Chris Smith: “Madam Speaker, in an emotional appeal before the House Committee on International Relations last Tuesday, the wife of…”

“Madam Speaker, in an emotional appeal before the House Committee on International Relations last Tuesday, the wife of Dr. Li Shaomin and the husband of Dr. Gao Zhan, two highly respected scholars held hostage by the People's Republic of China, asked Congress and the President to leave no stone unturned in securing the release of their loved ones. Also at that hearing, Mike Jendrzejczyk of Human Rights Watch made a number of incisive comments and said, ``The detentions of respected China scholars have sent a shock wave through the international academic community. Many researchers are increasingly worried about the risks of working in China, and have taken extraordinary steps to speak out.'' He noted on April 17, more than 400 leading scholars from 14 countries, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong, all of them who work in the field of China studies, sent a petition to President Jiang Zemin. The authors of the letter noted that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the latter, which was ratified last February, makes it very clear that holding academics and scholars are precluded by international law. Moreover, China's intolerance to free expression will likely deter other academics from pursuing research in the People's Republic of China.”