Burma & U.S. Congress on June 26 -

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Burma & U.S. Congress on June 26 - 30, 1995 (#.1)

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Burma & U.S. Congress on June 26 - 30, 1995 (Part.1)
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CALLING ON THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TO GAIN THE RELEASE OF UNITED STATES
CITIZEN HARRY WU, ARRESTED IN CHINA ON JUNE 19 -- HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH
(Extension of Remarks - June 28, 1995) 

                   HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH
                           OF NEW JERSEY
                   in the House of Representatives
                     Wednesday, June 28, 1995

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AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. RICHARDSON

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment, amendment No. 37.

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr.Richardson: Page 14, line 22, strike `2,326,700,000'
and insert the following `2,325,500,000'.

Page 21, line 7, strike `$671,000,000' and insert `672,000,000'.

Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's
amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. A point of order is reserved.
(Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, this amendment that I am offering with the
gentleman from California [Mr.Rohrabacher] will increase the migration and
refugee assistance fund by $1 million to alleviate the refugee crisis on the
Thai-Burma border. In keeping with budgetary guidelines, the increase in
funding is offset by cuts to the Economic Support Fund.

The ramifications of the systematic repression conducted by Burma's ruling
military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council or [SLORC], have
created a refugee crisis along the Thai-Burma border that is worsening. The
launching of a major SLORC military offensive against the Karen refugees this
spring resulted in an outflow of an estimated additional 20,000 refugees to
Thailand bringing the population to over 90,000.

These new developments have serious implications for relief agencies. First,
they are faced with unbudgeted expenses moving the refugees and establishing
a new camp; and second, the new town-size camp will have different dynamics
then the old village-size camps.

The Burma Border Consortium [BBC], the group of NGO's responsible for rice
distribution and relief in the border camps, issued an appeal in March for an
increase of $5 million in their budget to cover the continuing worsening
refugee situation. The BBC anticipated that it would be stretched to the
limit and experiencing a serious cash flow problem by April.

I have here a copy of a letter from the Burma Border Consortium Chairman Jack
Dunford 
requesting additional funding.

Efforts to combat the growing refugee crisis along the Thai-Burma border
could be expedited with this additional funding particularly if NGO's on both
sides of the border were empowered with proper financing.

The Thai Government should not have to bear the burden of this refugee
population alone. A clear signal must be sent that the international
community is willing and able to assist the Thai, thus preventing the return
of refugees to unsafe and unacceptable conditions.

The Richardson-Rohrabacher amendment increasing the migration and refugee
assistance funds by $1 million will enable organizations working along both
sides of the Thai-Burma border to facilitate the settlement of additional
refugees.

Mr. Chairman, I insert for the Record a letter from Jack Dunford, chairman of
the Burma Border Consortium.


Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from California [Mr.Rohrabacher] and I have had a
long interest in this issue. Let me say that we have met with the chairman of
the subcommittee, who has made a very, very strenuous effort to ensure that
there are adequate funds for this effort.

Now, we have at this time $1.5 million that are allocated for the Thai-Burma
border for the 
refugee crisis. It is the understanding of myself and the gentleman from
California [Mr. Rohrabacher] that the chairman will ensure that the funds
that are in the legislation, that are in the refugee and migration account,
will be moved over so that there will be a total of $2.5 million for this
amendment.

For that reason, Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from California and I are
considering withdrawing the amendment once we enter into a colloquy with the
chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman, let me just say that, again, the reason that there is this
repression, that this is taking place on the Thai-Burma border is we have a
government called the SLORC, easily the most repressive of all time, that
clearly is in a situation where because of this repression they are
increasing the number of refugees along their border. There are squalid,
horrendous conditions on this border. The Thais do not have the funds to
adequately ensure that they can deal with the refugee crisis. So what we are
doing is, we are moving these funds and we are ensuring that there are
adequate medical facilities and that the United States, the State Department
has not entirely spent their budget on this effort. For some reason, they
have said in the past, we do not need these funds. So what the practical
effect of this amendment does is, it would move ahead with $2.5 million total
for this effort.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman from Alabama [Mr.Callahan] insist on his
point of order?

Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my point of order.

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I would just like to stand in support of my friend and
colleague from New Mexico and everything that he stated. I would just say
that there is a tragedy, an ongoing tragedy in Burma. 

The people of the United States have historically stood for freedom and
democracy and if, indeed, we would continue this stand in Southeast Asia,
many of the problems that we face today, like this refugee problem that is
being expressed, talked about today, would not be confronting us. 

Unfortunately, what we have done in these last 4 and 5 years is we have tried
our best to try to romance the SLORC regime. We have done our best, and the
gentleman from New Mexico has done heroic deeds in the cause of democracy.
Yet, trying to treat this dictatorship with kid gloves, trying to move them
along outside of the arena of tyranny has not worked.

Today we are confronted with not only a monstrous repressive regime but
refugees whose lives are in our hands today. I just stand in support of my
colleague's efforts and my colleague's amendment.

Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, I congratulate the gentleman from New Mexico for bringing to
the attention of the House the need for additional refugee assistance along
the Thai-Burma border.

The gentleman from New Mexico [Mr.Richardson] as well as the gentleman from
California [Mr. Rohrabacher] have both been long interested in dealing with
this matter. I know they have filed an amendment to add funds for refugee
assistance in the area. I would appreciate them withholding their amendment,
however. In return, I pledge to them that we will work with the State
Department to ensure an additional $1 million is provided these refugees.

I know that $1.5 million has already been allocated for this purpose, but we
will monitor the situation to ensure that these funds are spent for the
purposes identified in the amendment. I would like to thank both of the
gentlemen for their efforts in this regard and for working with me and the
committee to resolve the problem.

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CALLAHAN. I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico.

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, let me commend the chairman and his staff for
their 
excellent work on this issue. The chairman is somebody who I know is very
concerned about this issue. I just want to make it clear that based on what
the chairman just said to me in the colloquy, that in addition to the $1.5
million that are allocated for the Thai-Burmese border, that the chairman,
through his very strong efforts as chairman of  this subcommittee, will
ensure that an additional $1 million will flow to this account to make it a
total of  $1.5 million. Is that an accurate statement?

Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Chairman, I cannot assure that, but I will assure the
gentleman that I will do everything I can to ensure that it does take place.

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, if
that is the case, the gentleman from New Mexico and I know my friend from
California are satisfied. I do appreciate the chairman's word on this. We
will, as the gentleman knows, have another amendment coming up on Burma which
deals with the narcotics issue which we appreciate the chairman's support.

Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be
withdrawn.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New
Mexico?

There was no objection.

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                                   ***************** 
The following is the brief introduction of the whole amendment. 
                                   *****************

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, less than 1 month has passed since the
President extended most-favored-nation trading status once again to the
People's Republic of China. Ignoring the tragic human rights record of China,
the huge trade imbalance, the on-going pirating of intellectual properties,
the forced abortion policy and the exporting of nuclear technology to rogue
nations, Mr. Clinton rewarded the Chinese leaders while turning his back on
the millions of Chinese who are imprisoned, tortured, persecuted, forced into
slavery, and have their voices silenced, some even before they are born.

Mr. Clinton believes that granting MFN to China will encourage the Chinese
leadership to improve their human rights record. It didn't work last year.
And it's not going to work this year, either.
Case in point: On June 19, 1995, Harry Wu, a United States citizen, was
arrested as he entered China.
Harry Wu is well known to many of us here in Washington. A former political
prisoner in China for 19 years, Harry has tirelessly worked to expose China's
human rights abuses--the extensive prison labor system, the backbone of
China's export industry; the trafficking of body parts of prisoners for
transplants and research--uncovering the numerous products manufactured in
the slave labor camps which are being sold in the United States.

Knowing that each time he returned to China to investigate human rights
abuses he put himself in danger, Harry continued to go back remembering those
millions who, like he, suffered, or like his brother, died at the hands of
the Chinese Government and military.

Harry has been a stellar, informative, persuasive witness at several
congressional committee hearings. Once, when asked about why he placed his
life at risk to expose the horrors of China's prison labor system he
responded: `I really want to forget the nightmares of the past period, but,
you know, some things simply didn't go away. So, like a bad dream, they
refuse to disappear.
`Finally, I got a chance to tell the truth to the world.
`I am a survivor. I think I have a responsibility to those inmates who are
still there.'

Today Harry Wu is not free. His whereabouts are unknown. The U.S. Embassy in
Beijing was not informed of his arrest until June 23--4 days after the
arrest.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson claims that the delay in notification was the
result of poor communications. Another spokesperson said that the Embassy and
Chinese officials were discussing sending a representative to visit Harry.
Ten days have passed since Harry Wu, a United States citizen, was arrested in
China. How much longer will he have to wait for the U.S. Government to
respond? How long will the discussions take? And in the meantime, what will
happen to Harry Wu?
Mr. Speaker, I have sat with Harry Wu in my own office many times hearing of
the unspeakable conditions under which the Chinese people live while their
leaders are rewarded year after year after year. It distresses me greatly to
think that Harry is not free, may be tortured, and that the administration is
moving so slowly to respond to his need.

Mr. Speaker, I call on the Clinton administration to move swiftly to make
contact with Harry Wu and to obtain his release. I urge my colleagues to do
the same. The administration may at this point be accustomed to turning its
back on the people of China. We cannot allow them to become accustomed to
ignoring innocent Americans in foreign prisons.
I also urge my colleagues to sign the letter to Jiang Zemin calling for the
release of Harry Wu.
Soon the House will take up the disapproval of MFN for China. Some of us
might be tempted to put trade, money, over human rights and dignity. Some of
us might believe that criticizing China for human rights abuses is
interfering with the internal matters of a foreign government.

----------------------------------------------end.