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“UNITED STATES-CHINA SUPPORT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S11252-S11253 on Oct. 28, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNITED STATES-CHINA SUPPORT
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to address the direction of our country's relationship with China. Right now, the Clinton administration is busy with the state visit of Chinese President Jiang Zemin. A state visit is the highest, most formal diplomatic event hosted by the United States. The champagne will flow, and flattering toasts will be made.
I disagree with this red carpet treatment, Mr. President. There is no question that United States-Chinese relations are crucial and important for both countries. It is wrong, however, for the United States to host a state visit for President Jiang Zemin until we see significant progress made on human rights in China. Instead of a ceremonial visit, we should be holding a working visit with the Chinese leadership, focusing on the critical issues that exist between our two nation, like human rights, weapons proliferation, and trade.
China continues to wage a war against individual freedoms and human rights. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of dissidents and advocates of political reform were detained just last year. They included human rights and pro-democracy activists, and members of religious groups. Many have been sentenced to long prison terms where they have been beaten, tortured, and denied medical care.
Scores of Roman Catholics and Protestants were arrested. A crack-down in Tibet was carried out during the ``Strike Hard'' campaign. Authorities ordered the closure of monasteries in Tibet and banned the Dalai Lama's image. At one monastery which was closed, over 90 monks and novices were detained or disappeared.
Harry Wu, a man of extraordinary courage and character, has documented China's extensive forced labor system. His research has identified more than 1,100 labor camps across China, many of which produce products for export to dozens of countries around the world, including the United States.
Because he criticized his government, Harry Wu was also imprisoned in these camps. For 19 years in 12 different forced labor camps across China, Harry was forced to mine coal, manufacture chemicals, and build roads. He survived beatings, torture, and starvation. He witnessed the death of many of his fellow prisoners from brutality, disease, starvation, and suicide.
According to Amnesty International, throughout China, mass summary executions continue to be carried out. At least 6,000 death sentences and 3,500 executions were officially recorded last year. The real figures are believed to be much higher.
Our own State Department reported that in 1996: ``All public dissent against the party and government was effectively silenced by intimidation, exile, the imposition of prison terms, administration detention, or house arrest. No dissidents were known to be active at year's end.''
Mr. President, that is a chilling, deeply disturbing statement. It cuts to the core values of our Nation. And it was made by our own Government, and this administration. Yet, this week, the administration will welcome President Jiang with pomp and circumstance. These actions indicate that, where China is concerned, what we have is not a policy of constructive engagement, but one of unconditional engagement.
Let us put some names and human faces to the statistics and generalities we have all heard with regards to China.
In May 1996, Wang Hui was detained. She was the wife of a jailed labor activist. While detained, she was denied water and other liquids. She tried to kill herself by hanging. According to Human Rights Watch, after being cut down by police, she was punished with severe beating.
Ngawang Choephel is a Fulbright Scholar from Middlebury College. He studied music, and returned to his homeland to document the ancient music and culture of Tibet. It is disappearing under the heel of the Chinese Government. As a result of his work, he was convicted in February, and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for espionage. His crime--sending videotapes of ethnic Tibetan music and dancing out of China.
Last year, Wang Dan was sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of conspiring to subvert the Chinese Government. Prior to sentencing, Wang had already been held 17 months in incommunicado detention. His crime: He was a leader of the Tiananmen movement.
Two years ago, Beijing sentenced Wei Jingsheng to 14 more years of incarceration for the crime of peacefully advocating democracy and political reform. Wei had been arrested and sentenced after he wrote wall posters on the Democracy Wall outside Beijing. They argued for true democracy and denounced Deng Xiaoping.
I have read Mr. Wei's work and his letter from prison. I can't tell you how impressed and moved I was by them. As a political scientist, I seldom, if ever, have read such an eloquent and intelligent espousal of democracy and human rights. Making the letters all the more remarkable is the fact that they were written while Wei was in prison or labor camps, mostly in solitary confinement. He has been jailed for all but 6 months of the last 18 years.
Wei Jingshen is not only China's most prominent dissident and prisoner of conscience, but ranks with the greatest fighters for democracy and human rights of this century. He brings to mind Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and, of course, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I was honored to join many of my colleagues in nominating Wei for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Last week, Mr. Wei's sister came to the United States to tell the administration that he is dying in jail, and that this summit may be his last chance of emerging from detention alive. It is urgent that the Chinese Government release Wei and that he be given the medical care that he desperately needs, but has been denied.
By agreeing to this state visit without any significant concessions on human rights, like the release of Wei Jingsheng, the Clinton administration squandered its strongest source of leverage with Beijing.
This is not to say that all dialog between the United States and China or that working level visits are wrong. Instead, I believe that the symbolism of a state level visit is inappropriate given our strong disagreement with China over its human rights record. That is why I cosponsored a resolution with Senators Feingold and Helms to urge the President to downgrade this event from a state visit to working visit.
The Chinese have said they do not welcome American advice on what they view as a ``purely internal affair.'' Welcome or not, President Clinton must insist that China's leaders take specific actions on human rights.
Indeed, I believe strongly that the administration has a moral duty to press a range of issues with the Chinese Government that it may not welcome, but that are of enormous important to the Chinese people, and the United States.
Specifically, I call on President Clinton to demand:
The immediate and unconditional release of Wei Jingsheng, Wang Dan, and other prisoners of conscience held in jails in China and Tibet.
Improvement in the conditions under which political, religious, and labor dissidents are detained in China and Tibet. This includes providing prisoners with adequate medical care and allowing international humanitarian agencies access to detention facilities.
Significant progress in improving the overall human rights conditions in China and Tibet. The Chinese Government must take concrete steps to increase freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association, in order to comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which it signed in 1948.
Some say that we cannot influence what goes on in China, that the country is too proud, too large, and that changes take too long. I disagree. For years we have pressured the Chinese on human rights, and to let up now is tantamount to defeat for the cause of human justice. Dissidents who have been freed and come to the United States have thanked advocates for keeping them alive, by keeping the pressure on, and focusing attention on their plight.
As Americans, it is our duty and in our interest to make the extra effort required to promote freedom and democracy in China, and to bring it into compliance with international standards on human rights.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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