TO: Speaker J. Dennis Hastert
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
FROM: The Congressional Policy Advisory Board
DATE: March 1, 2000
RE: United States Relations with the People's Republic of China
At our quarterly meeting today the Advisory Board extensively discussed United States relations with the People's Republic of China, and in particular the PRC's recent statements threatening Taiwan and the United States. The participants concluded that these actions have created a serious threat to peace and security in East Asia, and that the Administration's responses to these actions have been inadequate, confusing, and in some instances counterproductive.
The Board concluded that the PRC's actions, together with the Administration's failure adequately to address them, render it particularly urgent that the Senate promptly approve the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act recently passed by the House.
The Board extensively discussed the risk that Congressional approval of Permanent Normal Trade Relations for the PRC in close proximity to the PRC's threats against both Taiwan and the United States might be misinterpreted by Beijing as an indication that the United States did not oppose the PRC's policies and actions towards Taiwan. The Board concluded that this risk further necessitates, at a minimum, prompt Senate approval of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act so that the message is unambiguous.
Finally, in order to promote informed consideration of the issue, the Board concludes that it is important that the agreement on market access between the United States and the PRC be made public, and the agreement on market access between the PRC and the European Union and the WTO accession protocol and working party report for the PRC be concluded, before Congress considers Permanent Normal Trade Relations for the PRC.
These conclusions represent the unanimous view of the Board members in attendance at the meeting in Washington (and by teleconference at Stanford University). Participants in this meeting were: Congressional Policy Advisory Board Chairman Martin Anderson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior White House adviser under Presidents Nixon and Reagan; Annelise Anderson, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Associate Director of OMB under President Reagan; Larry Arnn, President of the Claremont Institute; Michael Boskin, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bush; John Cogan, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Deputy Director of OMB under President Reagan; Christopher DeMuth, President of the American Enterprise Institute and Administrator for Regulatory Affairs at OMB under President Reagan; Thomas Duesterberg, President of the Manufacturers Alliance and Assistant Secretary for International Trade at the Commerce Department under President Bush; Edwin J. Feulner, President of the Heritage Foundation; Fred Iklé, Distinguished Scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Under-Secretary of Defense under President Reagan; Jeane Kirkpatrick, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and Ambassador to the United Nations under President Reagan; James C. Miller, III, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of OMB under President Reagan; John Raisian, Director of the Hoover Institution; Peter Rodman, Director of National Security Programs at the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom and Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under President Bush; Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Board of the RAND Corporation, formerly U.S. Representative from Illinois, and White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense under President Ford; John Taylor, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a Member of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers; Edward Teller, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory under President Eisenhower; Darrell Trent, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Acton Development Company and Acting Secretary of Transportation under President Reagan; Caspar Weinberger, Chairman of Forbes Magazine, Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, and Director of OMB and Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Nixon; and Walter Williams, Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Distinguished Scholar at the Heritage Foundation.
The Policy Committee is the policy-making arm
of the House Majority. It is comprised of
the House Leadership (the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the
Majority Whip, the Conference Chairman, the Policy Chairman,
the Conference Vice Chairman, the Conference Secretary, the
NRCC Chairman, and the elected leaders of the Junior,
Sophomore, and Freshman classes), the chairmen of key standing
committees of the House, and Members elected by region and
seniority. The Committee meets weekly to consider
legislation and issues of national importance.
