US Representative Matt Salmon

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Matthew Pennington, China-Savvy Tea Partyer Leads House panel on Asia. Associated Press, Jan 19, 2015.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ ... 95a14458_story.html

Note:
(a) Matt Salmon
nen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Salmon
(1958- ; from Mesa, Arizona; speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese; US representative 1995-2001 AND 2013- ; "In the [2002] general election, he [as Republican nominee for governor] faced Democratic nominee and Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano * * * and former Arizona Secretary of State Dick Mahoney (who ran as an independent, but was previously a Democrat). Napolitano defeated Salmon 46%-45%, a difference of just 11,819 votes [2000 census: Arizona population 5.1m]")

Quote:

"Salmon was instrumental in obtaining the Jan 29, 2000 release of US[-]based academic researcher Song Yongyi from detention in China on spying charges.

"Salmon voted to ban gay couples adopting children and opposes gay marriage [the bill was not passed]. In April 2013, he announced that he would continue to oppose same-sex marriage even though his son is openly gay. His stances have been unmoved despite his acceptance of his son's homosexuality.

(b) Matt Salmon, Biography. US House of Representatives, undated
salmon.house.gov/about/full-biography
("As the only Member of Congress fluent in Mandarin, along with his position on the International Relations Committee, Matt led multiple US delegations to China, one of which secured the release of political prisoner SONG Yongyi")

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Foreign_Affairs
(also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee; used to be called International Relations Committee, 1975-1978 and 1995-2007; section 2 Subcommittees: in 114th Congress (since January 2015)-- subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific (chaired by Steve Chabot (R-OH), where Salmon also sits), subcommittee on Western Hemisphere (chaired by Matt Salmon)))
(c)
(i) 宋永毅. published by 國立臺灣大學政治學系
politics.ntu.edu.tw/RAEC/comm2/SongYongyi.doc
(訪談時間：2010年8月15日，10月3日; 訪談人：包淳亮)
(ii)
(A) RFA独家：'中国 "大跃进"、"大饥荒" 数据库' 近日完成——专访宋永毅教授（之一）. Radio Free China, June 24, 2013.
www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhuanlan/xi ... 06242013102058.html
(B) 从 '文革' 中被囚者到 '文革' 史研究者 ——专访宋永毅教授（之二）. RFA, July 1, 2013.
www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhuanlan/xi ... 07012013123324.html
(C) 收存中国和人类史上最大灾难时期数据——专访宋永毅教授（之三）, RFA, July 22, 2013.
www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhuanlan/xi ... 07222013170030.html
("我觉得1999年回中国大陆被警方拘押，这是中国公安、国家安全部蓄谋已久的阴谋。他们抓我最主要是为阻止我们这个《‘文革’数据库》的出版。在我回去之前的1998年，我们已经从蒋经国基金会申请到一笔基金，大概3万多美金 * * * 因为去向他们揭发的人说，我们这个项目是得到中央情报局支持的 * * * 关了半年 * * * 在这种情况下，中共觉得为了这么个小小的图书馆馆员，一个他们本来就否定的‘文革’的研究，是不是还需要坚持下去，例如造成最惠国待遇都拿不到等等。因为美国国会非常强硬 * * * 有一句讲一句，江泽民本身不一定同意国家安全部的观点")

(d) "He spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan [1977-1979], where he learned to speak Chinese. He says he has visited mainland China more than 40 times, and during an earlier three-term stint in Congress that ended in 2000, met China’s then-leader to help secure the release of a US college researcher accused of stealing state secrets.  * * * He supported granting Beijing permanent most-favored-nation trade status and its 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization. That provided leverage to persuade then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin to release Yongyi Song, the US college researcher who had been arrested for gathering archive material on Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. 'Salmon understood that when you deal with China on trade, you should still insist on democratic principles,' said Yongyi, now a librarian and professor at California State University’s Los Angeles campus. ‘He actually argued with China’s top leader to win my release.’"

Law professor Jerome A Cohen of New York University also claimed credit for the release.