Committee Hearing Opening Statements

The U.S. House of Representatives today voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution authored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) congratulating Tiananmen Square survivor Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese political prisoner who will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway.

    Last February, Smith led a bi-partisan group of lawmakers in nominating Liu for the prize—as well as two other persecuted human rights advocates, Chen Guangcheng and Gao Zhisheng, to be joint recipients—as part of an international tide of support for awarding the prize to Liu. Liu is not expected to be permitted by China to attend the awards ceremony.

    “I urge my colleagues to adopt H. Res. 1717, expressing Congress’s profound respect for and solidarity with Liu Xiaobo and all those who peacefully advocate for human rights and democracy in the PRC,” Smith said on the House floor during debate. “The resolution explicitly states that in honoring Liu Xiaobo it honors all those who have promoted democratic reform in China, including all those who participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration. After Liu’s wife told him of the award, he wept and dedicated the prize to “the Tiananmen martyrs.” (Click here to read Smith’s floor statement)

    Smith’s resolution, H. Res. 1717, passed 402-1. It was debated on the House floor Tuesday. Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to the floor and spoke in favor of the resolution, which highlights the struggles of the freedom activist now serving an 11-year prison term, and will be one of the strongest congressional resolutions on China’s human rights abuses in the past decade.

    Prior to debate, Smith rallied with other House members and human rights groups at a press conference to build support for the resolution.

    “We’re here to call on the Chinese government to release Liu and all of its political and religious prisoners, and to begin the process of democratic reform. And we’re also here to call on the world to bring new light and fresh scrutiny to the Chinese government’s horrific record of  human rights abuses,” Smith said. (Click here to read Cong. Smith’s press conference statement)

    “In our nominating letter, we recognized Liu as “a visionary leader,’ remarkable for ‘his patriotism, his civic courage, and the generous tone of his work, which has never sought to divide his country or cause civil conflict, but always to raise the Chinese people’s awareness of its dignity and rights, and to call on his government to govern within… the international human rights agreements it has signed,’” Smith said.

    In the resolution, Congress congratulates Liu Xiaobo and calls on the Chinese government to release him, and rejects its claim that Liu’s imprisonment is purely an “internal” Chinese matter.

    Smith, a longtime human rights advocate in Congress, is the Ranking Member of both the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the Helsinki Commission, and Co-Founder and Executive Committee Member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC). A member of Congress since 1981, he has chaired over 25 congressional hearings on human rights in China.