CECC Cochairman Sander Levin's Opening Statement at Hearing on The 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests

Congressional-Executive Commission on China | www.cecc.gov

Statement of U.S. Representative Sander Levin
Cochairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Hearing on "The 20th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests:
Examining the Significance of the 1989 Demonstrations and Implications for U.S. Policy"

June 4, 2009

(Washington, DC)—Two decades ago, the Chinese people stood up at Tiananmen, but China's leaders ordered them to stand down. Many defied that order, choosing instead to remain faithful to their democratic aspirations. The world took note. And we preserve that memory for history today.

In the last 20 years since Tiananmen Square, the significance of the U.S.-China relationship has grown dramatically – on a variety of foreign policy issues and in our economic relations. In pursuing these relations successfully, a key challenge has been to find the right combination factors in pursuit of basic American values.

That was a challenge in consideration of trade relations with China in its accession to the WTO. There was incorporated in the legislation before Congress in 2000 the creation of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to pursue issues relating to human rights, including labor rights, and the rule of law. The Commission actively has engaged on these issues and has issued a comprehensive report every year since its inception.

When peaceful protesters gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989—and in over 100 other Chinese cities—it represented a burst of freedom. But after thousands of armed forces moved into Beijing, and surrounded protesters—students, government employees, journalists, workers, and police alike— bursts of gunfire killed that burst of freedom on June 4, 1989. Training its firepower directly into the crowds around Tiananmen Square, the People’s Liberation Army killed and injured thousands of unarmed civilians.

We express our sympathy to the relatives and friends of those killed on that day, and we stand with them today as we honor the memory and the courage of those whose lives were lost, of those who were unjustly wounded or detained, and those who continue to suffer today, including prisoners of conscience still languishing in Chinese prisons.

We have asked our distinguished panelists here today in part to help us determine whether we ever will or even can know the exact number of dead, wounded and detained. As we ask China’s leaders for full and independent investigations into the Tiananmen Square crackdown with a full commitment to openness, we turn to you to help us understand whether there can be any realistic cause for optimism that such a public accounting can or will take place.

As we call on Chinese authorities to release those individuals imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their internationally-recognized rights, we ask you to help us better understand what else we may do to enhance the prospects that the Chinese authorities will respond appropriately. When we call on Chinese authorities to end the harassment and detention of those who were involved in the 1989 protests; and to end the harassment and detention of those who continue to advocate peacefully for political reform, we ask you to help us identify the factors that most determine the nature of the response we realistically may expect from Chinese authorities.

But let us be absolutely clear: in all of this, we ask of China nothing that is inconsistent with commitments to international standards to which China in principal already has agreed. So we are not looking for more agreements. We are waiting for action. We are looking for China’s leaders to demonstrate true commitment, not just in words but in deeds, to prioritizing human rights, including worker rights, and the development of the rule of law in no lesser measure than they have prioritized economic reform.

The first meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington DC during the last week of July 2009, provides an important opportunity to underline how the challenges of protecting and advancing the welfare of citizens—American and Chinese citizens alike—must neither be separated nor distinguished from a demonstrated and full commitment to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, anti-corruption, democratic processes, and other fundamental human rights.

In closing, I note again that, two decades ago, the Chinese people stood up at Tiananmen, but China's leaders ordered them to stand down. Many defied that order, choosing instead to remain faithful to their democratic aspirations. We must preserve that memory for history today. To remain faithful to our pursuit of basic American values, we must do nothing less. If we do not, the world will take note.

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