U.S. Dept. of State - IIP: The United States and China

Text: House Approves Resolution on China School Explosion
(House passes H. Res. 121 as amended by Rep. Smith)

Representative Christopher Smith (Republican of New Jersey) obtained bipartisan approval in the House of Representatives July 23 for an amended version of a resolution on the March 6, 2001 explosion at the Fanglin elementary school in China's Jianxi province.

House Resolution 121 (H. Res. 121) expresses the condolences of the House of Representatives to the families of the 42 people -- including 37 children --killed in the explosion. According to the resolution, "the children, all between the ages of 9 and 11, were being forced by elementary school officials to manufacture fireworks when this tragedy occurred."

"This systematic exploitation of children in the elementary school was not only known about but actually organized by individuals holding official responsibilities with the local Chinese Government," the resolution adds.

The resolution also pays tribute to Chinese and international journalists "who reported the true cause of the explosion in response to the Chinese Communist Party's original attempts to put forward an 'authorized', but false, version of the events."

Smith, a long-time critic of human rights abuses by the Beijing regime, noted how communist officials first denied there was forced labor at the elementary school, then put forth a story of a madman who supposedly went into the school and set off an explosion there.

"The forced labor and child labor condoned by the government of the People's Republic of China violates several conventions of the International Labor Organization; but, unfortunately, the ILO has no enforcement powers," Smith told his colleagues.

"For now all we can do is express our deep condolences to the parents and thank the journalists who risked their lives and their freedom to report the story," Smith said.

Following are the texts of Representative Smith's speech from the Congressional Record and H. Res. 121 as amended:

EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES OF HOUSE
TO FAMILIES OF PEOPLE KILLED IN
FANGLIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EXPLOSION
IN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

House of Representatives
July 23, 2001

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to send our condolences to the survivors of those who died. Let me say briefly, Mr. Speaker, 10-year-old Zhang Yanhong was a good student; and she always listened to her teachers. As a result, on March 6 of this year she and 36 other of her third and fourth grade classmates all lost their lives.

For years, the parents of the children in the Fanglin elementary school which is in the small village 480 miles southwest of Shanghai, had complained that their children were being forced by school officials to manufacture large firecrackers at school. Every day, the young children were required to spend hours mounting fuses and detonators into the firecrackers that were then sold by local Communist party officials. The underpaid teachers and government officials running the child labor scheme also set a sliding production quota in order to maximize their profits. It started at 1,000 firecrackers per day for the youngest children and reached 10,000 firecrackers per day for the fifth graders.

Mr. Speaker, something terrible was bound to happen and soon it did. On a Tuesday afternoon, the firecrackers exploded in the elementary school and took the lives of 42 people including 37 young children.

Chinese Prime Minister Zhu immediately denied that there had been any forced labor involved in Fanglin. Instead, Communist party officials invented a story about a mad man who entered the school and set off the explosion as part of his suicide attempt.

According to news accounts, Communist Party officials blocked off roads into the village to prevent journalists from seeing the scene of the accident for themselves and interviewing residents. Residents who let journalists through the roadblocks anyway were reportedly arrested, and some families had their telephones disconnected to prevent contact with the outside world.

However, thanks to the brave and determined reporting of both Chinese and international journalists, and to the parents of the children, many of whom refused to go along with the official cover-up of the deaths of their loved ones, Prime Minister Zhu was forced to eventually acknowledge what really happened and apologize in a nationally broadcast message.

The forced labor and child labor condoned by the government of the People's Republic of China violates several conventions of the International Labor Organization; but, unfortunately, the ILO has no enforcement powers. For now all we can do is express our deep condolences to the parents and thank the journalists who risked their lives and their freedom to report the story.

Whereas on March 6, 2001, an explosion at the Fanglin elementary school in the Jianxi province of the People's Republic of China's killed at least 42 people, including 37 children;

Whereas the children, all between the ages of 9 and 11, were being forced by elementary school officials to manufacture fireworks when this tragedy occurred;

Whereas the parents of the deceased children report that the mandatory labor, which involved mounting fuses and detonators into large firecrackers, had been a daily practice at the school for years;

Whereas this systematic exploitation of children in the elementary school was not only known about but actually organized by individuals holding official responsibilities with the local Chinese Government; and

Whereas Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji has taken the important step of acknowledging these violations of internationally recognized labor standards: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives --

(1) expresses its sincerest condolences to the families of the 42 people killed in the March 6, 2001, explosion at the Fanglin elementary school in the Jianxi province of the People's Republic of China, including to the parents and families of the 37 young children who lost their lives as a result of this dangerous and forced child labor; and

(2) expresses its gratitude to the Chinese and international journalists who reported the true cause of the explosion in response to the Chinese Communist Party's original attempts to put forward an `authorized', but false, version of the events.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)