Benjamin Gilman: “I commend the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey) for taking the time to craft this very timely and important…”

“I commend the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey) for taking the time to craft this very timely and important resolution. H. Con. Res. 285 expresses a sense of the Congress that the President should reconsider his decision to be formally received in Tiananmen Square in the People's Republic of China by the government of the People's Republic of China. In light of China's actions in Tiananmen Square 9 years ago, it would be inappropriate for the President to go there. That square was the site where thousands of students and workers who held up a replica of the Statue of Liberty and looked towards our Nation for support were brutally gunned down and run over by the tanks in the People's Liberation Army. Subsequent to that unforgivable crime against their own people, authorities within the PLA tried to smuggle to Los Angeles, to the street gangs here, Stinger missiles and thousands of AK-47s. The People's Liberation Army runs a vast network of prisons and labor camps throughout China and occupied Tibet and holds untold numbers of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists for attempting to practice their religion without authorization from the state. The People's Liberation Army threatens democratic Taiwan and fuels the nuclear arms race in South Asia by transferring nuclear and ballistic missile technology to Pakistan.”