SION NUMBER:216754
FILE ID:EC-211
1ATE:02/25/92
TITLE:SENATE PASSES CHINA MFN BILL, BUT IT IS NOT VETO-PROOF (02/25/92)
TEXT:*92022511.ECO ECCHINLD TRADE GEN \et
SENATE PASSES CHINA MFN BILL, BUT IT IS NOT VETO-PROOF
(Status linked to human rights, trade reforms) (530)
By Robert F. Holden
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- The Senate has approved a compromise bill conditioning
renewal of China's most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status on improvements
in that country's human rights, trade and weapons transfer practices, but
the margin by which it passed would not be sufficient to override an
expected presidential veto.
The conference committee version of the U.S.-China Act of 1991 passed
February 25 by a vote of 59-39, eight votes short of the 67 -- or a
two-thirds majority -- needed to override.
On November 26, the House voted 409-21 in favor of the measure.
The bill would prohibit the extension of most-favored-nation treatment to
China for a 12-month period beginning July 3, 1992 under the Trade Act of
1974, unless the President submits to the Congress a report stating that
China has complied with a number of specific demands. These are:
-- accounting for and releasing prisoners who have been detained and
imprisoned as a result of the nonviolent expression of their political
beliefs;
-- an end to export to the United States of products manufactured by convict
or forced labor;
-- an end to shipment of arms to the Khmer Rouge insurgents in Cambodia;
-- adherence to the Joint Declaration with the United Kingdom on Hong Kong;
and
-- ending any programs of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.
The bill requires the report to state whether China has made significant
progress in:
-- engaging in high-level discussions on human rights issues;
-- preventing gross violations of such rights (including in Tibet);
-- terminating harassment of Chinese citizens in the United States;
-- ensuring access of international human rights monitoring groups to
prisoners;
-- providing protection of U.S. intellectual property rights;
-- providing U.S. exporters access to Chinese markets by lowering tariffs,
removing nontariff barriers, and increasing the purchase of U.S. goods and
services;
-- adopting a national policy consistent with specified missile, nuclear,
and chemical and biological control agreements; and
-- reducing assistance to Cuba.
The bill would also terminate most-favored-nation trade status if the
president determines that China has transferred to Syria or Iran ballistic
missiles or missile launchers for the M-9 or M-11 weapon systems or
material or technology which would significantly contribute to the
manufacture of a nuclear weapon.
In addition, the bill requires the president to undertake efforts to ensure
that members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) take
similar action to restrict trade with China if the United States denies or
terminates China's most-favored-nation status.
The bill also amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to set forth civil penalties for
persons who import convict-manufactured goods in violation of the
1rohibition on importation and provides for the judicial review of such
penalties.
Finally, it authorizes specified groups of individuals or organizations to
petition the secretary of commerce to enforce such prohibition.
Most favored nation status is the granting of the lowest tariff rates on a
particular country's goods that the United States generally applies to its
other trading partners.
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