Expressing the Sense of the House of Representatives That the President Should Prioritize Securing the Release of Pastor Jin Mingri, Pastor Gao Quanfu and His Wife Pang Yu, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, and Jimmy Lai Detained By the Peoples Republic of China During Future Engagements with Chinese President Xi Jinping

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, Mr. Olszewski-- Johnny O. as we call him--for his leadership and his beautiful statement on what we are challenged with right now and how this legislation addresses that.

I always want to praise Mr. Smith for his leadership on human rights throughout the world. We have been working on these things for 30 years probably--he is not paying attention--but 30 years with Frank Wolf going and visiting people in prison and trying to make sure people knew.

They say that these autocrats--the President of China for one--the most horrible form of torture that they can put on a prisoner is to tell them nobody even remembers them or cares about them or even knows why they are in prison. That is why I thank you both for bringing this legislation to the floor so that we on the floor of the House of Representatives can make sure that they know they are not forgotten.

I rise today in strong support of this resolution calling on the President to prioritize the release of these courageous individuals who have been unjustly detained by the government of the People's Republic of China simply for exercising their fundamental human rights.

Jimmy Lai sits in prison because he dared to defend democracy and a free press in Hong Kong. Mr. Smith talked about Jimmy and his son, Sebastien, and his daughter, Claire. Now they have a grandbaby in the family, and Jimmy, of course, is not able to see the baby while they torture him in prison.

Then Dr. Gulshan Abbas has disappeared because of Beijing's repression of Uyghurs. She is there because of what her sister has testified to us, Mr. Smith mentioned, and that is engaging in transnational human rights suppression.

In addition to that, Christian pastors and their families are persecuted simply for worshiping freely.

Jin Mingri, we heard about him; Pastors Gao Quanfu and Pang Yu, we have heard about them. Pastor Gao Quanfu and Pang Yu, and Dr. Abbas--I talked about Dr. Gulshan Abbas.

I want to just say that this has always been bipartisan and bicameral, House and Senate. Democrats and Republicans always come together on these pieces of legislation. I want to call special attention to what our Speaker Johnson did a few months ago. He was invited to address the House of Commons in this our bicentennial year of our country. I asked him if he would mention Jimmy Lai in his speech, and he did. He told me it got a good response. We thank the Speaker for making that appeal to the House of Commons.

Here, this resolution makes sure that human rights cannot be separated from America's engagement with China. The release of these individuals must remain a priority at the highest level of diplomacy. While the President is on his visit there, he is bringing with him a long list of business leaders. I have to say if we do not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, then we lose all moral authority to speak out for human rights anywhere in the world.

With this resolution, the House reaffirms that America will continue to stand for freedom, human rights, and the principles that no person should be imprisoned simply for what they believe. Let's make this a strong, as always, bipartisan vote. I thank the chairman, Mr. Smith. I thank Johnny O, and I urge a strong bipartisan vote in support of the resolution.

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