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U.S. House of Representatives Unanimously
Passes Resolution 304 Urging Chinese Government to Cease Its
Oppression of Falun Gong Practitioners in the United States and in
China
At 8pm Eastern Time on October 4, 2004, the House of the
Representatives in the U.S. unanimously passed H. Con. Resolution
304, expressing the sense of Congress regarding oppression by the
Government of the People's Republic of China of Falun Gong in the
United States and in China. The resolution expressed the sense that
the Government of the People's Republic of China should immediately
stop interfering in the exercise of religious and political freedoms
within the United States, such as the right to practice Falun Gong,
that are guaranteed by the United States Constitution, cease using
the diplomatic missions in the United States to spread falsehoods
about the nature of Falun Gong, and release from detention all
prisoners of conscience, including practitioners of Falun Gong.
The H. Con. Res. 304 was initiated by Florida Congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen and co-sponsored by 75 congresspeople. It was
unanimously passed yesterday evening (October 4) by the
representatives.
The resolution expressed the sense that the president of the United
States should take actions such as working more closely with Chinese
human rights activists to identify Chinese authorities who have been
personally responsible for acts of violence and persecution in the
People's Republic of China; and the Attorney General should
investigate reports that Chinese consular officials in the United
States have committed illegal acts while attempting to intimidate or
inappropriately influence Falun Gong practitioners or local elected
officials, and, in consultation with the Secretary of State,
determine an appropriate legal response.
The full text of the resolution is as below:
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108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 304
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding oppression by the
Government of the People's Republic of China of Falun Gong in the
United States and in China.
HCON 304 EH
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 304
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual movement that originated
in the People's Republic of China but has grown in popularity
worldwide and is now accepted and practiced by thousands in the
United States;
Whereas demonstrations by Falun Gong practitioners in the
People's Republic of China and the United States have been peaceful,
meditative sessions;
Whereas the Constitution of the People's Republic of China
provides to the citizens of that country freedom of speech,
assembly, association, and religious belief;
Whereas members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, members of
Chinese pro-democracy groups, and advocates of human rights reform
in the People's Republic of China have been harassed, libeled,
imprisoned, and beaten for demonstrating peacefully inside that
country;
Whereas the Chinese Government has also attempted to silence the
Falun Gong movement and Chinese prodemocracy groups inside the
United States;
Whereas on June 12, 2003, 38 Members of Congress filed an Amended
Brief of Amicus Curiae in support of the Falun Gong at the United
States District Court, Northeastern District of Illinois, Eastern
Division;
Whereas Chinese consular officials have pressured local elected
officials in the United States to refuse or withdraw support for the
Falun Gong spiritual group;
Whereas Dr. Charles Lee, a United States citizen, has reportedly
been mentally and physically tortured since being detained by
Chinese authorities in early 2003;
Whereas the apartment of Ms. Gail Rachlin, the Falun Gong
spokeswoman in the United States, has been broken into 5 times by
agents of the Chinese regime since the regime banned Falun Gong in
1999 in China;
Whereas over the past 5 years China's diplomatic corps has been
actively involved in harassing and persecuting Falun Gong
practitioners in the United States;
Whereas on June 23, 2003, Falun Gong practitioners were attacked
outside a Chinese restaurant in New York City by local United
States-based individuals with reported ties to the Chinese
Government;
Whereas 5 Falun Gong practitioners were assaulted outside of the
Chinese Consulate in Chicago on September 7, 2001, while exercising
their constitutionally protected rights to free speech, leading to
battery convictions in Cook County Criminal Court of Jiming Zheng on
November 13, 2002, and Yujun Weng on December 5, 2002, both
assailants being members of a Chinese-American organization in
Chicago, the Mid-USA Fujian Township Association, which maintains
close ties with the Chinese Consulate;
Whereas individuals that physically harassed Falun Gong
practitioners in San Francisco on October 22, 2000, were later seen
at anti-Falun Gong meetings and the Chinese Consulate in San
Francisco;
Whereas San Francisco City Supervisor Chris Daly, after receiving
complaints that Chinese officials were intimidating his
constituents, authored a resolution condemning human rights
violations and persecution of Falun Gong members by the Chinese
Government;
Whereas Mr. Daly and the other members of the San Francisco City
Council subsequently received a letter from the Chinese Consul
General in San Francisco, claiming that Falun Gong was an 'evil
cult' that was undermining the 'normal social order' in the People's
Republic of China, and that Mr. Daly's resolution should therefore
be rejected, which it subsequently was;
Whereas in November 2000, the former Mayor of Saratoga,
California, Stan Bogosian, issued a proclamation honoring the
contributions of Falun Gong practitioners to the Saratoga community,
which prompted the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco to write to
Mr. Bogosian urging him to retract his support for local Falun Gong
activities;
Whereas many local and national media organizations have reported
that other local officials across the United States, including the
mayors of several major cities, have been pressured by Chinese
consular officials to recant statements of support for the Falun
Gong;
Whereas journalists have cited fear of hurting trade
relationships as the motivation for some local United States
officials to recant their support for Falun Gong after receiving
pressure from Chinese consular officials; and
Whereas the Constitution of the United States guarantees freedom
of religion, the right to assemble, and the right to speak freely,
and the people of the United States strongly value protecting the
ability of all people to live without fear and in accordance with
their personal beliefs: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of the People's Republic of China should--
(A) immediately stop interfering in the exercise of religious and
political freedoms within the United States, such as the right to
practice Falun Gong, that are guaranteed by the United States
Constitution;
(B) cease using the diplomatic missions in the United States to
spread falsehoods about the nature of Falun Gong;
(C) release from detention all prisoners of conscience, including
practitioners of Falun Gong, who have been incarcerated in violation
of their rights as expressed in the Constitution of the People's
Republic of China;
(D) immediately end the harassment, detention, physical abuse,
and imprisonment of individuals who are exercising their legitimate
rights to freedom of religion, including the practices of Falun
Gong, freedom of expression, and freedom of association as stated in
the Constitution of the People's Republic of China; and
(E) demonstrate its willingness to abide by international
standards of freedom of belief, expression, and association by
ceasing to restrict those freedoms in the People's Republic of
China;
(2) the President should, in accordance with section 401(a)(1)(B)
of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C.
6401(a)(1)(B)), and with the intention of dissuading the Chinese
Government from attempting to stifle religious freedom in the
People's Republic of China and the United States, take action such
as--
(A) issuing an official public demarche, a formal protest, to the
Chinese Foreign Ministry in response to the repeated violations by
the Chinese Government of basic human rights protected in
international covenants to which the People's Republic of China is a
signatory; and
(B) working more closely with Chinese human rights activists to
identify Chinese authorities who have been personally responsible
for acts of violence and persecution in the People's Republic of
China;
(3) the Attorney General should investigate reports that Chinese
consular officials in the United States have committed illegal acts
while attempting to intimidate or inappropriately influence Falun
Gong practitioners or local elected officials, and, in consultation
with the Secretary of State, determine an appropriate legal
response; and
(4) officials of local governments in the United States should--
(A) in accordance with local statutes and procedures, recognize
and support organizations and individuals that share the goals of
all or part of the local community, including Falun Gong
practitioners; and
(B) report incidents of pressure or harassment by agents of the
People's Republic of China to Members of Congress, the Attorney
General, and the Secretary of State.
Passed the House of Representatives October 4, 2004.
Attest:
Clerk.
END
_______________________________________________________________________________
U.S. House of Representatives Unanimously
Passes Resolution 188 Urging Chinese Government to Cease Its
Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners
On the evening of July 24, 2002, by a vote of 420-0, the U.S.
House of Representatives unanimously passed House Concurrent
Resolution 188, which urges the Chinese government to cease its
persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The Resolution includes:
the Government of the People's Republic of China (Jiang's regime)
should cease its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners; and the
United States Government should use every appropriate public and
private forum to urge the Government of the People's Republic of
China to release from detention all Falun Gong practitioners and put
an end to the practices of torture and other cruel, inhumane, and
degrading treatment against them and other prisoners of conscience.
The US Government should investigate illegal activities by the
Government of the People's Republic of China and its diplomats,
concerning harassment of US citizens and residents who practice
Falun Gong and of US officials who support Falun Gong; and take
legal action or resort to deportion for those Chinese officials who
have been found engaging in unlawful activities on US soil.
The resolution was initiated by Florida congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, the chair of International Operations and Human Rights
Committee and co-sponsored by more than 100 congresspersons.
We wish to express our gratitude to the American people, the U.S.
congresspersons and the U.S. government for their great support of
Falun Gong practitioners during their difficult time.
The following is the text of Resolution 188.
***************************************************
House Concurrent Resolution 188
(7/25/02 update)
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the
People's Republic of China should cease its persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners.
Whereas Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of personal
belief and practice with millions of adherents in the People's
Republic of China and elsewhere;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has
forbidden Falun Gong practitioners to practice their beliefs, and
has systematically attempted to eradicate the practice and those who
follow it;
Whereas this policy violates the Constitution of the People's
Republic of China as well as the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas Jiang Zemin's regime has created notorious government
'610' offices throughout the People's Republic of China with the
special task of overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong members
through organized brainwashing, torture, and murder;
Whereas propaganda from state-controlled media in the People's
Republic of China has inundated the public in an attempt to breed
hatred and discrimination;
Whereas the number of known deaths from torture has reached 422
so far, tens of thousands have been tortured while confined in labor
camps, prisons, and mental hospitals, and hundreds of thousands have
been forced to attend brainwashing classes;
Whereas official measures have been taken to conceal all
atrocities, such as the immediate cremation of victims, the blocking
of autopsies, and the false labeling of deaths as from suicide or
natural causes;
Whereas women in particular have been the target of numerous
forms of sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, and forced
abortion;
Whereas the campaign of persecution has been generated by the
Government of the People's Republic of China, is carried out by
government officials and police at all levels, and has permeated
every segment of society and every level of government in the
People's Republic of China; and
Whereas several United States citizens and permanent resident
aliens have been subjected to arbitrary detention, imprisoned, and
tortured in the People's Republic of China: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of the People's Republic of China should cease
its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, and its representatives
in the United States should cease their harassment of citizens and
residents of the United States who practice Falun Gong and cease
their attempts to put pressure on officials of State and local
governments in the United States to refuse or withdraw support for
the Falun Gong and its practitioners;
(2) the United States Government should use every appropriate
public and private forum to urge the Government of the People's
Republic of China--
(A) to release from detention all Falun Gong practitioners and
put an end to the practices of torture and other cruel, inhumane,
and degrading treatment against them and other prisoners of
conscience; and
(B) to abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by allowing
Falun Gong practitioners to pursue their personal beliefs; and
(3) the United States Government should investigate allegations
of illegal activities in the United States of the Government of the
People's Republic of China and its representatives and agents,
including allegations of unlawful harassment of United States
citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong and of officials of
State and local governments in the United States who support Falun
Gong, and should take appropriate action, including but not limited
to enforcement of the immigration laws, against any such
representatives or agents who engage in such illegal activities.
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