Congressional-Executive Commission on China

15 Years After Tiananmen: Is Democracy in China's Future?
June 3,  2004

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold a full hearing, with the theme "15 Years After Tiananmen:  Is Democracy in China's Future?" on Thursday, June 3, 2004, from 10:00 AM until 12:00 Noon in Room SD-419 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.  This hearing will both commemorate the 15^th anniversary of the suppression of the democracy movement in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, examine its legacy, and look ahead to assess whether this anniversary might prompt official reassessment of Tiananmen and begin a process of  political liberalization.

Background

On the night of June 3 and early morning of June 4, 1989, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) violently ended the "Beijing Spring," the massive student-led demonstrations that had dominated Tiananmen Square and environs in central Beijing since mid-April.  International news coverage of the protests and the PLA brutality that ended them etched powerful images into the world's consciousness that remain vivid until the present day.  In the 15 years since, China has changed in many ways, but the Communist Party leadership has not tolerated new challenges to its dominance.

Yet the Chinese people also retain indelible memories of the promise of the "Beijing Spring" and its cataclysmic end.  In March 2004, for example, Dr. Jiang Yanhong, a respected physician and retired army general, wrote a remarkable letter to China's leaders calling for an official reassessment of the 1989 student and workers' movement, which the Party and government had quickly labeled a "counter-revolutionary rebellion."  Dr. Jiang's letter described in painful detail his efforts to save wounded students shot by soldiers, and ends:  "I believe that correct assessment of the "June 4^th incident" is what people want in their hearts; it cannot cause them to turn to chaos and rebellion."

Members of the Commission

Congressman Jim Leach, Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China
Senator Chuck Hagel, Co-Chairman, Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China
Congressman Pitts, U.S. House of Representatives

The witnesses are:

Panel 1

Randall Schriver
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Department of State, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Schriver is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for U.S. relations with the PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia.  Before taking on these responsibilities in 2003, he served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. He joined the Department of State in March 2001.

Mr. Schriver has been an independent consultant who worked on projects for Armitage Associates and SAIC; a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.; and was Senior Country Director for the PRC, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Before serving in the Defense Department as a civilian, he served as an active duty U.S. Navy officer.

Panel 2

Wang Youcai
Former Student Leader

A top student leader during the 1989 democracy movement, Mr. Wang was imprisoned repeatedly in China for his pro-democracy activities.  In March 2004, the Chinese government released him on medical parole and allowed him to travel to the United States for treatment.  He now lives in Somerville, MA.

Lu Jinghua
Former Worker's Federation Leader

A former garment worker, Ms. Lu was among the few women active in the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.  After the military crackdown, she was on the government's Most Wanted list, one of only four woman out of 40 dissidents on the list..  She escaped from China in 1989, and now lives in New York City, where she sells real estate.  Ms. Lu currently serves as Vice President of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy, an association of Chinese-born political activists who live overseas.

Andrew J. Nathan

Dr. Nathan is the Class of 1919 Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University in New York City.  His published works include China's Transition, China's New Rulers: The Secret Files, and The Tiananmen Papers.  Dr. Nathan's teaching and research interests include Chinese politics and foreign policy, the comparative study of political participation and political culture, and human rights. (additional submission PDF )

Sharon Hom

Ms. Hom is Executive Director of Human Rights in China and Professor of Law Emeritus at the City University of New York School of Law.  She sits on the advisory board of Human Rights Watch/Asia and on the Committees on Asian Affairs and International Human Rights of the Bar Association of the City of New York.  Her writing and research have focused on Chinese legal studies, international women's and human rights and critical legal theory.  Her books include a co-edited English-Chinese Lexicon of Women and Law, and an edited volume, Chinese Women Traversing Diaspora: Memoirs, Essays, and Poetry.

Transcripts:

Fifteen Years After Tiananmen: is Democracy in China's Future?  (Text)

Fifteen Years After Tiananmen: is Democracy in China's Future?  (PDF)