Police Department. This murder appears to have been an act of political assassination, motivated by Mr. Liu's writings about human rights violations on Taiwan.

The four alleged murderers have fled to Taiwan, and it appears that your Department is not vigorously seeking their return for trial.

Given this Administration's vociferous claim to be serious about stamping out terrorism, your silence is inexplicable. I am sorry to report that there is a growing feeling among Americans of Asian ancestry that this Administration is not seriously concerned with the most basic rights of minority citizens. It took several months of sustained public pressure before the Justice Department acted in the murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. Please do not make us go through that painful process again. The people of this nation are entitled to expect and receive protection from their government against foreign terrorism.

Sincerely yours,

NORMAN Y. MINETA,
Member of Congress.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC, January 15, 1985.

Hon. NORMAN Y. MINETA,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN Mineta: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 11, 1985, to the Attorney General, received by the Department on January 15, 1985, concerning the death of Henry Liu.

A further response will be forthcoming as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

PHILLIP D. Brady,

(for Acting Assistant Attorney General).

Mr. SOLARZ. Please proceed. Mr. MINETA. Given this administration's vociferous claim to be serious about stamping out terrorism, your silence is inexplicable. I am sorry to report that there is a growing feeling among Americans of Asian ancestry that this administration is not seriously concerned with the most basic rights of minority citizens.

The letter continues:

It took several months of sustained public pressure before the Justice Department acted in the murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. Please do not make us go through that painful process again. The people of this Nation are entitled to expect and receive protection from their Government against foreign terrorism.

And as I said, Mr. Chairman, all I have gotten back is a form letter acknowledging receipt of my letter.

I would like to briefly recount, if I might, the Vincent Chin matter referred to in my letter. On June 19, 1982, a young American of Chinese ancestry was enjoying a last night out before his wedding, when two autoworkers in the bar with him blamed him for the troubles in the auto business.

Such scapegoating is not at all rare, but in this case the two men followed Mr. Chin for half an hour, later beating him to death with baseball bats. For this crime, the Michigan courts sentenced the two men to $3,000 fines and probation. Neither spent one night in jail.

As you can imagine, protests mounted, and it took 8 months of hard work to convince the Department of Justice to indict these two men on Federal civil rights charges. When the two men were finally prosecuted on Federal charges, one was convicted of violating Mr. Chin's civil rights.

The same sort of situation appears to be developing here. How many of these cases have to be endured before the rights of Americans of Asian ancestry are fully respected and protected by our Government? Americans of Asian ancestry are sick and tired of the failure of the Federal Government to vigorously enforce the civil liberties they possess as citizens of the United States.

I urge this subcommittee to send a signal that the time has come to put an end to the hypocrisy that condemns terrorism against U.S. citizens abroad, but turns a blind eye to it here at home when opposing such terrorism puts us at odds with our so-called friends. We cannot allow Taiwan to be a safe haven for those who murder U.S. citizens.

I understand that the Government of Taiwan has said it will try the two men most directly responsible for this murder. Three senior officials of the Taiwanese military intelligence, including its head, are also under investigation. Apparently FBI and Daly City Police were able to interview the two men who have already been charged, but either did not seek or were not allowed to interview the intelligence officials. I regret we have not aggressively sought to have these men returned to U.S. courts.

I have been told that Taiwanese law would not allow the return of these men-that perhaps, while they would want to return the two suspects in this case that they are restrained from doing so by their own laws. I say to my friends in Taiwan that U.S. law does not allow us to sell arms to a country when there is a systematic pattern of intimidation or harassment against U.S. citizens.

And I urge my colleagues in Congress to make clear to Taiwan, and others, that policy decisions involving foreign assistance by this country will not be constrained by technicalities when the safety of our citizens from terror is involved.

Perhaps even more importantly, I am saddened by the apparent unwillingness of this administration to tell Americans of Asian ancestry what they have a right to hear, that this Nation does value their rights and their lives just as highly-no more, no less-as all other citizens.

Today, Mr. Chairman, I have met with Vincent Chin's mother. Now I am here with Henry Liu's widow. I hope I do not have to make any similar appearances in the future.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, let me emphasize my deep concern with the apparent freedom with which agents of the Taiwanese Government have operated within our country. To put it more bluntly, I am sick and tired of seeing foreign agents come to this country, do their dirty work, and then run back to their home countries and claim protection of their nations and laws. Surely acts of violence against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil should be within the U.S. law. To kill an American and then claim the protection of a foreign nation's laws is behavior that dishonors that nation.

And, Mr. Chairman, these are supposedly our friends. We sold them $760 million in arms in 1985. So, Mr. Chairman, I think the time has come to tell the so-called friends of ours to take their intelligence operatives and recall them home, and I hope you will join with me, Mr. Chairman, in asking the new chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to begin an intensive investon of this whole matter.

Police Department. This murder appears to have been an act of political assassination, motivated by Mr. Liu's writings about human rights violations on Taiwan.

The four alleged murderers have fled to Taiwan, and it appears that your Department is not vigorously seeking their return for trial.

Given this Administration's vociferous claim to be serious about stamping out terrorism, your silence is inexplicable. I am sorry to report that there is a growing feeling among Americans of Asian ancestry that this Administration is not seriously concerned with the most basic rights of minority citizens. It took several months of sustained public pressure before the Justice Department acted in the murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. Please do not make us go through that painful process again. The people of this nation are entitled to expect and receive protection from their government against foreign terrorism.

Sincerely yours,

NORMAN Y. MINETA,
Member of Congress.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC, January 15, 1985.

Hon. NORMAN Y. MINETA,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN MINETA: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 11, 1985, to the Attorney General, received by the Department on January 15, 1985, concerning the death of Henry Liu.

A further response will be forthcoming as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

PHILLIP D. BRADY,

(for Acting Assistant Attorney General).

Mr. SOLARZ. Please proceed. Mr. MINETA. Given this administration's vociferous claim to be serious about stamping out terrorism, your silence is inexplicable. I am sorry to report that there is a growing feeling among Americans of Asian ancestry that this administration is not seriously concerned with the most basic rights of minority citizens.

The letter continues:

It took several months of sustained public pressure before the Justice Department acted in the murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. Please do not make us go through that painful process again. The people of this Nation are entitled to expect and receive protection from their Government against foreign terrorism.

And as I said, Mr. Chairman, all I have gotten back is a form letter acknowledging receipt of my letter.

I would like to briefly recount, if I might, the Vincent Chin matter referred to in my letter. On June 19, 1982, a young American of Chinese ancestry was enjoying a last night out before his wedding, when two autoworkers in the bar with him blamed him for the troubles in the auto business.

Such scapegoating is not at all rare, but in this case the two men followed Mr. Chin for half an hour, later beating him to death with baseball bats. For this crime, the Michigan courts sentenced the two men to $3,000 fines and probation. Neither spent one night in jail.

As you can imagine, protests mounted, and it took 8 months of hard work to convince the Department of Justice to indict these two men on Federal civil rights charges. When the two men were finally prosecuted on Federal charges, one was convicted of violating Mr. Chin's civil rights.

The same sort of situation appears to be developing here. How many of these cases have to be endured before the rights of Americans of Asian ancestry are fully respected and protected by our Government? Americans of Asian ancestry are sick and tired of the failure of the Federal Government to vigorously enforce the civil liberties they possess as citizens of the United States.

I urge this subcommittee to send a signal that the time has come to put an end to the hypocrisy that condemns terrorism against U.S. citizens abroad, but turns a blind eye to it here at home when opposing such terrorism puts us at odds with our so-called friends. We cannot allow Taiwan to be a safe haven for those who murder U.S. citizens.

I understand that the Government of Taiwan has said it will try the two men most directly responsible for this murder. Three senior officials of the Taiwanese military intelligence, including its head, are also under investigation. Apparently FBI and Daly City Police were able to interview the two men who have already been charged, but either did not seek or were not allowed to interview the intelligence officials. I regret we have not aggressively sought to have these men returned to U.S. courts.

I have been told that Taiwanese law would not allow the return of these men-that perhaps, while they would want to return the two suspects in this case that they are restrained from doing so by their own laws. I say to my friends in Taiwan that U.S. law does not allow us to sell arms to a country when there is a systematic pattern of intimidation or harassment against U.S. citizens.

And I urge my colleagues in Congress to make clear to Taiwan, and others, that policy decisions involving foreign assistance by this country will not be constrained by technicalities when the safety of our citizens from terror is involved.

Perhaps even more importantly, I am saddened by the apparent unwillingness of this administration to tell Americans of Asian ancestry what they have a right to hear, that this Nation does value their rights and their lives just as highly-no more, no less-as all other citizens.

Today, Mr. Chairman, I have met with Vincent Chin's mother. Now I am here with Henry Liu's widow. I hope I do not have to make any similar appearances in the future.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, let me emphasize my deep concern with the apparent freedom with which agents of the Taiwanese Government have operated within our country. To put it more bluntly, I am sick and tired of seeing foreign agents come to this country, do their dirty work, and then run back to their home countries and claim protection of their nations and laws. Surely acts of violence against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil should be within the U.S. law. To kill an American and then claim the protection of a foreign nation's laws is behavior that dishonors that nation.

And, Mr. Chairman, these are supposedly our friends. We sold them $760 million in arms in 1985. So, Mr. Chairman, I think the time has come to tell the so-called friends of ours to take their intelligence operatives and recall them home, and I hope you will join with me, Mr. Chairman, in asking the new chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to begin an intensive investigation of this whole matter.

And furthermore, Mr. Chairman, should you want to introduce legislation tightening up the Arms Export Control Act, a goal I know you have worked on in the past, then please count me as a supporter.

There is no place for domestic terrorism in this Nation, and if the administration will not act to stop it, then let us in the Congress take the lead.

Thank you very, very much.

[The prepared statement of Congressman Mineta follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. NORMAN Y. MINETA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. I want to congratulate you and this Subcommittee for your leadership in holding today's hearing on this important matter. I am proud to be a cosponsor of your resolution (H. Con. Res. 49) along with Mr. Leach, Mr. Torricelli, and Mr. Lantos.

I particularly want to thank my fellow colleague from California, Mr. Lantos, for the important role he has played in bringing this case to national attention. I share his concern that this tragic crime may indicate a violation of the Arms Export Control Act.

I am here this afternoon for several reasons.

As an American of Asian ancestry, I am concerned about acts of violence against other Americans of Asian ancestry.

Most importantly, I am here today as a citizen of this country, and as a national legislator, who believes most strongly that our Constitutional promises of life and liberty must always be paramount, and that it is the responsibility of the federal government to protect those promises.

Henry Liu was a journalist, whose writing did not always please the government of Taiwan. And while I do not assume to know who is ultimately responsible in a legal sense for his murder, I am confident he was killed because of his work.

Let me put this bluntly as I can. Henry Liu was a U.S. citizen, just like all of us. Yet I am forced to believe that if Henry Liu was white, then this case would be handled differently by our government and other groups.

Imagine if you will the murder of an American journalist of Polish ancestry here in this country by agents of the Polish government because he wrote about the repression in the country from which he emigrated from. Or imagaine if you will, an experienced American reporter of Iranian ancestry murdered by Iranian terroists because he had the courage to write about the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Led by an appropriately outraged press there would be an outcry to demand justice. The national outcry would be enormous. Does anyone doubt that the Preisdent would take to the airways to denounce such an act? Does anyone question that issues would be raised at the highest levels of the State Department, the Justice Department, or the White House? Would not this story be front page news? Yet an American of Asian ancesty is killed and this has not happened.

Mr. Chairman, I wrote to the Attorney General on January 11th asking for a strong response from the Administration, and so far-now, nearly a month laterall I have gotten back is a two sentence form letter. With your indulgence, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to read a portion of my letter to Attorney General Smith and ask to have it and the reply included as part of this hearing record.

"Given this Administration's vociferous claim to be serious about stamping out terrorism, your silence is inexplicable. I am sorry to report that there is a growing feeling among Americans of Asian ancestry that this Administration is not seriously concerned with the most basic rights of minority citizens.

The letter continues, "It took several months of sustained public pressure before the Justice Department acted in the murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. Please do not make us go through that painful process again. The people of this nation are entitled to expect and receive protection from their government against foreign terrorism."

And as I said, Mr. Chairman, all I have gotten back is a form letter acknowledging receipt of my letter.

I would like to briefly recount if I might the Vincent Chin matter referred to in my letter. On June 19, 1982, a young American of Chinese ancestry was enjoying a last night out before his wedding, when two auto workers in the bar with him blamed him for the troubles in the auto business.