Document 33 of 39.
Copyright 1998 Central News Agency
Central News Agency
June 24, 1998, Wednesday
LENGTH: 372 words
HEADLINE: CLINTON URGED TO HIGHLIGHT HUMAN RIGHTS DURING MAINLAND TRIP
BYLINE: By Jay Chen
& Elizabeth Hsu
DATELINE: Washington, June 24
BODY:
US President Bill Clinton's decision to receive military honors from his
communist Chinese hosts at Tiananmen Square -- site of the bloody 1989
crackdown -- continued to meet with protests Tuesday from leaders of Congress
and various civic groups.
In a statement to the press, House Minority Leader Richard
Gephardt, D-Mo., said that he and 61 of his colleagues in the House of
Representatives have called on Clinton to make human rights the central topic
of his nine-day visit to mainland
China which starts on Thursday.
Gephardt also urged Clinton to use all the leverage at his disposal, including
sanctions, to
promote American national interests and values.
During a Congress press conference Wednesday afternoon, Clinton was urged to
raise the issue of talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai
Lama, deliver a speech in remembrance of the Tiananmen massacre victims, visit
some of the victims' families, and demand that Beijing release political and
religious
prisoners.
Xiong Yian, a mainland student leader who was jailed for 19 months for his part
in the 1989 pro-democracy protest, also attended the press conference. He
implored Clinton not to forget Beijing's mass killings and not to embrace the
mainland Chinese dictators.
Meanwhile,
"Free China Movement" members staged separate protests in front of the mainland Chinese embassy and
the White House, where an open letter to Clinton was read which contained the
following four appeals:
-- Pressure Beijing into releasing all prisoners jailed for their pro-democracy
beliefs;
-- Demand that the mainland
authorities recognize their mistake in conducting the June 4 military
oppression at Tiananmen Square and punish those responsible for the killing;
-- Ask mainland China to allow freedom of speech, dissemination and
association, and to follow international conventions on human rights;
-- Take the previous demands into consideration when planning to
continue mainland China's most-favored nation trade status, when discussing
Beijing's entry into the World Trade Organization, and when enhancing economic
and political relations between Washington and Beijing.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: June 25, 1998
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