WASHINGTON, July 19 -- Four of the 282 Chinese nationals found aboard the container ship Golden Venture when it ran aground in 1993 testified before a House panel Wednesday that the main reason they left China was the Beijing government's hard-line family planning policies. Each of the four related tales, through interpreters, of harassment and physical abuse at the hands of Chinese family planning cadres that included forced sterilization and abortions. The Chinese central government instituted a stringent set of guidelines to curb its exploding population in the early 1980s. Included in those guidelines, which hit their stride by the mid-1980s and have been roundly criticized worldwide for their effects: young Chinese families are allowed to produce and raise only one child, who must be registered with the government to be recognized as a Chinese citizen and receive state health benefits and education. Families producing more than one child have been subjected to stiff fines, which are especially difficult for millions of Chinese rural residents to pay off, and some women have been coerced, or even forced, by local family planning offices to undergo sterilization procedures. Government family planning officials also have allegedly forced many pregnant women to receive abortions if their families already have children. 'Forced abortion was properly considered a crime against humanity at the (post World War II) Nuremberg war trials,' said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House International Relations Committee subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. 'Today it is employed regularly, with chilling effectiveness and unbearable pain, upon the women of the People's Republic of China,' he said.
'The forced abortion and sterilization of those who refuse to comply with coercive government policies violates the most fundamental of human rights, the right to bodily integrity,' Smith said. Chen Yun Fei and her husband, Wang Kang Di, said they escaped China after experiencing the full gamut of torturous rigor that could be doled out by local family planning officials. Chen Yun said she opted for an abortion, which was conducted by a private doctor, in the mid-1980s when she became pregnant with her first child. The abortion was successful, she said, but as she was on her way home from the doctor's office, she found a week-old baby girl abandoned at the roadside. The baby, she believed, had been left by her parents either because they already had more than one child, or because of her sex. The central government's strict laws have led many Chinese couples to strive for first-born males in the hopes the boys will grow to provide for them in their old age. Human rights groups have long asserted that female babies are often aborted, killed soon after birth, or abandoned as a result of this trend. Chen Yun, moved by the baby's cries, said she took her home and gave her a name. When local family planning cadres learned of the unofficial adoption, Chen Yun said they threatened her with huge fines, and insisted she subject herself to a sterilization operation. As the cadres' hounding became ever more persistent, Chen Yun said, she escaped her village and hid in a cave for seven years before leaving for the U.S. Li Bao Yu told a similar story, but said she was subjected to a forced abortion when local authorities learned she had removed a state- ordered intra-uteran device for health reasons, and then became pregnant. A visibly outraged Smith struck again upon the war crimes theme, and told the panelists, 'The crimes committed against you are no less serious than those committed by the Nazis. 'Population organizations, including the U.N., have cheered the Chinese government for its work,' he continued. 'But eachof the statistics they approve of represents people who have been made sick, have been injured, or have died because of this state-run program.' Not far away from the spotlight in the Wednesday subcommittee hearing was the plight of the 282 people found on the Golden Venture, most of whom the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service says it will return to China. The freighter ran aground off Rockaway Beach, N.Y., in June 1993. Those on-board had been smuggled out of China by the ship's operators. The INS has maintained that the ship's passengers were attempting to enter the country illegally, and as such would be subject to eventual repatriation. Some 21 have already been returned to China. Most Golden Venture prisoners are languishing in U.S. prisons, either awaiting a change of heart on the part of the INS, or their repatriation to mainland China. The four who testified before the subcommittee Wednesday were led into the meeting room in handcuffs. It was the first time husband and wife Wang Kang and Chen Yun had seen each other since they were separated by the INS nearly two years ago. Subcommittee members blasted the INS and its overseer, the Justice Department, as well as the Clinton administration, for its treatment of the immigrants, though none of the four made any mention of their treatment at the hands of the INS. 'I was shocked to see that these people were brought into the hearing room in handcuffs,' Chairman Smith said. 'I cannot believe the Clinton administration's plans to send you back,' he later told the witnesses. 'It seems that this administration, while saying it stands for the right of women to decide whether or not to have children, has violated that pledge in your cases,' said Rep. Linda Smith, R-Wash. 'I will work hard to keep you here,' she told them.
Li Bao Yu told a similar story, but said she was subjected to a forced abortion when local authorities learned she had removed a state- ordered intrauterine device for health reasons and then became pregnant. A visibly outraged Smith struck again upon the war crimes theme, and told the panelists, 'The crimes committed against you are no less serious than those committed by the Nazis. 'Population organizations, including the U.N., have cheered the Chinese government for its work,' he continued. 'But each of the statistics they approve of represents people who have been made sick, have been injured, or have died because of this state-run program.' Not far away from the spotlight in the Wednesday subcommittee hearing was the plight of the 282 remaining passengers from the Golden Venture, most of whom the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service says it will return to China. The freighter ran aground off Rockaway Beach, New York, in June 1993. Those on board had been smuggled out of China by the ship's operators. The INS has maintained that the ship's passengers were attempting to enter the country illegally, and as such would be subject to eventual repatriation. Some 21 have already been returned to China. Most Golden Venture prisoners are languishing in U.S. prisons, awaiting either a change of heart on the part of the INS or their repatriation to mainland China. The four who testified before the subcommittee Wednesday were led into the meeting room in handcuffs. It was the first time husband and wife Wang Kang and Chen Yun had seen each other since they were separated by the INS nearly two years ago. Subcommittee members blasted the INS and its overseer, the Justice Department, as well as President Bill Clinton's administration, for the treatment of the immigrants, though none of the four made any mention of their treatment at the hands of the INS. 'I was shocked to see that these people were brought into the hearing room in handcuffs,' Chairman Smith said. 'I cannot believe the Clinton administration's plans to send you back,' he later told the witnesses. 'It seems that this administration, while saying it stands for the right of women to decide whether or not to have children, has violated that pledge in your cases,' said Representative Linda Smith, a Republican from Washington state. 'I will work hard to keep you here,' she told them.
