119-hres470

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 470 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 470

 Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and 
condemning the continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights and 
 basic freedoms within the People's Republic of China, including the 
 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Communist 
 Party, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 June 4, 2025

 Mr. Bera (for himself, Mrs. Kim, Mr. Moylan, Ms. Salazar, Ms. Norton, 
 Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Wilson of South 
Carolina, Mr. Self, Mr. McCormick, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Mr. Moolenaar, 
 Mr. Bell, Mr. Lawler, Ms. Tokuda, Ms. Titus, Mr. Issa, and Mr. Meeks) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
 on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Remembering the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and 
condemning the continued and intensifying crackdown on human rights and 
 basic freedoms within the People's Republic of China, including the 
 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, by the Chinese Communist 
 Party, and for other purposes.

Whereas, on April 15, 1989, peaceful demonstrators gathered in Tiananmen Square 
 in central Beijing to mourn the death of former General Secretary of the 
 Chinese Communist Party

    (CCP) Hu Yaobang, who was compelled to resign in 
 1987 for supporting political reforms within the CCP;
Whereas, throughout April and May 1989, peaceful demonstrations continued in 
 Tiananmen Square and in an estimated 400 cities across China;
Whereas, by May 17, 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 Chinese citizens from all walks 
 of life, including students, government employees, journalists, workers, 
 police officers, and members of the Armed Forces, gathered peacefully in 
 Tiananmen Square to call for democratic reforms;
Whereas the peaceful demonstrators of 1989 called upon the Government of the 
 People's Republic of China

    (PRC) to eliminate corruption, accelerate 
 economic and political reform, and protect human rights, particularly 
 the freedoms of expression and assembly;
Whereas, on May 20, 1989, the Government of the PRC declared martial law;
Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989, the 
 CCP leadership sent armed People's Liberation Army

    (PLA) troops and 
 tanks into Beijing and surrounding areas;
Whereas, on the night of June 3 and continuing into the morning of June 4, 1989, 
 PLA soldiers proceeded to Tiananmen Square, at the direction of CCP 
 leadership, and fired indiscriminately into crowds of peaceful 
 protesters, killing and injuring thousands of demonstrators and other 
 unarmed civilians;
Whereas the Government of the PRC continues to censor any mention of the 
 crackdown centered on Tiananmen Square, prevents the victims from being 
 publicly mourned and remembered, and harasses, detains, and arrests 
 those who call for a full, public, and independent accounting of the 
 wounded, dead, and those imprisoned for participating in the spring 1989 
 demonstrations;
Whereas the sovereignty of Hong Kong transferred from the United Kingdom to the 
 PRC in 1997 under the terms of the Joint Declaration of the Government 
 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 
 Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong 
 Kong (hereafter the ``Joint Declaration''), which guaranteed the Hong 
 Kong Special Administrative Region

    (HKSAR) will ``enjoy a high degree of 
 autonomy'', and committed the PRC to keep the ``social and economic 
 systems in Hong Kong'' unchanged through 2047;
Whereas the Joint Declaration states that ``Rights and freedoms, including those 
 of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of 
 travel, of movement, of correspondence, of strike, of choice of 
 occupation, of academic research and of religious belief will be ensured 
 by law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region'' and that those 
 rights are reiterated in Chapter III of the Basic Law of the HKSAR of 
 the PRC;
Whereas the people of Hong Kong had held an annual Tiananmen Square vigil since 
 1990 and has been the only such mass gathering on Chinese territory 
 because commemorations are banned in mainland China;
Whereas, on June 4, 2020, thousands of people in Hong Kong defied Hong Kong 
 authorities and gathered at the city's annual June 4 vigil to 
 memorialize the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre;
Whereas, on June 30, 2020, China's National People's Congress Standing Committee 
 flagrantly undermined the high degree of autonomy promised to Hong Kong 
 in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law by passing and imposing upon Hong 
 Kong the oppressive and intentionally vague Law of the PRC on 
 Safeguarding National Security in the HKSAR (``national security law'');
Whereas the central Government of the PRC and the HKSAR Government have since 
 used the national security law to suppress democratic voices in Hong 
 Kong, including by barring candidates from standing for election and by 
 arresting prodemocracy activists and opposition leaders;
Whereas, on March 11, 2021, China's National People's Congress adopted the 
 ``Decision of the National People's Congress on Improving the Electoral 
 System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region'', thereby further 
 restricting Hong Kong's electoral freedom and democratic representation;
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Police Force withheld permits for the 
 June 4 vigil for the second consecutive year, citing a ban on large 
 gatherings in light of the coronavirus pandemic;
Whereas permits were continuously withheld through 2024 despite the pandemic 
 restrictions being removed in Hong Kong;
Whereas, on May 27, 2021, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed legislation 
 amending local election laws to bring them in line with the China's 
 National People's Congress March 11 ``Decision of the National People's 
 Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special 
 Administrative Region'';
Whereas, on March 4, 2023, the HKSAR West Kowloon Magistrates' Court convicted 
 three standing committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of 
 Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, 
 and Tsui Hon-kwong, under the National Security Law, and the Alliance 
 was an organizer of the annual Tiananmen vigil;
Whereas, on March 23, 2024, the Government of the HKSAR promulgated the 
 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance that allows police to apply for 
 extended pretrial detention, restrictions on suspects' consultation with 
 legal representatives, and restrictions on bail for certain national 
 security cases, and lists several offenses as having extraterritorial 
 effect on Hong Kong residents for activities outside the HKSAR;
Whereas, June 4, 2025, marks the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
 massacre;
Whereas the Government of the PRC has committed genocide and crimes against 
 humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and 
 religious minority groups in Xinjiang; and
Whereas the Government of the PRC continues to violate the human rights of 
 prodemocracy activists, members of ethnic minorities, including 
 individuals in the Tibetan regions, religious believers, human rights 
 lawyers, citizen journalists, and labor union leaders, among many others 
 seeking to express their political or religious views or ethnic identity 
 in a peaceful manner: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

    (1) expresses its deepest respect for and solidarity with 
 the families and friends of those killed, tortured, and 
 imprisoned for participating in the prodemocracy demonstrations 
 during the spring of 1989, and with those who have continued to 
 suffer for their fight to publicly mourn the Tiananmen Square 
 massacre victims;

    (2) reaffirms its support for those who continue to work 
 for political reform, rule of law, and protections for human 
 rights in China;

    (3) condemns the Government of the People's Republic of 
 China

    (PRC) for its continued human rights abuses, including 
 suppressing peaceful political dissent and ethnic and religious 
 minorities;

    (4) calls on the Government of the PRC to--
        (A) cease censoring information and discussion 
 about the Tiananmen Square massacre;
        (B) invite and cooperate with a full and 
 independent investigation into the Tiananmen Square 
 massacre by the United Nations High Commissioner for 
 Human Rights;
            (C) uphold its international legal obligations to 
 Hong Kong under the Joint Declaration of the Government 
 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern 
 Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of 
 China on the Question of Hong Kong (``Joint 
 Declaration'') and cease undermining Hong Kong's high 
 degree of autonomy; and
            (D) allow those participants in the Tiananmen 
 demonstrations who fled overseas or reside outside of 
 China after being ``blacklisted'' for their peaceful 
 protest activity to return to China without risk of 
 retribution;

    (5) calls on the Government of the Hong Kong Special 
 Administrative Region, and the relevant authorities in the 
 Government of the PRC to--
        (A) respect and uphold the personal rights and 
 freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and the 
 independence of Hong Kong's legal system;
        (B) restore independent democratic representation 
 to the people of Hong Kong in line with the ``One 
 Country, Two Systems'' arrangement set forth in the 
 Joint Declaration and its implementing document, the 
 Basic Law; and
            (C) allow those living in exile for engaging in 
 prodemocracy activities to return to Hong Kong without 
 fear of detention or other repercussions;

    (6) calls on the United States Government and Members of 
 Congress to mark the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square 
 protests, including through meetings with participants of the 
 Tiananmen Square protests who live outside of China and the 
 families and friends of the victims of the Tiananmen Square 
 massacre based outside China; and

    (7) supports ongoing peaceful movements for human rights in 
 China and of the people in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
 <all>