March 24, 1997
On the eve of Vice President Al Gore's trip to China, seven members of
Congress sent the following letter to him.
Bhuchung Tsering
March 19, 1997
The Honorable Albert Gore Jr.
The White House
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Mr. Vice President:
We believe that it is in the U.S. interest to encourage China's integration
as a fully responsible member of the international community. Promoting
the rule of law and respect for internationally recognized human rights is
essential and integral to achieving that objective.
dialogue and discussion can be useful as a means to raise human rights
concerns directly with Chinese leaders, as you have in your previous
meetings with Premier Li Peng and President Jiang Zemin. However, it is
crucial that the U.S. back up its words with actions in order to maintain
credibility with Chinese officials and with other governments. When you
visit China later this month, we urge you to strongly emphasize in your
public and private comments the need for significant concrete steps to
improve human rights. We hope you will urge China's leaders to make
verifiable progress on human rights as well as to strictly comply with
Beijing's commitment to maintain basic freedoms in Hong Kong, prior to any
summit meeting between President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin later
this year.
In January, the State Department released its annual human rights report
for 1996. The report underscored that the PRC government "continued to
commit widespread and well-documented human rights abuses, in violation of
internationally accepted norms, stemming from the authorities' intolerance
of dissent, fear of unrest, and the absence of inadequacy of laws
protecting basic freedoms." The report further stated that in 1996 "all
public dissent against the government was effectively silenced by
intimidation, exile, the imposition of prison terms, administrative
detentions, or house arrest." It concluded that "no dissidents were known
to be active at year's end." Moreover, in noting Chinese government
efforts to quash expressions of protest or criticism, the report observed
that "non-approved religious groups, including Protestant and Catholic
groups... experienced intensified repression."
The State Department singled out China's treatment of Tibetans for
especially sharp comment, noting the "widespread human rights abuses in
Tibet, including instances of death in detention, torture, arbitrary
arrest, detention without public trial, long detention of Tibetan
nationalists for peacefully expressing their religious and political views,
and intensified controls on religion."
We urge you to press for practical measures to improve human rights in
China and Tibet, including but not limited to the following:
Agreement to allow regular access by international humanitarian agencies to
China's prisoners, labor camps, and detention centers;
A decision to allow international observers to attend political trials;
The release of a significant number of arbitrarily detained prisoners,
including pro-democracy activists, religious activists, labor organizers,
Tibetans and others;
A decision to open Tibet to regular, unrestricted access by American
journalists and international human rights monitors;
Ratification of two important human rights conventions, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
We appreciate you taking our views into consideration and look forward to
your response.
Sincerely
Paul D. Wellstone
Patrick J. Leahy
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Russell D. Feingold
Alfonse M. D'Amato
Bob Graham
Tom Harkin
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The International Campaign for Tibet
1825 K St. N.W, Suite 520
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: +1 (202) 785-1515 / Fax: +1 (202) 785-4343
E-mail: ict@peacenet.org / Internet: http://www.peacenet.org/ict
Non-profit, Tibet advocacy group
Stand up for Religious Freedom & the Panchen Lama. Join the Dalai Lama for
an Interfaith service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on
April 24 evening. Contact ICT for details.
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