DATE=5/3/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGRESS / CHINA-TRADE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261943
BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON
DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Clinton administration says it will take
strong steps to ensure Chinese compliance with the
terms of a new trade deal. As V-O-A's Paula Wolfson
reports from Capitol Hill, the announcement is
designed to win congressional support for permanent
normal trade relations with Beijing.
TEXT: A vote in the House of Representatives on trade
with China is just weeks away. And administration
officials are trying to chip away at the arguments put
forward by the opposition.
To those who say China has a record of unfair trade
practices, there is a promise of aggressive
enforcement.
/// Daley Tease Act ///
We are putting in place a new rapid response
team on China -- it includes a dozen compliance
and trade specialists.
/// End Act ///
Commerce Secretary William Daley made the announcement
at a congressional hearing.
/// Daley Act ///
It will be headed by a deputy assistant
secretary for China who is focused on
compliance. This will be the highest-level
Commerce (Department) official ever put in
charge of enforcing a trade agreement with a
single country.
/// End Act ///
Mr. Daley was one of four members of President
Clinton's cabinet called in to testify before the
House Ways and Means Committee. During the hearing,
the administration also sent a message to lawmakers
who say giving up the annual congressional review of
trade with China will take away important leverage in
the area of human rights. Treasury Secretary Lawrence
Summers said he is taking a close look at proposed
legislation to set up a human rights commission for
China.
/// Summers Act ///
Finding alternatives to the annual N-T-R (normal
trade relations) renewal process, such as a
commission -- modeled in some ways on the
Helsinki Commission -- to keep a spotlight on
these issues, makes good policy sense.
/// End Act ///
/// Opt /// But a strong critic of the Beijing
government in the House of Representatives complained
that these proposals are not enough. Virginia
Republican Frank Wolf said China does not deserve
permanent normal trade relations -- or P-N-T-R -- with
the United States.
/// Wolf Act ///
When this vote takes place, the word will go to
the prison camps and the gulag camps and the
slave labor camps that this administration and
this Congress either granted P-N-T-R, whereby
they don't care, or they didn't grant it,
whereby there is hope and hope springs eternal.
/// End Act // End Opt ///
The China vote in the House is expected to be very
close. Labor unions and some religious groups have
been putting pressure on lawmakers to reject permanent
trade relations. But supporters of the measure seem
more optimistic these days and Republican leaders are
working in an unusual alliance with the president they
once impeached to win approval of P-N-T-R. (signed)
NEB/PW/JP
03-May-2000 13:44 PM EDT (03-May-2000 1744 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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