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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

USIS Washington File

04 May 2000

Text: Rep. Chris Smith Says No PNTR for China

(Smith cites Beijing's abuses in May 4 press conference)  (860)
The United States should not grant permanent Normal Trade Relations
(NTR) status to China, according to Representative Chris Smith
(Republican from New Jersey), chairman of the House International
Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights.
"There is nothing 'normal' about trade with China," Smith said in a
May 4 press conference in Washington, D.C. on legislation that would
end the annual review of China's trade status with the United States.
Normal countries, Smith said, "do not routinely beat, torture and
murder its citizens if they disagree with the government."
The United States, Smith said, "cannot grant PNTR to a country that
systematically tortures its people, arrests religious believers, runs
forced labor camps and exerts coercive population control. To grant
PNTR to China would be to turn a blind eye to the horrors that are
taking place each day in China."
Following is the text of Smith's remarks, as prepared for delivery:
(begin text)
Remarks by Rep. Chris Smith Regarding
Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China
May 4, 2000
Seven years ago, when President Clinton issued an executive order
linking significant progress on human rights with continuance of MFN
for China -- giving them a probationary year to reform -- this
Republican Congressman had nothing but praise for the Administration.
Partisanship has no place in the struggle for equality, fairness and
observance of human rights.
Yet in 1994, when it became clear that human rights had actually
deteriorated and suffered significant regression, the President,
sadly, actually de-linked MFN trading privileges with human rights.
Since then, as Chairman of the International Operations and Human
Rights Sub-Committee, I have chaired 18 hearings exclusively focused
on Chinese abuses, and have led three congressional fact finding
missions to China.
Today, egregious human rights abuses in China are commonplace. Even
the State Department's Human Rights Report makes clear that religious,
political and labor violations have all increased with each passing
year.
And just this past Monday, the first annual report of the United
States Commission on International Religious Freedom was released
condemning PNTR.
One of the Report's key recommendations states that "(w)hile many
Commissioners support free trade, the Commission believes that the
U.S. Congress should grant China (PNTR) status only after China makes
substantial improvement in respect for religious freedom," as measured
by several specific standards.
That guidance -- driven not by politics or ideology but by the dismal
facts of the situation in China -- deserves careful consideration in
the weeks ahead. I urge each of my colleagues in Congress to review
the extensively documented China sections of the Report and Staff
Memorandum before casting their votes an PNTR for China.
Bernard Cardinal Law, Chairman of the USCC Committee on International
Policy, said in a letter to Congress last month, "These are not
marginal issues or diversions in fashioning a strong and productive
relationship between our two nations. Absent any other comparable
means to focus needed attention on these matters, a strong vote
against granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) at this time
will send a clear signal to the leaders of both nations, pressing them
to give a much higher priority to human rights and religious freedom
in the future."
Cardinal Law continued, "People of good will can disagree on these
matters. Trade issues are often not the best means of expressing
concern on human rights. Other means, not related to trade, should be
sought and strengthened to communicate our country's deep concerns
about China's worsening record on human rights and religious freedom,
but a decision now to forgo on a permanent basis the annual review and
debate on these issues could be seen as an abandonment of U.S. concern
for religious liberty and human rights."
I could not agree more with Cardinal Law's eloquent remarks. A vote
against Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China will send a clear
message that we will not tolerate China's persistent human rights
violations.
There is nothing "normal" about trade with China. Normal countries do
not routinely beat, torture and murder its citizens if they disagree
with the government. Normal countries do not try to influence an
upcoming democratic election in a neighboring land by making military
threats if they do not like the outcome, like China did with Taiwan.
Normal countries do not routinely violate their trade agreements and
steal U.S. nuclear, military, and industrial secrets. And normal
countries do not violate American campaign finance laws by attempting
to buy elections in the United States.
Let's be clear -- we do not advocate isolationism. But we as a nation
cannot grant PNTR to a country that systematically tortures its
people, arrests religious believers, runs forced labor camps and
exerts coercive population control. To grant PNTR to China would be to
turn a blind eye to the horrors that are taking place each day in
China.
We, as a nation, cannot allow this to happen.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State -- http://usinfo.state.gov)



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