Remarks at Bill Enrollment Photo Opportunity for the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020

Contact: Speaker's Press Office,

202-226-7616

Speaker Pelosi. Good morning, everyone. We keep our distances here.

Thank you for being here as we enroll our Uyghur bill. This is legislation, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.

I'm honored to be here with my colleague, a gentleman from New Jersey with whom I've worked with for decades on the issue of human rights in China and throughout the world. This legislation sends a clear message to the government of China that we are well aware of the abuse of human rights, as far as the Uyghur community is concerned.

I want to thank him for his leadership – I'm getting tears from the lights – thank him for his leadership and that of also Senator Menendez; Senator Rubio, who has been a champion on this; Senator Risch, the Chairman of the foreign affairs committee – Foreign Relations Committee, as they call it in the Senate; and, in the House, Eliot Engel, our Chairman; Ranking Member McCaul; Tom Suozzi, who has been a champion on human rights, religious freedom throughout the world and Jim McGovern, who is the Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and Chair of the Lantos Commission, of which Mr. Smith is a Co-Chair, as well as the Ranking Member on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

That is all to say it is, in a bipartisan way, in a bicameral way, over the years, there has been a real commitment to shining a bright light on the human rights violations in China and to say to those who are affected by that: you are not alone. We are not – the most excruciating form of torture that oppressors can give to those who they are oppressing is to say, ‘Nobody remembers, nobody cares.' But we do and we want the Chinese government to know that.

So, that's why it is such an honor to enroll this bill, passed by the Senate and the House in a strong, bipartisan way to send to the President to sign. It's especially meaningful this week when, on June 4th, we observe the 34th – excuse me, 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. So, when we are talking about the denial that the Chinese government has about that massacre, 31 years later, whether you're talking about oppression in Tibet to eliminate the religion, the language, the culture of Tibet; whether we are talking about suppressing democracy in Hong Kong and throughout all of China or whether we're talking about the Uyghurs, the situation in the years we have been working together has not improved, sadly, there.

But we will never stop. If we ever decide, that for commercial reasons, we will not call attention to the human rights violations in China, we lose all moral authority to be concerned about human rights any place in the world.

With that, again, I, with great respect and gratitude to Mr. Smith for his incredible leadership – or working with my friend, Frank Wolf, no longer in Congress, but very much still on the forefront on religious freedom and human rights throughout the world.

I am pleased to yield to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Smith.

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Speaker Pelosi. Thank you so much for your leadership, and now. I'm honored to sign this important – enroll this important legislation as we send it over to the President. As soon as we wash these down, I will give you a pen.

Thank you.

[Laughter]

Congressman Smith. Okay. Thank you, Madam Speaker.