[House Hearing, 106 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
MARKUP OF H. CON. RES. 322 AND S. CON. RES. 81
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MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
Tuesday, June 27, 2000
__________
Serial No. 106-125
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international
relations
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
65-773 CC WASHINGTON : 2000
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman
WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DAN BURTON, Indiana Samoa
ELTON GALLEGLY, California MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
PETER T. KING, New York PAT DANNER, Missouri
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama
MARSHALL ``MARK'' SANFORD, South BRAD SHERMAN, California
Carolina ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
MATT SALMON, Arizona STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey
AMO HOUGHTON, New York JIM DAVIS, Florida
TOM CAMPBELL, California EARL POMEROY, North Dakota
JOHN M. McHUGH, New York WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
KEVIN BRADY, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina BARBARA LEE, California
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
Richard J. Garon, Chief of Staff
Kathleen Bertelsen Moazed, Democratic Chief of Staff
------
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California
DANA ROHRABACHER, California HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
PETER T. KING, New York ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
MARSHALL ``MARK'' SANFORD, South Samoa
Carolina MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California
MATT SALMON, Arizona SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
JOHN McHUGH, New York ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina JIM DAVIS, Florida
PAUL GILLMOR, Ohio EARL POMEROY, North Dakota
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana
Michael P. Ennis, Subcommittee Staff Director
Dr. Robert King, Democratic Professional Staff Member
Matt Reynolds, Counsel
Alicia A. O'Donnell, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
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APPENDIX
Page
Bills:
H. Con. Res. 322................................................. 10
Amendment in the nature of a Substitute to H. Con. Res. 322...... 12
S. Con. Res. 81.................................................. 14
MARKUP OF H. CON. RES. 322 AND S. CON. RES. 81
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Tuesday, June 27, 2000
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:10 p.m. In
Room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Doug Bereuter
(Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Bereuter. The Subcommittee will come to order.
We meet in open session to consider two measures, H. Con.
Res. 322, relating to Vietnam; and S. Con. Res. 81, relating to
the People's Republic of China's arrest of Rabiya Kadeer.
We will call up first H. Con. Res. 322. This expresses the
sense of the Congress regarding the sacrifices of individuals
who served in the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam,
which the clerk will read.
The Clerk. H. Con. Res. 322, expressing the sense of
Congress regarding Vietnamese Americans and others who seek to
improve social and political conditions in Vietnam.
Whereas on April 30, 1975, Saigon, Vietnam, fell to
Communist forces and the current----
Mr. Bereuter. Without objection, further reading of the
resolution will be dispensed with, printed in the record in
full and open for amendment.
[The information referred appears in the appendix.]
Mr. Bereuter. The resolution was introduced on May 11th by
the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Davis, cosponsored by this and
other Members to recognize the Vietnamese who fought bravely
side by side with U.S. forces in Vietnam and to applaud all
those whose efforts focused international attention on human
rights violations in Vietnam.
Every year on June 19th, the Vietnamese American community
traditionally commemorates those who gave their lives in the
struggle to preserve the freedom of the former Republic of
Vietnam.
During the war, the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam
suffered enormous casualties, including over 250,000 killed and
more than 750,000 wounded. They continued to suffer after the
fighting ended when many were imprisoned and forced to undergo
so-called re-education. They continue their efforts even now,
playing an important role in raising international awareness of
human rights violations in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Earlier this year, thie International Relations Committee
passed and the House approved Mr. Rohrabacher's H. Con. Res.
295 on human rights and political oppression in Vietnam. While
I support Mr. Davis' resolution, there is some inevitable
duplication in the two initiatives. The Chairman will be
offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute, agreed to
by Mr. Davis, which eliminates the duplication with Mr.
Rohrabacher's resolution and focuses this resolution on
commemorating the service and sacrifices of the former members
of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam. This Member
hopes that all of his colleagues will support this laudable
resolution in its substitute form.
I now turn to the Subcommittee's distinguished Ranking
Member, the gentleman from California, Mr. Lantos, for any
comments that he might wish to make. Mr. Lantos.
Mr. Lantos. Mr. Chairman, I associate myself with your
remarks, and I support your position.
Mr. Bereuter. Thank you, Mr. Lantos.
Are there other members who wish to be heard?
Mr. Rohrabacher.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Mr. Chairman, as original Co-sponsor, I
strongly support this resolution by Mr. Davis of Virginia; and
I congratulate the gentleman as well as you, Mr. Chairman, for
this amendment.
I would like to say my able assistant, Al Santoli, who
fought in the Vietnam War and won three Purple Hearts, and I
spent several months in Vietnam in 1967 on various political
operations.
The fact is, those of us who were in Vietnam during the war
and witnessed the situation with the Vietnamese and the post-
war refugee camps after the war crowded with Vietnamese boat
people, many of whom arrived with nothing, nothing from their
homeland, and we have continued to watch the ongoing
development with the Vietnamese community, and let me say that
it has been inspiring for us to see this transition from the
war to being homeless refugees to now being people of great
accomplishment here in the United States of America.
I am especially impressed with the young generation, some
of whom were born in refugee camps, others who were born here,
all of whom are excelling in their studies, and yet they have
not, this younger generation of Vietnamese Americans, forgotten
the cause of freedom in their homeland.
The resolution recognizes the sacrifices of the Vietnamese
Americans who fought in the armed forces of the Republic of
South Vietnam, and it also recognizes the abysmal failure of
the Communist tyrants who have suppressed the Vietnamese people
for the last 25 years. This is a profound bit of evidence for
anyone who has any doubts about the true nature of communism
and also underscores that the Vietnam War, as President Ronald
Reagan described it, was a noble cause.
This resolution, written by Mr. Davis and a member of his
staff, Ms. Uyen Dihn--she herself exemplifies the hard work and
commitment to education and the hard work and commitment to
education of the first generation of Vietnamese Americans. This
offers a tribute to the achievement of new Americans; and her
example and, of course, the example of others should give
encouragement to people everywhere who struggle for freedom and
long for human dignity. Those people fighting that fight need
only to remember the brave Americans and South Vietnamese
soldiers who fought and died to try to preserve freedom in
South Vietnam so many years ago and the success of the
Vietnamese Americans who live under freedom today in the United
States.
Mr. Bereuter. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher.
Any further discussion or statements?
Mr. Hastings. Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bereuter. The gentleman from Florida.
Mr. Hastings. Mr. Chairman, I have no additional statement.
I support the measure as well as your amendment in the nature
of a substitute. I would merely ask that my name be included as
a co-sponsor, if the time is appropriate at this time.
Mr. Bereuter. Thank you. We will ask Mr. Davis for that to
be done.
Mr. Hastings. Thank you.
Mr. Bereuter. I would say, responding to the gentleman from
California, he is certainly right to call attention to the
accomplishments of the Vietnamese Americans today.
My own personal experience with the Vietnamese American
community in part was based upon that of my wife who was
teaching in the Arlington, Virginia, public school system. The
students of Vietnamese American families here succeeded rapidly
in school. The families took jobs no one else wanted and
started family businesses. Their children did remarkably well
in grade and high school and beyond, and they were saving at
two times the rate of other Americans.
In my own district we now have 2,000 or so Vietnamese
Americans living in Lincoln, and many of them or their family
members served in the army of the Republic of Vietnam. As I
held a town hall meeting specifically for them recently with
interpreters, I found that their only questions and concerns
were how to learn English more rapidly and how to be more
adequately employed in our society. It is a remarkable success
story of these refugees and immigrants.
The amendment is open for discussion. The clerk will read
the amendment offered by the Chair.
The Clerk. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.
Con. Res. 322 offered by Mr. Bereuter.
Strike the preamble and insert the following:
Mr. Bereuter. Without objection, the amendment is
considered as read and printed in the record and open for
amendment.
[The information referred to appears in the appendix.]
Mr. Bereuter. This Member worked with Mr. Davis and was
vigilant that this amendment avoided duplication of the
substance of H. Con. Res. 295 authored by Mr. Rohrabacher and
which the House passed. Again this amendment is, to focus
instead on commemorating the sacrifices and services of the
former members of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam.
Are there questions or comments or discussion on the
amendment?
If not, all those in favor of the amendment will say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it.
Are there further amendments?
If no amendments or no further discussion, the question
occurs in agreeing to the resolution as amended. As many as are
in favor will say aye. All those opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it, and the resolution is agreed
to.
Without objection, the staff is authorized to make
technical, grammatical and conforming changes to the text just
agreed to.
The second and remaining order of business is consideration
of S. Con. Res. 81, expressing the sense of the Congress that
the Government of the People's Republic of China should
immediately release Rabiya Kadeer, her secretary, and her son
and permit them to move to the United States if they so desire.
The clerk will read.
The Clerk. S. Con. Res. 81 expressing the sense of Congress
that the Government of the People's Republic of China should
immediately release Rabiya Kadeer, her secretary, and her son,
and permit them to move to the United States if they so desire.
Mr. Bereuter. Without objection, further reading of the
resolution will be dispensed of, printed in the record in full
and open for amendment.
[The information referred to appears in the appendix.]
Mr. Bereuter. S. Con. Res. 81 was introduced by the senior
senator from Delaware, Senator William Roth, and approved by
the Senate on May 2, 2000, and referred to the House Committee
on International Relations on May 3rd.
The resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the
People's Republic of China (PRC) should immediately release
Rabiya Kadeer, her secretary and her son and permit them to
move to the United States if they so desire.
Rabiya Kadeer is a prominent ethnic Uigher from China. Her
husband, who works for Radio Free Asia, and she have five
children, three sisters and a brother living in the United
States. She was arrested in the city of Urumqi as she was
attempting to meet a group of congressional staff staying there
as part of an official visit to China organized under the
auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange
Program of the U.S. Information Agency.
On March 10th, Rabiya Kadeer was sentenced to 8 years in
prison for the crimes of ``illegally giving state information
across the border.'' Her son was sent to a labor camp for 2
years last November for ``supporting Uigher separatism,'' and
her secretary was recently sentenced to 3 years in a labor
camp.
In Rabiya's case, the so-called state information appears
to have consisted essentially of a collection of publicly
available Chinese newspaper articles, speeches, and a list of
prisoners. This case appears to constitute a clear violation of
the international covenant on civil and political rights. This
resolution makes clear the strong sense of the Congress that
Ms. Kadeer should be immediately released and allowed to join
her family in the United States.
This Member urges the Subcommittee to support the
resolution offered by the senior senator from Delaware. I will
tell my colleagues that a similar resolution was introduced in
the House by Mr. Nethercutt of Washington. However, Mr.
Nethercutt agreed that a joint resolution approved by both
bodies is preferable to each body considering a separate
resolution.
I turn to the Subcommittee's Ranking Minority Member, the
distinguished Member from California, for any comments that he
might have.
Mr. Lantos. Mr. Chairman, needless to say, I strongly
support the resolution, but I want us to understand clearly as
we pass this resolution that this tragic case is one of tens of
thousands of the most sickening, outrageous, vicious
expressions of human rights abuses on the part of the Communist
dictatorship in Beijing.
Not long ago, as the Co-chairman of the Congressional Human
Rights Caucus, I chaired a hearing on the most recent abuses of
human rights aimed at Falun Gong practitioners; and a few days
after our hearing an elderly Falun Gong practitioner, a lady,
was killed by the Chinese.
We are conducting a profoundly schizophrenic policy with
respect to China. From time to time, we express naive hopes and
expectations concerning the vast export opportunities which are
present for American businesses, and then the next day we pass
resolutions expressing our anguish and pain over these
outrages.
I have difficulty reconciling in my own mind this
simultaneous dual approach to China. I find it difficult to see
how we can at the same time maintain a business-as-usual
approach to this awful Communistic dictatorship while knowing
about these episodes and incidents which are innumerable.
I am delighted that this has been singled out, and I am
eager that all of us vote for it so we have this on the record.
But this is not even the tip of the iceberg. This is the tip of
the tip of the tip of the iceberg. We are talking about vast
numbers of people--Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, other
ethnic minorities--people who have expressed the slightest
degree of opposition to this truly sickening regime, and yet
business as usual is being conducted.
So I strongly support the resolution without the slightest
illusion that it will make any impact in those quarters of many
of our multinational corporations where, in fact, significant
assistance could be given to those of us who have been in the
vineyards of the human rights struggle. There is a sort of
awkward indifference and embarrassment on the part of much of
American corporate leadership with respect to this whole issue.
This is analogous to people going to church on Sunday and
cheating and robbing and murdering the rest of the 6 days of
the week. That is an unseemly phenomenon. This is an unseemly
phenomenon.
My vote for this is obviously given without any reservation
but with a tremendous degree of cynicism because I do not
believe that these occasional gestures of passing a resolution
deals with the underlying issue. This is a profoundly evil,
corrupt, ruthless, totalitarian regime.
Yesterday, we dealt with their attempt to buy a spy tower
on the Pentagon. We have seen the singularly benign and
nonthreatening group of men and women who belong to the Falun
Gong persecuted with a degree of ruthlessness. His holiness,
the Dali Lama, is still being treated like a criminal; and the
pattern of human rights violations, as the State Department's
own annual report clearly indicates, is getting worse, more
oppressive, more widespread and more appalling. And it is no
wonder that the Chinese leadership ignores and ridicules and
sloughs off all of our efforts along these lines.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bereuter. Thank you, Mr. Lantos.
Are there other Members who wish to be heard?
Mr. Hastings. Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bereuter. The gentleman from Florida.
Mr. Hastings. I would like to associate myself with your
and Mr. Lantos' remarks, and I support it. But in the first
full paragraph of the first page Ms. Kadeer's husband is
referred to as Sidik Rouzi--and I stand to be corrected with
reference to the pronunciation--and then on the second full
paragraph, citing a newspaper, his name is referred to in the
newspaper article as Sidik Haji. I have no quarrel with it. I
just am curious. Is the husband Sidik Rouzi or Haji? Or does it
matter? Or is he both?
Mr. Bereuter. I don't know the answer to that. You raise an
interesting question. We will get to the bottom of it, and if
necessary I will ask for changes, if necessary. We will be in
contact with the Senate to see if the original sponsor of the
resolution has an answer to your inquiry.
[Ms. Kadeer's husband is named Sidik Rouzi. ``Haji'' is an
honorific title.]
Mr. Hastings. Thank you.
Mr. Bereuter. Let me just say, in response to Mr. Lantos, I
hope the gentleman understands that I have nothing but great
respect and admiration for the work that he does on the Human
Rights Caucus as a Co-Chairman. We have recently had a
substantial discussion about relations in light of the
discussions and vote on Permanent Normal Trade Relations
(PNTR); and there is disagreement as to how in fact we can have
impact, even marginal impact on the People's Republic of China
and their conduct with respect to their own citizens.
My own judgment is that the current procedure we have used
in the past is almost insignificant in having any impact and
that we need to act in our national interest and try over a
period of time to have a more positive impact on that society.
I certainly believe we need to put more resources into rule of
law programs, and, hopefully, we will begin to have a
bipartisan consensus on doing that within the Appropriations
Subcommittees involved.
This is the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg, as
the gentleman referred to it, but I do know that from working
with American Citizen John Kamm, who keeps close contact and
aggressively pursues information about high-profile prisoners
in China, I am convinced that we have had an impact on reducing
prisoners' sentences and getting them out of prison in many
cases. But it is a very painful process. This situation
shouldn't exist, and we can agree to that.
If there is no further discussion, the resolution is open
for amendment. Are there amendments?
Hearing none, the question occurs on agreeing to the
resolution, S. Con. Res. 81. As many as are in favor will say
aye. All those opposed will say no.
The ayes have it, and the resolution is agreed to.
Especially in response to Mr. Hastings, without objection,
the staff is authorized to make technical, grammatical and
conforming changes to the text just agreed to.
I thank my colleagues for participating in the markup and
preparing these two resolutions for consideration by the Full
Committee on Thursday. Thank you, gentlemen.
The Subcommittee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:31 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
June 27, 2000
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