CHINA IN 1989 AND 2015: TIANANMEN, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND DEMOCRACY HEARING BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 3, 2015 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 95–041 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 15 2010 17:47 Dec 03, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\DOCS\3JUNE15.TXT DEIDRE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS House Senate CHRIS SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman MARCO RUBIO, Florida, Cochairman ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina SHERROD BROWN, Ohio TRENT FRANKS, Arizona DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon TIM WALZ, Minnesota GARY PETERS, Michigan MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio MICHAEL HONDA, California TED LIEU, California EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS CHRISTOPHER P. LU, Department of Labor SARAH SEWALL, Department of State STEFAN M. SELIG, Department of Commerce DANIEL R. RUSSEL, Department of State TOM MALINOWSKI, Department of State PAUL B. PROTIC, Staff Director ELYSE B. ANDERSON, Deputy Staff Director (II) VerDate Mar 15 2010 17:47 Dec 03, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 U:\DOCS\3JUNE15.TXT DEIDRE CO N T E N T S STATEMENTS Page Opening Statement of Hon. Christopher Smith, a U.S. Representative from New Jersey; Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China ....... 1 Teng, Biao, a Well-known Chinese Human Rights Lawyer; a Harvard Univer- sity Law School Visiting Scholar; and Co-founder, the Open Constitution Initiative ............................................................................................................... 5 Peng, Lisa, Daughter of Chinese Democracy Activist Peng Ming; Freshman, Harvard University; and TEDx Speaker ............................................................ 7 Ho, Pin, President and CEO, Mirror Media Group .............................................. 9 Horowitz, Michael, CEO, 21st Century Initiative, a Washington, DC Think Tank ...................................................................................................................... 14 Yang, Jianli, President, Initiatives for China/Citizen Power for China .............. 18 APPENDIX PREPARED STATEMENTS Teng, Biao ................................................................................................................ 38 Peng, Lisa ................................................................................................................. 40 Ho, Pin ...................................................................................................................... 41 Yang, Jianli .............................................................................................................. 46 Smith, Hon. Christopher, a U.S. Representative From New Jersey; Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China ................................................ 56 Rubio, Hon. Marco, a U.S. Senator From Florida; Cochairman, Congressional- Executive Commission on China ........................................................................ 57 SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD Witness Biographies ................................................................................................ 59 (III) VerDate Mar 15 2010 17:47 Dec 03, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\3JUNE15.TXT DEIDRE VerDate Mar 15 2010 17:47 Dec 03, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\3JUNE15.TXT DEIDRE CHINA IN 1989 AND 2015: TIANANMEN, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND DEMOCRACY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA, Washington, DC. The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room HVC–210, Capitol Visitor Center, Representative Christopher Smith, Chairman, presiding. Also present: Representatives Randy Hultgren and Trent Franks. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER SMITH, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW JERSEY, CHAIRMAN, CON- GRESSIONAL–EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA Chairman SMITH. The meeting of the Commission will come to order, and good morning to everybody. Thank you for being here. Twenty-six years ago, the world watched as millions of Chinese gathered to peacefully demand political reform and democratic openness. The hopes and promises of those heady days ended with wanton violence, tears, bloodshed, arrests, and exile. Mothers lost sons, fathers lost daughters, and China lost an idealistic generation to the tanks that rolled down Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Tiananmen Square has come to symbolize the persistent and brutal lengths the Chinese Communist Party will go to remain in power. This event has done more to negatively shape global percep- tions of China than any other in recent history. We remember the Tiananmen Square massacre here in Congress because of its enduring impact on U.S.-China relations. We remem- ber it also because an unknown number of people died, were ar- rested, and exiled simply for seeking universally recognized human rights and freedoms. We also remember Tiananmen Square because so many people were arrested last year for trying to commemorate the anniversary in China. We remember this date each year because it is too impor- tant to forget and because it is too dangerous to commemorate in the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese Government should allow open discussion on the Tiananmen protests and end the enforced amnesia surrounding the events of 1989, and more importantly, the Chinese Government should take responsibility for this needless national tragedy that occurred on June 3 and 4, and continued as people were hunted down. Those who had fax machines were followed, arrested, and in- carcerated. (1) VerDate Mar 15 2010 17:47 Dec 03, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\3JUNE15.TXT DEIDRE 2 Sadly, it seems that a China led by President Xi Jinping will not take such responsibility. President Xi and top Communist Party leaders regularly unleash bellicose attacks on universal values, Western ideals, and revisionism of the Party’s history. The domestic screws on dissent have tightened considerably since Xi Jinping assumed the presidency. Over 230 people have been de- tained for their human rights advocacy and peaceful efforts at po- litical reform. A number of rights groups are calling this the largest crackdown in two decades. The Chinese Government rounds up not only reformers, but those who defend them. It views most Uyghurs as security threats and then jails Uyghur intellectuals peacefully seeking ethnic rec- onciliation. It not only smothers Internet freedom and its domestic media, but threatens foreign journalists and spurs self-censorship from Harvard Square to Hollywood. The Chinese Government also threatens foreign citizens or for- eign institutions who speak out for greater human rights. The fam- ily members of Canada’s Miss Universe, for example, were threat- ened for her outspokenness about human rights. Also, China’s new and troubling NGO [non-governmental organi- zation] law could bar an American university from China, or even detain its representatives in China, if a campus student group stages a protest in the United States against the Chinese Govern- ment’s treatment of Tibetans, Christians, or Falun Gong, the de- tention of Liu Xiaobo, or the criminal tragedy of China’s 35-year one-child-per-couple policy, with its reliance on forced sterilization and forced abortion. U.S. policy must support Chinese advocates who promote human rights and political reform and stand firm for U.S. interests and greater freedom and democracy in China. Our strategic and moral interests coincide when we support human rights and democracy in China. A more democratic China, one that respects human rights and is governed by the rule of law, is more likely to be a productive and peaceful partner rather than a strategic and hostile compet- itor. We should remember this fact as we watch China building bases and threatening free and open sea lanes in the East and South China Seas. The United States must also make strong appeals to China’s self-interest; the rule of law, freedom of the press, and independent judiciary; a flourishing civil society; and accountable officials who would promote all of China’s primary goals: economic progress, political stability, reconciliation with Taiwan, good rela- tions with America and the rest of the world, and international stature and influence. At the same time, the United States must also be willing to use political and economic sanctions to respond to gross violations of human rights in China, torture, prolonged and arbitrary detention, forced abortions, psychiatric experimentation or organ harvesting from prisoners. That is why I introduced yesterday the China Human Rights Protection Act of 2015, H.R. 2621. This bill will deny U.S. entry visas and issue financial penalties to any Chinese official who en- gages in gross violations of human rights. VerDate Mar 15 2010 17:47 Dec 03, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\3JUNE15.TXT DEIDRE 3 I would note parenthetically that in 2000 I authored a Foreign Relations Act and it contained a provision that we put in that said that anyone who is complicit in forced abortion and forced