Elijah Lewis: “I do not propose cutting off relations with China, but I simply cannot accept the situation as it is with China today.…”

“I do not propose cutting off relations with China, but I simply cannot accept the situation as it is with China today. We cannot stand by while innocent people in China and Tibet are fighting and dying for democracy. Thousands of innocent Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists are dying in Chinese gulags. Millions of Chinese women are not allowed to plan their own families. They are not allowed to make the most basic, the most private decisions. The Chinese Government intrudes on families, their beliefs, their lives. They are desperate for our help. Yet we do not help. We continue business as usual. The abuse of human rights continues. And the United States renews MFN. China will not work with the community of nations to stop nuclear proliferation. And the United States renews MFN. Business as usual. Trade as usual. We cannot accept and we must not accept what is happening in China. To quote Gandhi, ``Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.'' We can never forget Tiananmen Square. Those students bravely stood for democracy, and they were slaughtered. I was a student once, fighting for what I believed, I was fighting for a nation free of racism, free of segregation. During the 1960's, some among us were jailed and beaten during that struggle. Some even died. Schwerner. Goodman. Chaney. Three young men gave their lives so that others could register and vote, so that others could participate in the democratic process.”