today are in the spirit of humility as america faces their own problems. those of drugs, violence, tomography -- pornography. discrimination among others. my interest is not to be but to recognize how china and united states can and must in prove their cultures. my honesty about china is consistent with my honesty about my own country. i would like to thank the witnesses for appearing before us today. i look forward to your testimony and i'm grateful to chairman smith for calling the searing. goodank you very much very like to yield to my distinguished friend from texas, mr. weber. >>.gov or calling the searing -- thank you for calling this hearing. there is probably no greater

torture than believing you have to maintain control on other human beings by weaponry and by those kinds of cowardly acts that we witnessed in tiananmen square. the chinese totalitarian government must not be allowed to last. democracy must prevail and be the order of the day. on us, especially with chairman smith at the helm, to be steadfast and to be your friends in the fight for keeping liberty and freedom on the forefront. for being that example, having that courage, the guts, the fortitude. you are an inspiration to us.

.emocracy will flourish of freedom will survive because of you and others like you. i thank you for being here and thank you for your courage, your willingness to participate, and don't ever. thank you very much. i yield back. >> thank you. i can't believe it has been 25 years. it has gone by rather quick in a way. i think our chairman for fighting for individuals who want freedom. 25 years ago, in tiananmen square, they built a statue of liberty. many of my friends were excited that the chinese people would be free.

much to our dismay, the government hired, i believe that this is a wreck, they could not ,se local -- this is correct they could not use local military men so they got people from the countryside and they said they used amphetamines and thanks to hype them up. i think there needs to be a distinction between the government and the people. the government has made statements that the united states hates chinese people, that we do not respect them. that is not true. to the contrary, we appreciate the long history of china. we appreciate the warm and gracious people of china. aat we don't appreciate is small collective of people to impose their will by force on others. years ago, to be quite frank with you and my colleagues, i think we let you down. our response was wrong. we did not speak up.

it reminds a back in germany when there was another government taking over and pushing people around. at the end of it, they said by the time they came for me, there was no one left speak up. wille these hearings today demonstrate that we are still willing to speak up. i heard a very compelling story about the mothers of tiananmen square that lost their loved ones. they said that after many years, we still have hope that china will redirect its compassion for his own people. this is a story about compassion that the government needs to have on its people. nation. with our we will not make the same mistakes we did 25 years ago. we will stand with you in words butwork, not just twitter in actual action. i yield back my time. i would like to yield to my

friend, mr. meadows. >> thank you for being here today. some, as they would report this, it is another hearing on tiananmen. it is another hearing on china. here, iry brief tenure have probably been in at least six or seven different hearings that talk about human rights violations in china, specifically three or four on this particular anniversary that we are about to recognize here in a couple of days. smithould say, chairman continues to have hearings over and over again and what does -- what good does that have? what effect does that have? and yet, i would like to remind those of you who are here to testify today to not give up hope because there was a young woman by the name of william

that,force many years ago day in and day out, fought to abolish slavery. some 17 or 18 years, he would come and petition his government on behalf of a blight on our history that we know today is slavery. we also note the rest of the story. william wilberforce eventually prevailed because, day in and day out, it was a calling. it is the same with our chairman. it is the same with many of us here in congress that we will continue to fight until human trafficking, human rights abuses, and really, the freedoms of many people, not only in china, but in our own country, have died for.

we have a very good reminder is .e just passed memorial day we have a number of our veterans who fought for freedom, many of them giving the ultimate sacrifice for a people they would never meet, for a people that would never be able to say thank you. on behalf of them, i am proud to stand with our chairman to continue the fight in this effort to make sure this does not happen again. , the greatest way that we can diminish what happened with the five years ago -- 25 years ago is to allow the future to be a new future for isan rights respect for life not only encouraged, but lifted up. i thank you for your boldness to be here and your efforts and i yield back. >> we are joined by chairman of

the europe, eurasia, and emerging threat subcommittee. >> thank you very much. i want to thank you, mr. chairman. this man is such a road champion of human rights and he has dedicated his life. there are people all over the world who would not the alive today and there will be freedom movements that would have no hope of success if it was not for the dynamic energy that you put into this here in congress. i am very pleased to sit with youand actually work with and grateful for your leadership. we are commemorating and looking at what happened to the five years ago -- 25 years ago. a dramatic impact on

the life that we live today in the united states. and of course, the people of china. i believe it had ronald reagan -- i worked with reagan in the white house. i was a speech writer for president reagan for seven years. had he president -- then president of the united states, it would be a different world and china would be a different voice. it is a disgrace that the united states did not make the leadership of the communist pay for for the crime -- the crime they committed against the people of china. i believe that the president of the united states at that time, herbert walker bush, but the ownership of the communist party know that if they massacred the people in tiananmen square, there would be a major price to

play -- pay. it would not have taken place and there would not only be democracy in china, but the world would be a safer, place. the communist party of china and perpetrators have still not paid a price. china topermit basically enrich itself with chinese leadership in rich in itself in suppressing the people at china and we, as americans who love freedom, are not taking a stand and making it real, making our words real. you can talk about freedom all day long. there is a saying -- don't talk about saving the oppressed unless you're willing to take on the opera sir -- oppressor. we have never been willing to do that. mr. chairman, with your leadership, maybe we can bolster

that commitment around the world so that we will take on these tinpot dictators and these monstrous regimes like in china today. thank you. >> thank you for your comments and your leadership. helps write speeches for ronald reagan, and he had some of the finest and most in-depth speeches of any president that had meaning behind it. it was not empty words. to have one of the men who wrote the speeches here and beating of human rights is a huge honor. i would like to introduce our five extraordinary leaders who were there at tiananmen square, yangning first with jiang-li. china in 2002. he was promptly arrested and

held as a political prisoner for five years. now a u.s. resident, he continues to do promote democracy in china through leadership roles in the chinese democracy movement, and the interethnic, interfaith conference. he has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work. i would like to note that back clinton president unwisely invited the defense minister of china to the white house. commander operational of the forces that fired upon, bayoneted, and killed and maimed so many students and democracy activists. i protested it, as did many others. president clinton gave him a 19

gun salute at the white house. he should have sent him to the hague for crimes against amenity, but gave him all of his honors. while he was here, he went to the army were conference and a young officer asked about bull dying on tiananmen square. he replied that nobody died at tiananmen square great two days later, i put together an emergency hearing. was there and bore witness. i have his word. i will put the full statement into the record. saw many about how he people killed. i was on a bike and walking with students who had retreated from the square. as we arrived on the street, we saw four tanks arriving from the square going west at high speeds. the two tanks were chasing students. they ran over bodies.

everyone was screaming. we counted 11 bodies. a third tank shot tear gas and hit four or five people with machine guns. we invited the minister and anyone they would like to explain the egregious lie he made while in washington. we had an empty chair sitting there. thank you for that and i will put your full statement in this record because past is roll up. -- past is prologue. from yan xiongar . a chaplain in the united states 21y, and was placed on the most wanted students list. he was promptly arrested and imprisoned for 19 months. asylumgranted a little in 1992, joined the u.s. army in 1994, and commissioned an army

chaplain in thousand three. he continues his commitment to the moxie in china. most notably through his stream your chairmanship of the party of freedom and democracy in china and the second party representative conference. chai ling.r from having known her since she was released, she is a modern-day her, speaking truth. she is the founder of all girls dedicatedorganization to exposing human rights abuses caused by china's one child only policy. she was named one of chinese government's 21 most wanted students following the massacre. she fled from china to hong kong.

she ultimately sought asylum in the u.s.. she has been nominated for the nobel peace prize two times. she is also the founding president of a higher education software company and its associated humanitarian aid foundation. zhoull then hear from fengsuo. another key student leader in the 1989 democratic movement in tiananmen square. 21 zhou was placed on the most wanted students list and arrested following the massacre. he was imprisoned for a year. after coming to the united advocatee continued to for freedom. he was the leading plaintiff in a class-action suit against the premier of china during the massacre for crimes against

humanity. as theu also served president of the chinese educational foundation. chen e will hear from qinglin. mr. chen was imprisoned for six years after the massacre. 303s one of the first signers of the wonderful human rights measure called charter 08. 2010, he led the program of psychosocial support for domestic human rights, a chinese organization that provides psychological services for chinese human rights defenders who have been tortured by the government. i point out parenthetically as the sponsor of the torture victims relief act, the current law that deals with those who have been tortured and the ptsd they suffer.

his initiative to do with the scars, especially the emotional scars, both those who bear unbelievable torture at the hands of the chinese dictatorship has helped many people get some severance -- semblance of normality to their lives. he came to the u.s. in 2014 two pursue academic pursuits. >> mr. chairman, thank you for this hearing. as far as i cannot remember, this is the 15th hearing you've posted -- hosted on human rights issues in china. thank you very much for your leadership. actions along with the other congressional leaders made clear that we have been not been fighting alone. thank you very much for your leadership and your unwavering

support. i would not repeat myself on my personal account of the tiananmen massacre. instead, i will try to provide you, mr. chairman and other congressional leaders, a window through which you will probably be helps to understand better the political situation in china and the direction it is taking. 25 years ago, the chinese students and citizens in beijing and across china demanded a clean government and the freedom of expression and media. but today, the conditions in these areas are much worse than before in many ways. for example, when the new 2013,ship took power in it issued a secret document which boils down to this. we must note -- "

allow the sending opinions that oppose the theory. the publication of these contrary positions that represent potential leadership or the spread of a little rumor that hurt the image of the party were nation." likeunds like something out of the dark ages but it has happened in china. china has fallen into its own dark age. party started a systematic, mafia-style operation to silence any dissenting oyster by physically removing democracy and human rights activists through massive arrests, disappearances, severe sentences, but more seriously, it has launched a campaign to control the chinese people's minds.

the party state openly announces and thences the west political system which we all cherish. it longs to eradicate the seven , including western constitutional democracy, universal values of the human rights, independent press, and a civil society. this campaign to completely reject the western ideas is actually an essential part of in'shing been -- li quinp idea. -- which the students of tiananmen square demanded 25 years ago. i have to report to you that two

detained.have been they are --, who you may already know, and a gentleman, and author of several influential high-ranking official detained. there was a chance 25 years ago or political -- for political reform and aps will -- and a peaceful transition to democracy. keqiang's denial of free thought, that chance is gone. the questions united states must ask is can an oppressive party state that ruthlessly kills its own people silence any and deniesvoice,

freedom,tellectually be peaceful? mr. chairman, to me the answer is pretty clear. china has already extended its domestic brutality and ruthlessness into the international arena by ruling its neighbors. without democracy, it will not arrive peacefully. finally, i asked to submit a document nine for the record. without any objection. we will make part of the record and i thank you so much. majord like to yield to yan xiong.

separate good morning. thank you for an inviting me to be here today. i would like to take a moment to reiterate that i am here today in my personal capacity. what i say today does not the views of the army or the parliament -- the department of defense. s,airman smith, ranking member members of the committee. thank you for inviting me to testify today. in remembrance of the event at ofnanmen square in june 1989. my own experience of that historic event remains vivid in

my memory. on the evening of june 3, 1989, i was at a big university listening to a radio broadcast that described the events taking place. military troops had marched into the forbidden city and opened fire on citizens and students. immediately, a friend and i wrote our bicycles towards tiananmen square. after three miles, when we passed by the people of the university, we saw thousands of people and students holding preventingrm a wall people from passing them. they shouted at people who try to break through. don't go. they will kill you. ientually, my friend and

forced ourselves past the barrier and continued towards tiananmen square. as we went, we found more people had formed a human wall and they tried to persuade anyone going towards the danger. however, i felt i had to go since i was one of the student leaders who initiated the democratic movement. to force our way through the people, we had to abandon our bicycles and make our way on foot. as we approached, we saw the people's liberation army had tanks, vehicles, troops moving into tiananmen square. soldiers with helmets and ak-47's were randomly shooting at protesters. they chanted a slogan and tried to hold their ground.

forward innd i crept front of bullets, shooting, crying, and a tank. as we continue to move forward, we saw horrific things. students and citizens who were both wounded and dying. first data niner member having feelings of helplessness. few knew first aid and i remember having feelings of helplessness. i called the beijing news radio station to tell the truth, that the pla soldiers had opened fire on students and citizens and 100 were killed.

continue to relay information to the radio station until the early morning, early hours of the morning. after the protest was broken up, i was put on the list of the most wanted student leaders. after my capture, i endured yearly two years in a chinese prison. --, witht until after the help of an underground church member, i began my journey in the christian faith. i arrived in the united states in 1992. two weeks later, i was able to celebrate the fourth of july. i saw been the meaning of freedom -- then the meaning of freedom. thefreedom of expression, freedom of religion, and the freedom from fear that all americans enjoy. of my baptisme

as a christian, i also found the freedom that a loving god provides. as a commissioned officer in the united states, i serve to protect these freedoms. as an army chaplain, my job is to ensuremy commander that all members of the army family receive their religious fullyt they need to exercise their faith according to the constitution. as we mark the 25th year since the tiananmen massacre, i am very thankful that the united states continues to remember and honor the lives that were lost and continue to promote the struggle for democracy and freedom in our world. that the lives taken at tiananmen square will

continue to live on in our , to continuespire working towards a better world, free from tyranny and persecution, that upholds the rights and freedom for all the people. thank you all for your hearing. >> chaplain, thank you so very much for your testimony. to chailike to yield ling. >> thank you, honorable members of the committee of foreign affairs. take you for holding this hearing. chairman smith, thank you for your tireless efforts for upholding human rights for all the people in china and in the it hasnd today, we know a new name and that is called christmas.

to thank my lord, jesus christ, and savior. it is him that led me to the truth that i can be testifying today on the hope for a new china. my message is a china dream through jesus. up i want to thank my husband, bob, and our board members and have made an effort to be here to commemorate and support me in a special journey on this unique anniversary date. what kind of freedom that we want from china 25 years ago at tiananmen? what is there hope today for freedom? how can the china dream it be achieved? freedom we wanted in china 25 years ago was freedom from fear, injustice, from lies and deceit, from

wrongful imprisonment and false accusation. i want to use three stories of real people's lives to illustrate what it was like without that freedom. this is a young woman. she was sexually assaulted by her family members, became homeless, sold as a bright, lead, beating, and rate i heard abuser. she was beaten to half-debt. in self-defense, she killed her abuser but she was executed at the young age of 20. another case is a young woman. she was 20 years old. she was accused of carrying drugs for her boyfriend and was killed. she became the youngest female in china to be executed in the last 50 years. the third case is the story of

-- dragged2, 2012, she was into a forced abortion clinic. a poison injection was put into her tummy and her baby was killed. she was devastated. is not just these three women are story. it is a story for every chinese woman. struggle still continues to put the people in china free. there is no accountability for the leaders who ordered the killing of a thousand people. the familybility for planning committee people who killed over 400 million babies and continue to do so today. 25 years later, no accountability for communist party officials and family

members who have enriched themselves at the expense of the chinese people. the days of justice are coming soon. why do i say so? what is our hope for freedom today? china's former reformer leader was advocating for three reforms. economical, political, as virtual -- and spiritual. china today has become a dictatorship with no political reform. this fight the forced abortions chinaligious prosecution, is going through a search will revival or it the human heart by materialtisfied possession. as jesus said, man does not live

on bread alone. china's modernization has left a moral vacuum, filled with corruption and greed. however, the prescription for these things, the new china dream, are more of the same. building a national dream on the basis of sacrificing individual rights. communism, despite its beautiful prominences for equality and promises for equality and happiness, only delivers death and destruction. that is a painful truth we discovered on the night of june 3 and morning of june 4. beliefety built on the system of denying god and denying god's rushes creations -- precious creation can bring life for hope. we do rejoice when we hear president xi talk about the new china dream. a great revival for the nation

of china. he came to power, he talked about how to transfer china into freedom and democracy. for a reason unknown, he lost his way. i want to come along to offer truth i havethe discovered after spending 48 years of searching at the great cost of many sacrifices. that truth is jesus is the way. the truth and the life. comes to god except through jesus. my journey of this research and discovery has been written into my book. anyone here who is interested can have a free copy. the vision we have for china posturing is esta -- that is not established by god will look like the following. one family under god.

one church, one community under god. one nation under god. one world under god. i do want to be clear. this is not about forcing religion on anybody, but allowing people to freely choose god and exercise our beliefs. i will explain about the bigger picture in details later if i have the opportunity. the cornerstone of the society will be love. it will be love god, love ourselves, and love others as we love ourselves. it is the 10 commandments. how can we achieve the china dream? china's leaders have a great opportunity to achieve this god-given china dream. we applaud the president's father for reportedly standing up against the massacre. we applaud president xi recent reforms on china's human rights

practices, including the -- including merging the ministry of health and the population planning committee. it is a space-saving way of abolishing the -- army. we encourage that he continues to remove all restrictions to a be fruitful and multiply policy. we also applaud him for abolishing the labor camp systems. these are great beginnings towards righteousness and justice. unlike the past 25 years, our hope was loosely misplaced on various leaders' actions. not anymore. but this year marked a new beginning that our hope is no longer rooted in any leaders or any individuals, but in god alone. if it is god's will to free

china, he alone can account us god speaks through china's stream -- china's stream in isaiah. us, a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty god, prince of peace. of the greatness of his government, the peace will be no and. he will reign on david's's thrown and establish and uphold it with justice and right mrs. -- righteousness from that time on and forever. that child is jesus. he was born 2000 years ago. the promise of a just nation is not depending on any free will choice between good and evil, but the zeal in the faith and trust of almighty god. that is where our hope lies.

-- has indeed accomplishment accomplished it. we jesus died for humanity, his last words were "it is finished. the task of freeing china is already finished. hands of an the leader, but in the minds of the theye and decide whether want to choose jesus and be set free. i made the decision to choose jesus for .5 years ago. a dear friend took me to a prayer meeting event on the june 4 anniversary 25 years ago and xmas later, i offered my soul of the lord today. six months later, got allowed things to happen. exactly six months later, he brought me to him. that was not an easy decision, but i can testify despite the fact that today, i still could not go back to china, despite

that the regime of china has not changed, despite the fact the future remains uncertain and , but jesus hasn set me free and i am free physically, emotionally, and spiritually. god has no favoritism. the same choices available to all. where the spirit of the lord is, there is liberty. today is my fervent prayer that the leader of china will choose freedom and embrace political and spiritual reform. there is no force on earth that can stop god's work to bring freedom to his people. not do that could and neither could the babylonians. a chinese communist is no match for the will of almighty god. they can continue to choose to do nothing. >> we're going to have to -- >> yes.

i know. i am sorry. >> we do have questions coming up. i will finish the rest later. thank you. >> i appreciate your testimony. zhou fengsuohat proceed. >> mr. chairman and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to this event. remembrancey for and a celebration. committeethink this for being such a powerful voice for freedom in china. not only today, but for many years in the past, and especially to mr. smith. my name is zhou fengsuo. agreed -- they

freedom we enjoy as americans. 25 years ago, i was deeply involved in organizing demonstration on tiananmen square. it is the greatest honor of my life that the communist , which made up of 21,list of the tiananmen designated me as number five on the list. that was the first time my name showed up in any media. , did not deserve that honor for there are many others who i know worked harder and thought more bravely, but i will always be proud of of the work in helping organize the tiananmen

protests. i was responsible for building provide the that while dashboard while people were pouring in from all corners of beijing. there were no traffic accidents, ever. through that network, many people for the first time in their lives, were able to speak up their hopes for a better china. their love for freedom and a festival of was hope and freedom. that is what i will never forget. i firmly believe when the history books of the 21st

century are written, these protests will be seen as a major step in bringing china to freedom and democracy. i know it will come. that is why for many years, for years,t 45 years, -- 25 there are people in china who risk their life, their freedom, to commemorate the dream and the sacrifice of the tiananmen protests. believefreedom, which i you, the chairman and the members of the committee, will bring about, just as ronald reagan did to the soviet union, will not only bring freedom to people of china, perhaps even the importantly, it will be

peace and freedom it will bring for the people of the world. that willst issue confront the nature of the 21st century will be the question of whether democracy and freedom come to china. if china is free, the 21st century would likely be defined by competition to see who builds a better cars and computers. if china remains a dictatorship, it could be even bloodier than the 20th century. here today isight not only a fight for the people of china. it is a fight for the people -- the freedom of our children. it is a fight for whether our children will live in a world of these and freedom were in a world of censorship. these are the large questions that we are dealing with, but

-- somee some countries the congress can take. the first step is internet freedom. as the communist regime realizes, the very life of the communist ruling depends on the firewall,ted by the the internet firewall. that is even more important than the armies in the jails in china. any measure that we can take to promote internet freedom, technologies that help circumvent the firewall. we will bring truth to china. every year, i meet young

chinese. this year, many teenagers who talk to me. the first thing they did arriving in the united states was to look for information about what happened 25 years ago. they will change because of that. they will see hope and dreams. there is a lot we can do, bgg tocally i would ask toocate 10% of its funding the technologies that will circumvent the internet firewall. globalization was a

major call in the 1989 protests. , chinese havee been taken as hostages and trays and investments have been used as a tool to promote dictatorship and the corrupt universal values. many chinese companies are de organizationsnt and it is through such arrangement they became powerful, profitable monopolies which western shareholders may like to invest in. such, you are allowing the commerce to be part of the crime that the communists are

committing. do tois a lot we can promote true free trade and a free market. third, recently there are a lot retractions of visas for foreign journalists in china. this will no doubt create censorship and self-censorship for foreign journalists. at the same time, more and more chinese state-run media are setting up shop in the united states to broaden the reach of the brainwashing. this issue cannot be left to the media alone. for example, bloomberg, which therted on the wealth of

ruling families, admitted that they will never do that again. to journalist who was trying publish such a report had to leave. the u.s. should research the issue of reciprocity as a strategic option in journalistic visas. fourth, the u.s. should reject entry features -- entry visas for perpetrators of human rights violations. with the help of the internet, we are able to gather information on these who actively and willingly participate in persecution of the dissidents, including those who killed protesters in 1989. we are able to name one of the persons who was in the tank that

ran over people on the morning of june 4. as we know, the daughter of the current president could still be harvard. will beg and entry visa a powerful way to help freedom fighters in china. thank you. >> thank you so very much. mr. chenike to ask qinglin. >> mr. chairman, and the members of the committee, -- >> can you bring the microphone closer please? good morning, mr. chairman

and members of the committee. tonk you for having me testify before the congress today. >> [speaking chinese] hours of 1989, june the fourth, i witnessed a girl and boy student network killed and shot on the avenue in beijing. worker's legs were crippled by the soldiers. leaves ady strategy huge trauma in my heart that has never been healed.

on june the fourth, 1990, at my friend atsity, the university of ho chi minh was arrested for their first anniversary activities on campus. i was summoned by the police for harboring a suspect in my university jorma -- university dorm. on june the sixth, 1992, a few dozen, including me, were arrested and put into prison for three years on the charge of political assembly and party establishment. putctober 1997, i was

behind bars for 40 years for publishing material relating to the 1989 democracy movement -- 40 days. in june 1999, i was summoned many times by police for participating in the 10th anniversary of the 1989 movement, along with others. in 2006, a group of the 1989 generation were expelled out of the city, beijing, for establishing an environmental ngo called regarding homeland --

guarding homeland. were -- tims 2008, as one of the first signatories of charter 08, i was summoned iv police. by the police. 2014, wery the second, participated in the 20th anniversary -- 25th anniversary in the memory of the victims. i was summoned twice and threatened with arrest.

on may the fifth, 2014, as soon as i landed in this country for the 25th anniversary activities here, i learned of the arrests of my friends. scholars and lawyers were also arrested for the first time. some of my best friends and a

few others were either under house arrest or forced to be on the road were summoned for being with a written promise not to do things during this. it has been 25 years since the violent crackdown of the 1989 democracy movement. the communist regime has continued its crude efforts to repress the generation of 1980 and -- 1989. we want to know why. the reality of the past 25 years has proved that the ruling the june party, after

4 massacre, has no respect for god, no responsibility for the senses and no historian for the future generation. >> [speaking chinese] the ruling regimes there have utilized all of its resources and tools to crash the chinese people's dream for democracy and rule of law. the government throughout the possibility of a peaceful democratic transition to peaceful dialogue and has continued its rule by a strong hand which has to magically make the chinese hate the huge cost of governance.

>> [speaking chinese] as well as business people, who have never given up their dream for democracy of which the chinese people have been fighting over a number of years. >> [speaking chinese] >> these generations have been

fighting for 25 years, and they never give up the hope. i hope that the international of justicend those shall not appease the evildoers and show the support for the forces of good. >> god bless china. thank you very much. thank you. series of hour long votes coming up. it would be all of us would have a series of questions. .e would go to a second round i thought i would lay out some questions. if you wouldn't mind answering those questions, would that be

agreeable? i would not want to run out of time. about missed opportunities. 1991, ad i traveled in couple of years after tianamen square. there ate 40 activists that terrible gulag. they wouldn't let us meet with them. they looked like auschwitz inmates. it was a terrible observation that both of us made while we were there about the mistreatment. bill clinton when he ran against president bush made the point was caughtught bush so iing -- catering,

say this as a preference that i not seen this is a partisan issue. but if someone enables these horrific abuses they need to be called to task for it. intobill clinton got office we had the votes to take chinaation status from because of the human rights abuse that was getting worse by the day. he said don't quote on that. i will issue an executive order. it was a great executive order that mentioned all the human rights benchmarks, including significant regressing each of those areas. halfway through the year of review i traveled to beijing. i was told by chinese leaders they are getting the conditionàa la the, this was a bluff.

i didn't believe it. i had a letter signed by 100 , 100 democrats and republicans presented that, and the chinese official looked at it and laughed. he said the fix is in. may, --it waste as cynical as it gets. president clinton took the executive order, ripped in half, and said it is not longer operative. we lost the ability to pass msn removal. the chinese government got away with murder. a few yearsrlier, later the butcher of beijing, the white house being fêted, full military honors. he should've been sent to the hague or prosecution of against

humanity. he was carried around on a pillow. we have a situation where just in december we had five daughters, all of their fathers are being tortured. a said we are appealing to beijing, let our fathers go. they said our appeal is to president obama. meet with us. you have two daughters. you will understand. our dads are being tortured. we love our dad's. we sent over a letter. the word back was president obama doesn't have the time to meet with the five daughters, which i found to be appalling. humility president was asked questions about human rights. the washington post did a scathing editorial in which they wrote president obama makes

--look good on rights. i was was observed, the most , did theyt statement point out that he was more forthright? our president defended the situation in china. mr. obama retreated. he says there has been an evolution over the last 30 years. it is been a deterioration. at the expense of fundamental human rights. you made a point. as far back as 1992 the three was to rely on capitalizing on the dark side. spoiling the elite in exchange for loyalty. they are theey and kernels and take off their

uniforms and run a business on the side. they make money hand over fist. the president never mentioned yao. it is a scathing editorial. missed opportunities. he will not meet with the five daughters. i don't know what he's going to say. he is the leader of the free world. again,s to me, time and george bush had his eight years in the white house. when he wanted to go to the olympics, we demand did he meet with the dissidents before he went to the let the games. we raised human rights with everyone with whom we met. missed opportunities. we can't enable dictatorship. president obama and hillary saidon, their first trip, they're not quite let human rights interfere with global climate change talks. to post, hardly considered

-- hardly a conservative newspaper, our president needs to speak boldly. he has not done so. i hope you will. anniversary as a reason to do so. chao, i wrotemr. a law in 2000 and said we will withhold visas. we checked with research services, how many been denied? during eight years under george w. bush as well. weston 30. we have an example of a law that is not being enforced. people who are abusing women, who we can at least deny a visa to and send the message that we will not tolerate that abuse. i would like to yield. >> thank you chairman smith.

xiong, thank you for your service. what an amazing past you have had. the dedicated leadership, surviving tianamen square, coming to the united states, and after two years serving in our military and now chaplin. what an amazing story. i would like to better understand. you are very much involved in the underground church of which i have been a part of for many years. i would like to understand the andment towards democracy, the freedom of religion. what america can do to better encourage that. extensively, out met with some of the chinese leadership here.

i even had a dinner last night. , america hasmuch her own problems, so i don't want to come in the spirit of being condescending. said it well. we have our own evil to deal with. the church has grown exponentially in china. oppression.us it hasn't decreased from what i have observed. i would like to know further what we as americans can do to help those fellow believers in china. >> thank you. >> just so we don't miss the boat. -- the vote. major, you said in your wasents, your disclaimer

the views you are about to express for your own enough united states army. is, how in the world did we get those views to be expressed by the united states army? held that kindy of commitment to freedom and passion that you hold. don't ever apologize for that. as long as i'm around, i think you are onto something. i appreciate that. you said that, you spent some time in jail. is howtion to you today did you feel the first few days when you spent time in jail? were your efforts in vain? and you have any way of knowing, did you think you would be here today? how did you feel a month later?

a year later? are you able to share that back home with people who might he getting discouraged? let it go that way. we are short on time. i'm interested in that. thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm very interested. you are talking about the internet. i was interested in your opinions about the united states giving up control to russia and icaan, we decide to abdicate our responsibility and we are going to love china and russia to help until the internet. companies inw what united states have given routers and systems to track down dissidents in china. if you could describe which of those countries, companies the

united states are helping the pla suppress individual rights. >> thank you. >> i would just like to express my solidarity with you again. you should never feel that you were alone. i want to send this message to the people of china through you. us, i share your christian faith. i think you could be atheist, buddhist, other faiths as well. what we are talking about is the basic freedom for people to make those choices, spiritual choices, that really count. some peoplesed that andy own party put money

profits over those values that our country stands for. believe me,, there are many other americans who are willing to sacrifice even economic profit in order to reach out and stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters who are struggling for liberty and justice in china and elsewhere. i just want to express that solidarity to you, into the people of china through you. thank you. >> i would like to you to the chairman of the commerce, justice, and science committee. who, by the way, was on the floor till past midnight last night with his appropriations bill after 15 hours of debating amendments. so grateful he was able to make it. to thank you for

your tenacity and your bravery, and your courage. i find it fascinating. i want to thank you. idea, i want to thank mr. smith. nominatedshould be for the nobel peace prize. he has done more on these issues than any other member of congress that i have served with. i want to thank mr. smith for being tenacity, and just staying there, members should write a letter nominating mr. smith. again, thank you for your courage. >> thank you. there here to hear from five heroes from tianamen square .

dr. young? >> i agree with you congressman. about congressman smith. i want to respond to your comments about the missed opportunity. missedthere would be opportunity in the 1990's in the aftermath of the tianamen square massacre. as we remember, not long after the end of the cold war, china was very weak. almost everything, china was very isolated because of the massacre. think there is was a

theory prevailing, and it is prevailing today, that if china's economic approval is in trade, what inevitably results , and guaranteed basic human rights. the experience of what happened in china in the past 25 years has not proved this theory. this theory does not seem to work in china, at least does not work in the timeframe that we wanted. there is something missing. in 1989, we did have opportunity. for autocratic regime to collapse, or have a major change

. crisis, viable democracy movement, and it are national support, of course it was political crises for the regime. and the democracy movement at that two months was viable. what we were lacking at that time was a strong enough international support. international community condemns the massacre, but international community did not realize that china's people desire for freedom was strong and real. in the moment it was there.

but we missed that moment. over the past 25 years, the international capitalists not only the chinese intellectual elite,and economically have been quite parading by the chinese government. international capitalists have been cooperating. i always tell my friend china is holding china as hostage, and at the same time international capitalists, and these international capitalist comeback to their own country acting as apologists and lobbyists for chinese government. that is what is happening. what can we do about it? late tobe never the too do the right thing.

bipartisan press conference made it clear that never partisane issues. that to a great sign party leaders come together to get the right message across to world.nd the rest of the the cost is going up. should. americans expressly support the activists in china. should,iend said, we

the u.s. congress should pass a on those human rights violators in china. .nd lobby the congress we should have similar bills about china. china in many ways is much worse human rights abuser. a lot to doave together. thank you. out, wet want to point are working on a bill that will do just that. we have called on the obama ministration to enforce the law .s it exists today

they have not enforced the law. we will follow up. i know you you know we are working on that. >> good morning sirs. thank you for your encouragement. .'m grateful to be here today i'm grateful to be u.s. citizen. i'm so proud to serve our country for 20 years. grace, somegod's days my cheering comes back to china -- my dreams come back to china for freedom. we trust in god. to answer your question, what can we do? what we can do, we can do a lot

of things. haveave authority, and you a wonderful influence on china. they pay attention to you. concretely, i have some suggestions for all of you. the communist still persecute any religious group. creator grace, the real is not of the communist party, he is the creator of the people. the more people they turn to god, congress can do --

continue supporting those who are persecuted. give more to those ministers, religious leaders, easier to come to the usa to visit the country, and get a formal religious or theological training. that is good. of course, we pay more to those who are persecuted. one word here, that is a lot of influence on the world. the second question i remember you asking, my personal experience. the poa, and jail, ak-47 at my back.

the usa pay attention to the students in jail. where we did not --the prison conditions are horrible. physical abuse, physical torture, irreversible torture. you cannot imagine. please, please. can you imagine. an inmate in jail. they were released and put in jail again. they are my inmates. a long list. attention to them.

you can save them. another question i would like to answer, the u.s. army. i love the u.s. army. i was so proud to serve u.s. army chaplain. views iourage me of the just represented myself. how i want to answer your questions. i have one personal story. didn't see my mother for many years. a couple of years ago, anytime i wanted to, mother my mother had one question. when you coming to see me? i said mom, very soon.

spring next year. recently she did not ask that question when i call her. the telephone. my father told me she lost most of her memory. she cannot recognize me. my mother will recognize me. say hey that is my son. i will say hey that is my mother. that is our hope. tragedy.t of when you have a voice here, china will behave. thank you so much. >> thank you. i would like to address the

two questions. do we have missed opportunities, and the second one. how can america do more to support? >> america needs to great opportunity from the beginning of the night of june 4. i was there with my last 5000 students at tianamen square. my position wa we stood at tianamen square until 6:00 on the morning. we were hoping americans would come to help us. america never came. i was heartbroken. after spending 105 hours until i andable to come to america, asked where is america? i did not get an answer.

i said, sir, why america did not come? he said off the record, they do not care. i was heartbroken. that was the unfortunate truth. time, george bush went to prison,t the victims in not the victims families, but the dictators that ordered the massacre. i visited the vice president. i a suppressed my deep disappointment. he apologized. he said we're sorry. that was not enough. god,ation under [indiscernible]

that is america. we knew that is america. america thet been past 25 years. today is a new day. it is a different day. start from yesterday. speaker boehner and nancy pelosi, you came together. to represent this great, amazing nation to support those who struggle have not given up hope o. even though america has not come, god came to america, came to each one of us, giving us undying, and shaking hope -- unshaking hope. i would encourage you all to speak about your believes to the chinese and to americans. it shouldnderstand,

not prohibit religion. i came to america for 19 years. i never heard god from the schools. i went to princeton and harvard. i went to wall street. consulting firms. i came to congress. i read media reports. i have rarely heard about god. i have rarely heard about jesus. a chinese leader was persecuted over and over again, and got has an amazing your goals. for foodt, he fasted and water for 70 days. god did not allow him to die, but restored him to live. his legs were broken. he felt jesus come in, and said

get up and go. guards, three the metal gates. the guards did not stop him. he came to the streets. a cab driver said where do you want to go? i was given this address in my dream. go there. us the news that you becoming here, we shall prepare a hiding place for you. let's go there. within half an hour he was escorted from prison to a safe house. he set down to eat his breakfast and realize his leg was healed. it was a got i haven't searching for all my law. i was a buddhist when i was being rescued. they believed the same, they don't even want to kill mosquitoes. the risk to lives to save me.

this intense search, this report on my head, none of them betrayed me. i thought i was buddhist until that day. i witnessed by jesus. was given a chance to know this god and walk with god. i encourage all america's leaders to exercise your freedom of speech and freedom of religion, to not only share your faith, but also walk with your face in your -- walk with your faith in your policies and support. >> it is an honor to be called your brother in christ. i apologize for how we have greatly disappointed you. >> i am a sinner. i forgive the american leaders. just sigh have forgiven the

.eaders of china who killed us with god we have hope. i have hope for truth one day. >> i hear your spirit. i sense that of his sense of spirit and forgiving. thank you. >> thank you. thank you brother. talking about lost opportunities, i think china [inaudible] sent information after tianamen square massacre. basically changed the landscape of a lot of things. on the firstd

here in the united states, the first year after the massacre. with many others we were released. , thisjoined the wto leverage was lost completely. for now, i think international community has not figured out a way to deal with this corrupting force in global trade and investments, where on one side you have this regime which we treat investments like a weapon to promote their values. then you have u.s. policy that is not dealing with it. microsoft in their

bing search, they will ban something completely irrelevant remotely related to the tank image in china. this is a u.s. the money following a dictatorship. companies like google, who refuse to do business in china, to stand up for his principles -- its principles. for our protesters there were a lot of opportunities. the massacre was a tragedy that a small fraction of the ruling ,amilies clustered around

without a proper procedure , wasn the communist party overruled even with a majority of its own people. i don't think the troops will come. year, i hadven this of honor of meeting daughter high ranking official who openly the tianamen square massacre, and lost his position. chineses later, the congress, when they vote, they show their support by rejecting

the party nominated member. this happened in another provence, too. when there were elections. even the party controlled assembly will vote down someone who was with the killing and vote for the people who were against it. it was losing opportunity for chinese. it is a small, tiny portion of the ruling class that overruled the people's will. remains onerotests chineseat can unify

for a better china. this is where the majority support from ordinary people and anyone who is sinceerre about reform in china. i'm sure about that. thank you. >> we do have the call to the floor for the vote. chaired as ago i series of hearings. yahoo!, microsoft and swore the man, because they were swore them all in because they were censoring everything on the internet and cisco,hings, including for the secret police, which was a terrible enabling. i showed on the tv, we did a

live demonstration using the google search engine and type 10 tianamen.n nothing whatsoever about tianamen square on the images part. all blocked by u.s. companies. i asked a series of questions. they could not give me a reason why they were doing it other than they were following chinese law. censorship remains a problem. you may want to speak to the fact that people in china still don't know, particularly young people brought up in a propagandized country, the fire all precludes that information, how do we. that -- how do we pierce that wall and get the information? china suffers a moral decay and get the persecution of

christians, underground muslims, church, the tibet, itddhists in has gotten next financially worse in the last two years. the commission on international testifiedfreedom that we have not had a country aon of particular concern. actionse 18 enforcement which are very significant and are not being applied anywhere else. we back the administration to get serious about religious persecution globally, including china. they have not renewed the

designations of the countries that were on the list and the other a that ought to be on it according to the commission. would you speak to that? ou mentioned the internet, mr. chao. my collingswood to make any further comment? -- to my colleagues want to make any further comment? like all hypocrisies, continues its rule depending on lies, and violence, and corruption. informationrolling is their major strategy that helps to continue its rule.

information is power. it is important. first,at i want to say if i get to the internet, peopl need to know the massacre to know the truth of their government. everdaydayment in life, they understand the nature of the government. they don't have to know the truth of the massacre to know the situation in china. information will haunt them. rights. up for their i heard their bill going on introduced in the house about helping the internet freedom in chinda with a big budget.

we want to call on all the congressional leaders to realize the importance of internet freedom for the people on the ground in china. these resources can help people getlop technology needed to around the firewall, to the information permitted by the -- forbidden by the chinese government. bill.you for that i am notriend, naturalized. americanan citizen. i'm a chinese citizen still.

i don't think i'm in the criticize the american government for not doing enough for us. the democracy movement must be homegrown. we must do our own job. what i want to talk about is not that. some people believe that the united states cannot threaten china on human rights issues seeks chineses. corporations on economic and national security. when they are talking about interest of the u.s., economic, business opportunity for american capitalist in china, americans do not do business there, they do not quaff or with the chinese government, others will go as

well. i often urge my american friends here, you are in military service, how much amer if chinay can be saved became democratic? china is a dictatorship. it is really disturbing. i want to ask this question again. have you done any calculation how much money would be saved if , ina became a democratic the national interest of this country? thank you. >> we're out of time. the votes have begun.

i would ask unanimous consent there is a submittal statement for the record. takes always believed it two elements for a to prosper. to control those flow of information. and when we enable either of those, and we have enabled without any reasonable doubt the propaganda side through our self-censorship through corporations, we have done a grave injustice to the chinese people. we're out of time. i deeply regret it. i want to thank you for your extraordinary humanitarian service, to your fellow sufferers in china, the burden that you carry is very deep and strong. to the rest of the world, china is spreading its bad governance

model to much of africa. i've held hearings on how they are enabling dictatorships in sudan and many others. a free and democratic china will be a force of good not only for the chinese people but for the rest of the globe. we have to redouble our efforts as never before on the 23rd anniversary -- 25th and adversely. i disagree they have made progress in the last 30 years. they have made significant regression. it is a race to the bottom with north korea when it comes to human rights. it is about time this country spoke out with boldness to think leader, we had to others on that, and all of you should be on that as well as prisoners of conscience and men and women of great character.

the president doesn't phrase that effectively when he is with xi jinping or anyone else. those days of hiding have to change. this is a new appeal to the president. meet with those five daughters. he should meet with the five yet the white house to talk about human rights. we will make that request as well. thank you. the hearing is adjourned. >> thank you. >> president obama except the resignation of eric shinseki. you can watch his announcement tonight. book tv is in prime time with mark levin. 3, a trip to the new

york transit museum. >> what has been the result when you have this classic economic holdout with retransmission for doing you have companies this game of chicken. a cut off service to customers. they are trying to block traffic on internet services. the ultimate result is programming spiraling up and up. you wonder why your cable gets going up. the resolution of the disputes that were retransmission, the fcc is hamstrung by the rules and ways interpreted the congressional mandate to get involved here. the easy result is these parties eventually agree to deals which raise prices and give consumers a lot of channels they don't actually want. that is but i am afraid of. i think to say that interconnection happens in a

private way is great. should be room for private deals. if we get to that point interconnection would be a tragic outcome. >> the impact of an open internet from a progressive policy institute. a live three-hour program in depth with authoring call missed -- and columnist amity shaleas. >> early today the chair of the house to the credit -- here is a look. loopholesl, it closes

that are in our current gun laws. it does this by prohibiting the a firearm by certain individuals. people who have been convicted of stalking, subject to outpatient commitment, people who are previously, there is one category regarding domestic abusers. we expand on that. otherand to include domestic abusers. is mostly spouses and people who have cohabitate it. the truth is we are expanding to include other folks involved in that domestic abuser category. we also built on the partnership between the federal and state government. we provide grants so states can

create laws that allow law enforcement to get a warrant to remove firearms from the possession of any individuals who are a danger to themselves or others. we have heard most recently in the/tragedy in santa barbara a parent informed law enforcement they had concerns about their son. killed a number of people. what we want to do is make sure when there is a concern expressed that law enforcement is educated, they know what is available to them, and there is a process through the warrant process to be able to take guns away from those folks to ensure that they don't do any harm for themselves or others. i want to point out there are two states that have this.

connecticut and indiana have a form of this. actuallyething we can see some real on the ground results from. we temporarily prohibit the purchase and possession of a gun after an involuntary hospitalization on an emergency basis due to serious and illness. with you wherever you go. with our free c-span radio app for your smartphone or tablet. listen to all three c-span tv channels. or c-span radio anytime. there is a schedule of each of our networks you can tune in when you want. leigh podcasts of recent shows for our signature programs. take c-span with you wherever you go. download your free app online for your iphone, android, or blackberry. book includes new

michael lewis. >> we are living through a traumatic. -- traumatic period. there are real structural problems. -- i'mgoing to be living not an economic forecaster. we are going to be living with unusually high levels of unemployment. a lot of pain from over indebtedness. it is not a great depression. we are not reprising what happened in the 30's. it is a variance of that. >> read more of our conversation from our book notes from public affairs books now available for father's day. president obama made a surprise appearance at today's white house briefing to announce

my secretary jay carney is stepping down. he'll be replaced by the deputy press secretary >> how are you. you have obviously heard from the president in this room, he took some of your questions. perhaps that means this will be a relatively short briefing. [laughter] you might go easy on the? -- michael easy yummy maybe. there'll be a call later this . he's doingt of what next week. that will serve as our week ahead. eperate have a s week ahead. let's answer some questions. >> two topics.

one on the v.a.. the president said some of these problems did not surface through the level where shinseki was aware of it. that we need to see how to get information about this that are working. the ig report this week noted sincehere had been 18 to05 that have gone committees of congress, including a committee the president saddam when he was in the senate. how can you say this is not risen to the level it has -- spokeretary shinseki powerfully this morning about these issues. i think the nature of the

problem has been identified by the ig, by secretary shinseki's reports, there were efforts undertaken to misrepresent how long the waiting times were. the information that was being provided to headquarters here in washington was not accurate. what the president said today is that these reviews, the ig investigation, the secretary's the mosts borne out serious concerns that this was a systemic problem. secretary shinseki said what he said today. and why the president made the comments he did today and

accepted the secretaries resignation with considerable regret given the remarkable generals and seki has provided to the nation. >> you can see these issues of delays and veterans getting metalico appointments has existed since 2005. >> the president noted as he has in the past that these, there are challenges associated with this issue. there have been four and long time. what we have learned in recent weeks through this review process and the investigation is that these are deeper and more , and dramatic action has

to be taken. conduct, hehis himself tendered his resignation. he felt that it would be a distraction for him to be an issue remaining as secretary when the focus should be fixing these problems and that's what ultimately the president is focused on. >> u.s. defense officials are now saying that russian troops will be moving away from that ukrainian border. what's the president's reaction to that confrontation from their own defense -- >> well, there continues to be indications of activity on the border including a number of units that have appeared to have been withdrawn and that activity has continued and i would note what you did, statements from the defense department that th