, the press (including the Internet), assembly, movement and association.''
``Authorities committed extrajudicial killings and torture, coerced confessions of prisoners, and used forced labor. In addition, the Chinese government increased detention and harassment of dissidents.''
For people of faith, the situation was especially grim:
``Authorities disrupted church meetings and retreats; detained, beat, and harassed church leaders and church members.''
``Harassment of unregistered Catholic bishops, priests, and laypersons continued, including government surveillance and detentions.''
This is the State Department's report that came out today.
For North Korean refugees the report had this to say:
``Authorities stepped up efforts to locate, detain, and forcibly return North Koreans to North Korea,'' basically gulags where they will be persecuted.
On forced labor it said: ``Forced labor remained a serious problem,'' and on and on. I am running because of the time.
For Tibet, here is what the report said:
``The government's human rights record in Tibetan areas of China deteriorated severely during the year. Authorities continued to commit serious human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial detention,'' and then it goes on with much others.
The list goes on. I marvel that there can be such a disconnect between the systematic documented abuses of the Chinese government, the importance, as stated in the report, of the U.S. Government speaking out on behalf of those living under repression and the shocking silence of Secretary Clinton. The Chinese Government could barely contain their excitement about Secretary Clinton's silence.
AP reported that ``China gave U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a glowing review.'' No wonder they gave her a glowing review because she didn't say anything following her weekend visit, during which she steered clear of human rights issues.
China doesn't want our Secretary to speak on human rights, but that's the very reason why they should speak out on human rights.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, silence in itself is a message, not just to the Chinese Government but to the Chinese people whose struggles are outlined in grim details.
Martin Luther King said, and I quote, ``In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.'' For the Secretary of State to be silent on the issue of persecution in China, where there can be a number, can you imagine, Mr. Speaker, how a Catholic bishop, or a Buddhist monk or a Protestant pastor or a Muslim Uighur was in prison and the prison guards came around and said, ``See, your Secretary of State was in town and she never even raised the issue.''
The way to do this, Mr. Speaker, in ending, is the way Ronald Reagan did it in the eighties. Every time President Reagan would go or any Secretary of State would go to Moscow, or whatever, they would speak out on behalf of human rights. Our embassies were islands of freedom.
And so I ask the Secretary to make it clear: Is this a retreat on human rights? Did you just make a mistake? But the sound and the silence is reverberating, and it will also have an impact on dictators around the world because they will see the Secretary going to China and not speaking out. Ahmadinejad will do what he wants with regard to the Baha'is, Egypt will do what it wants with regard to the Coptic Christians and on and on, and the world will be a much more dangerous place.
____________________
