On the recordMay 28, 2014
And I rise in strong support of H. Res. 599, urging the Government of the People's Republic of China to respect the freedom of assembly, expression, religion, and all fundamental human rights of its citizens. {time} 1645 I would like to begin by thanking Mr. Smith for his leadership on this issue. I would also would like to thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and the entire Committee on Foreign Affairs for the bipartisan manner with which we continue to work to shed light upon the gross violation of human and political rights in China. Mr. Speaker, next week we will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, where hundreds of student protestors demanding political and economic reforms were murdered. Today the image of an unknown man standing in peaceful protest to government tanks rolling into Tiananmen Square is among the most iconic of the 20th century and continues to serve as a source of inspiration to political and human rights advocates around the world. Unfortunately, many in China will never know of this sad chapter of Chinese history. The Communist Party of China is determined to erase all memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre from national memory. The Chinese Government continues to block all uncensored Internet Web sites and blogs related to the events of June 3 and June 4, 1989, and willfully distributes misinformation to its people.…
