03 May 2000
Transcript: Two Lawmakers Speak Out Against China Trade Status
(Bipartisan attack on China's PNTR bid) (1270) A Democrat and a Republican spoke out against granting permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status to China in speeches in the House of Representatives May 2. Representative Sherrod Brown (Democrat from Ohio), a member of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, criticized American chief executive officers (CEOs) who, he said, were leading the fight to gain permanent NTR status for China. The Ohio legislator quoted Wei Jing-Sheng, a Chinese dissident who spent time in Chinese prison camps, in saying that "the vanguard of the Chinese communist party in the United States is American CEOs." The House of Representatives, Brown said, "would never even consider, would not even come close to supporting permanent trade relations with China ... if these CEOs of America's largest corporations were not walking the halls and lobbying for the Communist leaders in the People's Republic of China." Representative James Gibbons (Republican from Nevada), a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, warned against passing legislation that would call for "the American people to trust its enemy." Gibbons called permanent NTR status for China an "ill-conceived and dangerous trade policy." Granting PNTR to China, Gibbons said, "sends a signal that the United States condones the inexcusable religious persecutions and human rights abuses that occur currently today." Following is a transcript of the Congressmen's remarks from the Congressional Record: (begin transcript) PERMANENT MOST FAVORED NATION STATUS FOR CHINA IS BAD IDEA (House of Representatives -- May 02, 2000) Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, 3 weeks from this week, the Republican leadership will ask this House to pass legislation granting Permanent Most Favored Nation status trading privileges to China. This is a very bad idea. Let me count the ways. First of all, China is a nation that practices slave labor and practices child labor. Why should we give trade advantages to a nation that engages in that kind of behavior with no oversight from us, with no check on Chinese behavior? China is a nation that allows forced abortions, a government that sometimes encourages forced abortions, again, a violation of any kind of behavior that we and most of the nations around the world find unacceptable. The Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, is also a nation and a government that persecutes Christians and Muslims and Buddhists and also local religious sects such as the Falun Gong in a China that, again, has no respect for human rights. The government of China also has repeatedly sold nuclear technology to countries that have no business having that kind of nuclear technology that can very easily turn into weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, in the last few weeks, we have seen the People's Republic of China threaten the Republic of Taiwan. Three or 4 years ago, during the last Taiwanese elections, the Chinese government, the People's Republic of China, the Communist Chinese Government sent missiles shooting into the Straits of Taiwan to threaten that Nation that was holding the first free elections ever in Chinese history. Giving China Most Favored Nation status, giving China permanent trading privileges with the West simply makes no sense. China is a market that has been closed to us. We, 10 years ago, 11 years ago, when President Reagan and President Bush, now President Clinton, began this policy of engagement with China where we would trade freely back and forth with China, in those days, 11 years ago, we had $100 million, with an `M,' $100 million trade deficit with the People's Republic of China. Today, after 11 years of this policy, we have a $70 billion, with a `B,' $70 billion trade deficit with the People's Republic of China. Why? Because of slave labor, because of child labor, because they have simply closed their markets to us. Last year, we bought $85 billion worth of goods from the People's Republic of China. They only let us sell $15 billion of goods into their market. We sell more to Belgium than we do to China. We sell more to Singapore than we do to China. We sell more to Taiwan than we do to China, countries that have, at most, 1-50th the population of the People's Republic of China. No issue in my 8 years in Congress has been debated as heavily or lobbied most importantly, lobbied as heavily by as many wealthy special interest groups as the annual MFN review for China and now permanent trade relations with China. There are more corporate jets at National Airport when the China vote comes up. There are more CEOs individually, the CEOs of the largest corporations in America, walking the halls of Congress, stopping in every Member's office, lobbying them about supporting permanent trade privileges for the People's Republic of China. Wei Jing-Sheng, a Chinese dissident who spent time in Chinese prison camps, said that the vanguard of the Chinese communist party in the United States is American CEOs. Think about that. CEOs of the largest companies in this country are doing the dirty work, doing the heavy lifting, doing the lobbying for, doing the support of the Communist leaders in the People's Republic of China. This body would never even consider, would not even come close to supporting permanent trade relations with China, would not even come close to supporting any kind of tariff reductions, Most Favored Nation status, trading privileges for China, if these CEOs of America's largest corporations were not walking the halls and lobbying for the Communist leaders in the People's Republic of China. These same CEOs say, well, the reason we need to knock down all barriers to China and ignore human rights violations, ignore the forced abortions, ignore the persecution of Christians and Muslims, the reason that we in the United States should ignore the nuclear sales to rogue nations, the reason we in the United States should ignore slave labor and child labor in China is because it will help the United States of America, and they say it will mean 1.2 billion consumers for American products. The fact is their excitement is not over 1.2 million consumers, it is over 1.2 million workers. We should defeat China MFN. THE SIGNAL WE SEND WITH PNTR (House of Representatives -- May 02, 2000) Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which was established just 2 years ago by Congress, stated yesterday that there are systematic, egregious, and ongoing manifestations of religious persecution in China. It is obvious to me and many of my fellow Nevadans that this is yet another reason why we should not, I repeat should not, extend the privilege of permanent normal trade relations with China. Mr. Speaker, granting PNTR to China sends a signal that the United States condones the inexcusable religious persecutions and human rights abuses that occur currently today. We would also be sending the signal that the United States is willing to endanger its own national security. After all, we would be trading with a country that holds Americans hostage every day by maintaining nuclear weapons targeted at the United States mainland. Mr. Speaker, there are too many reasons why we should not grant PNTR to China. I encourage my colleagues to stand up for democracy and freedom and against PNTR to China. I yield back this ill-conceived and dangerous trade policy that calls for the American people to trust its enemy. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State -- web site http://usinfo.state.gov)
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