DATE=5/26/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=CHINA TRADE NORMALIZATION VOTE
NUMBER=6-11840
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: The vote by the U-S House of Representatives,
to normalize trade relations with China, dominated the
editorial columns of the U-S press for much of the
week. Most newspapers have come out in favor of the
legislation, but a minority worried that normalizing
trade gives away the last lever this country has to
press China on human rights issues.
We get a sampling of views on the China trade issue
from _______________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: The U-S House of Representatives vote has been
heralded in many dailies as the opening a new era of
relations with Beijing.
Trade unions and many human rights activists bitterly
opposed the measure. The unions fear loss of U-S
jobs, and the human rights activists fear China will
now be free to act to suppress dissent without fear of
economic sanctions.
We begin our sampling in New York, where the Daily
News calls the vote "a historic victory of principle
over politics," and adding:
VOICE: Too bad Congress can't behave like this more
often. [And] As for human rights, free trade is not a
reward for the Chinese government; it is a right of
the Chinese people. In the eleven years since the
Tiananmen Square massacre, the freedoms of ordinary
Chinese have grown tremendously as the intrusions of
their government into everyday life have receded.
Expanded trade and contact with the outside world will
broaden the range of that freedom. If the United
States had refused to open the door, however, China
would have been free to spurn the democracy of market
principles and retreat into repressive old ideology.
TEXT: On far western side of the country, the big,
Pacific Island afternoon daily, the [Honolulu] Star-
Bulletin, applauds the move as a "benefit [for] U-S
exports to China," [and as a means to strengthening]
Washington's ability to influence Chinese policies."
VOICE: ... the wisest policy for the United States is
to engage China more deeply in trade and diplomatic
relations, in the hope that such engagement may help
to moderate China's objectionable behavior.
TEXT: In heavily unionized Ohio, The [Akron] Beacon
Journal is pleased the bill passed, but feels
President Clinton's claims for the measure, and his
support, was both hypocritical and somewhat
exaggerated.
VOICE: ... [President] Clinton, in attempting to
rally and prepare the country, has tended to oversell
the impact of a single trade agreement. The
cumulative effect of wider trade is positive, the
direction beneficial in the long run. ...[However]
... the Chinese can be expected to be vexing.
Confrontations are likely to surface over human rights
and saber-rattling toward Taiwan. What is decisive is
the Chinese willingness to join the World Trade
Organization, to play by international rules that
encourage openness and exchange.
TEXT: The Beacon Journal chides Mr. Clinton for
virtually ignoring fears that human rights in China
will suffer from the bill's passage.
And in New Jersey's capital, The [Trenton] Times urges
the Senate to follow the lead of the House, and
approve the measure next month, as it headlines its
lead editorial on the vote: "The right decision on
China."
VOICE: China has indeed been isolated for years, in
an estrangement of its own making. Now, however, it
is asking to join the international community. For
the United States to reject that request would be a
great mistake.
TEXT: Now, to a pair of Northern Pacific coast ports
that figure to benefit substantially from increased
trade with China. First, to Washington State, where
The Seattle Times suggests:
VOICE: Organized labor was wrong from the beginning
on the China trade bill that passed the House ...
Trade is a powerful engine in the U-S economy,
creating jobs for union labor and providing a host of
affordable imports that stretch wages by helping keep
inflation low. ... China receives low-tariff access to
U-S markets. U-S companies and workers get access to
Chinese domestic markets of extraordinary potential.
TEXT: Now, to the largest metropolitan area in the
region, Portland, Oregon, where The Oregonian calls
the vote, "the right choice" but says there are still
important points to ponder.
VOICE: The House's decision ... [still leaves]
American political leaders with two difficult
questions still on the table. The first, of course,
is that raised by Representative David Wu, Democrat of
Oregon, and other opponents of the... agreement.
Their argument, that annual review of China's trade
status gave us some leverage over China's internal
human rights behavior was not especially compelling,
given that we have had both annual reviews and bad
behavior by China's ruling regime for some years now.
But their underlying point ... remains a good one.
Our view, and the view of many in China, is that a
more open economy will naturally lead to a less
abusive political system. ... The House decision on
China underlines another obvious parallel in American
economic relations with communist nations: Cuba.
America's policy toward Cuba resembles our Cold War
containment and isolation policy toward China, and has
been about as effective. Now two Northwesterners have
proposed changing all that ...[co-sponsoring and
introducing] the Cuba Trade Normalization Act of two-
thousand, the same day the house was voting on China.
It ... would lift the U-S trade embargo on Cuba. ...
If we believe the formula works in China, the biggest
communist society on Earth, it follows that it should
work in Cuba, one of the smallest.
TEXT: Back to the Midwest now, where the Chicago
Tribune is also pleased at the outcome, calling it
"the only sensible path for the United States..."
while The New York Times suggests worries about
continued human rights abuses may diminish over time.
VOICE: By approving [the] legislation ... the House
opened the way ... for a more stable and productive
relationship with that country. ... There is
understandable skepticism about the position that
simply trading with China and opening it up to foreign
investment will produce a more open society. But a
striking number of experts on China, and many in the
dissident community in China, have argued persuasively
that creating wealth in the private economy, along
with more avenues of communication, will strengthen
those Chinese in a position to demand a pluralistic
and democratic society.
TEXT: With that, we conclude this sampling of comment
on the U-S House of Representative vote this week, to
permanently normalize trade with China.
NEB/ANG/
26-May-2000 14:44 PM EDT (26-May-2000 1844 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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