Text: Rep. Gilman Backs House Resolution on China's Rights Record
(Gilman urges Beijing to meet with Dalai Lama)Failure to condemn China's human rights abuses in the past "has undoubtedly led to the severe crackdown against Christian house churches, against Buddhists in Tibet, Muslims in east Turkistan, and millions of Chinese Falun Gong followers," according to Representative Benjamin Gilman (Republican of New York).
In an April 3 speech to the House of Representatives during debate on House Resolution 56, Gilman, the chairman emeritus of the House International Relations Committee, said it was necessary for the international community to speak out against human rights abuses by the Chinese government.
House Resolution 56 backs the U.S. decision to introduce and solicit support for a resolution at the current United Nations Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva regarding Beijing's human rights record in China and Tibet.
Gilman also urged China's communist rulers to meet with Tibet's Dalai Lama.
"I am particularly concerned that Beijing has continued to stonewall any possible meeting with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama; and unless they reach out and grasp the olive branch that His Holiness offers, the regional instability will continue to grow worse," he said.
Following is the text of Gilman's remarks from the April 3 Congressional Record:
(begin text)
Congressional Record, 3 April 2001Mr. GILMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in strong support of this resolution, House Resolution 56, a resolution urging our Nation's representative to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to move ahead with this resolution at the annual meeting of the Commission in Geneva, a resolution calling upon the People's Republic of China to end its human rights violations in China and in Tibet.
I commend our ranking minority member, the gentleman from California (Mr. LANTOS), for crafting this resolution. I thank our chairwoman, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN), for swiftly bringing it to the floor at this time.
Recently, Madam Speaker, our State Department announced it is going to introduce such a resolution. On February 26, the same day its Human Rights Report was released, the State Department spokesman, Phillip Reeker, said the U.S. decision to go forward with the resolution is based upon the fact that the Chinese government's abysmal human rights record has continued to deteriorate over the past year.
We commend the administration for this decision. Regrettably, Beijing has managed year after year to muzzle the Human Rights Commission by passing a no-action motion on similar resolutions. Accordingly, there is usually no debate on the resolution, and as a result, it almost never comes up for a vote before the Commission.
Unless the international community, our Nation included, finally manages to take a strong stand against Beijing's abuses of human rights, then its leaders will only become more emboldened to take further repressive action against Christians, against Buddhists, Muslims, and other religious groups within that Nation.
Past failure to condemn China has undoubtedly led to the severe crackdown against Christian house churches, against Buddhists in Tibet, Muslims in east Turkistan, and millions of Chinese Falun Gong followers.
Madam Speaker, I am particularly concerned that Beijing has continued to stonewall any possible meeting with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama; and unless they reach out and grasp the olive branch that His Holiness offers, the regional instability will continue to grow worse. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to fully support this resolution, and I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) for yielding the time to me.
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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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