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Tiananmen at 30: Examining the Evolution of Repression in China

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Tiananmen at 30: Examining the Evolution of Repression in China TIANANMEN AT 30: EXAMINING THE EVOLUTION OF REPRESSION IN CHINA JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA AND THE TOM LANTOS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 4, 2019 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available at www.cecc.gov or www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–155 PDF WASHINGTON : 2021 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS House Senate JAMES P. MCGOVERN, Massachusetts, MARCO RUBIO, Florida, Cochair Chair JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio TOM COTTON, Arkansas THOMAS SUOZZI, New York STEVE DAINES, Montana TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey TODD YOUNG, Indiana BEN MCADAMS, Utah DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California CHRIS SMITH, New Jersey JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon BRIAN MAST, Florida GARY PETERS, Michigan VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri ANGUS KING, Maine EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS Not yet appointed JONATHAN STIVERS, Staff Director PETER MATTIS, Deputy Staff Director TOM LANTOS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION JAMES P. MCGOVERN, Massachusetts, CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey, Cochair Cochair TED LIEU, California ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama ZOE LOFGREN, California GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida* ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California* EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon NITA M. LOWEY, New York SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota KATHERINE CLARK, Massachusetts SETH MOULTON, Massachusetts STEVE COHEN, Tennessee GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California JIM COSTA, California ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon Columbia LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire ANNA G. ESHOO, California BILL PASCRELL, New Jersey RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona DONALD M. PAYNE, Jr., New Jersey DEBRA HAALAND, New Mexico* DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota ANDY HARRIS, Maryland* CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine DENNY HECK, Washington MARK POCAN, Wisconsin SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland* PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington KATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, Washington* HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, Jr., Georgia HARLEY ROUDA, California MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois RO KHANNA, California ADAM SMITH, Washington DEREK KILMER, Washington JACKIE SPEIER, California RON KIND, Wisconsin NORMA J. TORRES, California* PETER T. KING, New York NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York DARIN LAHOOD, Illinois* ANN WAGNER, Missouri DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado MAXINE WATERS, California JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island PETER WELCH, Vermont BARBARA LEE, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina ANDY LEVIN, Michigan *Executive Committee KIMBERLY STANTON, Democratic Staff Director PIERO TOZZI, Republican Staff Director (ii) C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS Page Opening Statement of Hon. James P. McGovern, a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts; Chair, Congressional-Executive Commission on China ......... 1 Statement of Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House ...................................... 2 Statement of Hon. Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida; Cochair, Con- gressional-Executive Commission on China ...................................................... 6 Statement of Hon. Eliot Engel, a U.S. Representative from New York; Chair- man, House Foreign Affairs Committee ............................................................. 10 Statement of Hon. Chris Smith, a U.S. Representative from New Jersey; Cochair, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission ............................................ 12 Kaixi, Wu’er, 1989 Tiananmen student leader, political commentator, and founder of Friends of Liu Xiaobo ........................................................................ 14 Fengsuo, Zhou, 1989 Tiananmen student leader and President, Humanitarian China ..................................................................................................................... 17 Tsui, Mi Ling, Communications Director, Human Rights in China .................... 18 Minzner, Carl, Professor of Law, Fordham Law School ....................................... 21 Kalathil, Shanthi, Senior Director, International Forum for Democratic Stud- ies, National Endowment for Democracy ........................................................... 23 APPENDIX PREPARED STATEMENTS Wu’er Kaixi .............................................................................................................. 48 Zhou Fengsuo ........................................................................................................... 51 Mi Ling Tsui ............................................................................................................. 54 Carl Minzner ............................................................................................................ 75 Shanthi Kalathil ...................................................................................................... 77 McGovern, Hon. James P. ....................................................................................... 80 Rubio, Hon. Marco ................................................................................................... 81 Smith, Hon. Chris .................................................................................................... 83 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Nobel Lecture in absentia of Liu Xiaobo, Dec. 10, 2010, ‘‘I Have No Enemies: My Final Statement,’’ submitted by Representative Chris Smith ................... 85 CECC ‘‘Truth in Testimony’’ Disclosure Statement .............................................. 88 Witness Biographies ................................................................................................ 89 (iii) TIANANMEN AT 30: EXAMINING THE EVOLUTION OF REPRESSION IN CHINA TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2019 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA AND THE TOM LANTOS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, Washington, DC. The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 10:08 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Representative James P. McGovern, Chair, presiding. Also present: Senators Rubio and Daines, and Representatives Engel, Smith, Suozzi, Mast, Sires, Wagner, Johnson, Perry, Jack- son Lee, Yoho, McCaul, Chabot, and Burchett. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES P. MCGOVERN, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MASSACHUSETTS AND CHAIR, CON- GRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA Good morning and welcome to a joint hearing of the Congres- sional-Executive Commission on China and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, hosted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I want to thank my cochair, Senator Marco Rubio, of the China Commission, and Congressman Chris Smith, my cochair on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. I would also like to thank Chairman Eliot Engel, Ranking Member Michael McCaul, and all the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for hosting and participating in this important hearing. The title of today’s hearing is ‘‘Tiananmen at 30: Examining the Evolution of Repression in China.’’ The hearing will review the events in China in 1989, the aspirations of the Tiananmen Square generation, and the ongoing censorship and lack of accountability for those seeking answers about the victims of the massacre. For our first panel, we are proud to welcome the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. In 1989, just two weeks after the Tiananmen Square massacre, Nancy Pelosi—then in her second term in Congress—introduced legislation to protect Chinese students and nationals who feared being deported back to China. The eventual Chinese Student Protection Act passed into law and ultimately granted legal permanent resident status to approxi- mately 53,000 Chinese nationals, thereby boosting our economy and contributing to the wonderful diversity of our country. Two beneficiaries of this legislation were Yuxian Jin and Li Shen. Yuxian was a researcher in a genetics lab. Li was a student in ac- counting. Their son, Peter, is now a police officer in Salt Lake City. (1) 2 And we are proud that their daughter Sophie Jin serves her coun- try on the China Commission staff. The legislation that welcomed Sophie and her family into our country is the best of what America has to offer. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi for that. In 1991, in Tiananmen Square, under the glare of the security cameras and in the spotlight of Chinese police, Nancy Pelosi un- furled a banner that read ‘‘To those who died for democracy in China.’’ To this day, that act of compassion is often mentioned by Chinese dissidents, some of whom heard about it when they were in prison. Back in Congress, Pelosi was organizing. She founded and chaired the bipartisan Congressional Working Group on China with Congressman Frank Wolf. She spearheaded the effort to condition China’s most-favored-nation trade status on progress on releasing pro-democracy demonstrators. And throughout the 1990s, Nancy Pelosi took on both Republican and Democratic presidents. When Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for China was considered, Pelosi led the opposition, stating that PNTR should only be granted after, not before, the Chinese government imple- mented its trade commitments. If only the Congress followed her lead on that vote. Throughout her 30 years of advocacy for the people of China and Tibet, she has fought for the release of countless political prisoners, and any Chinese government official who meets with her, espe- cially Chinese presidents, can expect to receive a letter with polit- ical prisoners that should be released. Pelosi sponsored legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal
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