[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1991 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1991

        To extend to the People's Republic of China renewal of 
  nondiscriminatory (most-favored-nation) treatment provided certain 
                          conditions are met.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 1993

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Wolf, Mr. 
  LaFalce, Mr. Hyde, and Mr. Solomon) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Ways and Means, Foreign 
                           Affairs, and Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
        To extend to the People's Republic of China renewal of 
  nondiscriminatory (most-favored-nation) treatment provided certain 
                          conditions are met.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States-China Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND POLICY.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On June 4, 1989, thousands of Chinese citizens 
        courageously demonstrated that they were prepared to risk their 
        lives and futures in pursuit of democratic freedom and respect 
        for human rights.
            (2) The People's Republic of China, as a member of the 
        United Nations Security Council, is obligated to respect and 
        uphold the United Nations Charter and Universal Declaration of 
        Human Rights.
            (3) Despite the massive demonstration for self-
        determination and fundamental principles of human rights and 
        despite the People's Republic of China's membership in the 
        United Nations, the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China continues to flagrantly violate internationally 
        recognized standards of human rights, and engages in--
                    (A) torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading 
                treatment or punishment;
                    (B) arbitrary arrest, unacknowledged detention 
                without charges and trial, and jailing of persons 
                solely for the nonviolent expression of their political 
                views; and
                    (C) use of prison labor to produce cheap products 
                for export to countries, including the United States, 
                in violation of international labor treaties and United 
                States law.
            (4) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to deny Chinese citizens and others, who have 
        supported the prodemocracy movement, the right of free 
        emigration despite having pledged to do so in 1991.
            (5) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to employ a repressive ``birth quota'' system, 
        implemented by the use of forced abortions and involuntary 
        sterilizations.
            (6) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to use military and police forces to intimidate and 
        repress the Tibetan people seeking political and religious 
        freedom, and continues to violate the provisions of the Fourth 
        Geneva Convention by encouraging the resettlement of large 
        numbers of Chinese in Tibet.
            (7) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to engage in unfair trade practices against the 
        United States by raising tariffs, employing taxes as a 
        surcharge on tariffs, using discriminatory customs rates, 
        imposing import quotas and other quantitative restrictions, 
        barring the importation of certain items, using licensing and 
        testing requirements to limit imports, and falsifying country 
        of origin documentation to transship textiles and other items 
        to the United States through Hong Kong and third countries.
            (8) Although the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China has pledged to adhere to the guidelines and parameters of 
        the Missile Technology Control Regime, there are continuing 
        reports of Chinese transfers of military technology covered by 
        such Regime to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
            (9) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to unjustly restrict and imprison religious leaders 
        and members of religious groups who do not adhere to the dogma 
        and control of state-sponsored religious organizations.
            (10) It is the policy and practice of the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China's Communist Party to control all 
        trade unions and suppress and harass members of the independent 
        labor union movement.
            (11) The Government of the People's Republic of China 
        continues to harass and restrict the activities of accredited 
        journalists and to restrict broadcasts by the Voice of America.
    (b) Policy.--It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) with respect to the actions of the People's Republic of 
        China in the areas of human rights, weapons proliferation, and 
        unfair trade practices, the President should take such action 
        as is necessary to achieve the purposes of this Act, 
        including--
                    (A) urging the Communist Chinese leaders to release 
                all political and religious prisoners in China and 
                Tibet, and to cease forcing the large-scale influx of 
                Chinese settlers into Tibet which is threatening the 
                survival of the Tibetan culture;
                    (B) conducting diplomatic negotiations with the 
                Government of the People's Republic of China to 
                encourage them to allow international human rights and 
                humanitarian organizations access to prisoners in China 
                and Tibet;
                    (C) directing the United States Trade 
                Representative to take necessary and appropriate action 
                pursuant to section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and 
                the Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments 
                of the United States and People's Republic of China 
                concerning market access, signed October 10, 1992, with 
                respect to the continuing unfair trade practices of the 
                People's Republic of China that are discriminatory and 
                unreasonably restrict United States commerce; and
                    (D) encouraging members of the Missile Technology 
                Control Regime and other countries to develop a common 
                policy concerning the People's Republic of China's 
                transfer of missile technology to other countries;
            (2) sanctions being applied against the People's Republic 
        of China on the date of the enactment of this Act should be 
        continued and strictly enforced; and
            (3) the President should direct the Secretary of Commerce 
        to consult with American business leaders, having significant 
        trade with or investments in the People's Republic of China, to 
        encourage them to adopt a voluntary code of conduct that--
                    (A) follows internationally recognized human rights 
                principles;
                    (B) ensures that the employment of Chinese citizens 
                is not discriminatory in terms of sex, ethnic origin, 
                or political belief;
                    (C) refrains from knowingly using prison labor;
                    (D) recognizes workers right to organize and 
                bargain collectively; and
                    (E) discourages mandatory political indoctrination 
                on business sites.

SEC. 3. MINIMUM STANDARDS WHICH THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC 
              OF CHINA MUST MEET TO CONTINUE TO RECEIVE 
              NONDISCRIMINATORY MOST-FAVORED-NATION TREATMENT.

    Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the President may not 
recommend continuation of a waiver for the 12-month period beginning 
July 3, 1994, under section 402(d) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 
2432(d)) for the People's Republic of China, unless the President 
reports in the document required to be submitted by such section that 
the government of that country--
            (1) has taken appropriate actions to begin adhering to the 
        provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 
        China and Tibet;
            (2) is allowing unrestricted emigration of the citizens who 
        desire to leave China for reasons of political or religious 
        persecution to join family members abroad, or for other valid 
        reasons;
            (3) has provided an acceptable accounting for and release 
        of Chinese citizens detained, accused, or sentenced as a result 
        of the nonviolent expression of their political beliefs in 
        relation to events which occurred during and after the violent 
        repression of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 
        1989, and has provided an acceptable accounting for and release 
        of other citizens detained, accused, or sentenced for the 
        nonviolent expression of their political beliefs or for 
        peacefully exercising their internationally guaranteed rights 
        of freedom of speech, association, and assembly;
            (4) does not support or administer any program of coercive 
        abortion or involuntary sterilization;
            (5) has taken effective, verifiable action to prevent 
        export of products to the United States manufactured wholly or 
        in part by convict, forced, or indentured labor and has 
        complied with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding 
        signed on August 7, 1992, by allowing, without limitation or 
        restriction, United States Customs officials to visit places 
        suspected of producing such goods for export; and
            (6) has made overall significant progress in--
                    (A) ceasing religious persecution and lifting 
                restrictions on freedom of religious belief in the 
                People's Republic of China and Tibet and ceasing to 
                threaten the survival of the Tibetan culture;
                    (B) releasing leaders and members of religious 
                groups detained, imprisoned, or under house arrest for 
                expression of their religious beliefs;
                    (C) ceasing unfair and discriminatory trade 
                practices which restrict and unreasonably burden 
                American business;
                    (D) providing United States exporters fair access 
                to Chinese markets, including lowering tariffs, 
                removing nontariff barriers, and increasing the 
                purchase of United States goods and services;
                    (E) adhering to the guidelines and parameters of 
                the Missile Technology Control Regime and the controls 
                adopted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the 
                Australian Group on Chemical and Biological Arms;
                    (F) adhering to the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong 
                that was entered into between the United Kingdom and 
                the People's Republic of China;
                    (G) cooperating with United States efforts to 
                obtain an acceptable accounting of United States 
                military personnel who are listed as prisoners of war 
                or missing in action as a result of their service in--
                            (i) the Korean conflict; or
                            (ii) the Vietnam conflict;
                    (H) ceasing the jamming of Voice of America 
                broadcasts; and
                    (I) providing international human rights and 
                humanitarian groups access to prisoners, trials, and 
                places of detention.

SEC. 4. REPORT BY THE PRESIDENT.

    If the President recommends in 1994 that the waiver referred to in 
section 3 be continued for the People's Republic of China, the 
President shall state in the document required to be submitted to the 
Congress by section 402(d) of the Trade Act of 1974, the extent to 
which the Government of the People's Republic of China has complied 
with the provisions of section 3, during the period covered by the 
document.

SEC. 5. NONDISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT FOR PRODUCTS FROM NONSTATE-OWNED 
              ENTERPRISES.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, if 
nondiscriminatory treatment is not granted to the People's Republic of 
China by reason of the occurrence of an event described in subsection 
(b), nondiscriminatory treatment shall--
            (1) continue to apply to any good that is produced or 
        manufactured by a person that is not a state-owned enterprise 
        of the People's Republic of China, but
            (2) not apply to any such good that is marketed or 
        otherwise exported by a state-owned enterprise of the People's 
        Republic of China.
Nondiscriminatory treatment under this section shall be in effect for 
the same period of time the waiver referred to in section 3 would have 
been effective had it taken effect.
    (b) Events.--An event described in this subsection means--
            (1) the President fails to request the waiver referred to 
        in section 3 and reports to the Congress that such failure was 
        a result of the President's inability to report that the 
        People's Republic of China has met the standards described in 
        such section; or
            (2) the President requests the waiver referred to in 
        section 3, but a disapproval resolution described in subsection 
        (c)(1) is enacted into law.
    (c) Disapproval Resolution.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        ``resolution'' means only a joint resolution of the two Houses 
        of Congress, the matter after the resolving clause of which is 
        as follows: ``That the Congress does not approve the extension 
        of the authority contained in section 402(c) of the Trade Act 
        of 1974 recommended by the President to the Congress on 
        ________________ with respect to the People's Republic of China 
        because the Congress does not agree that the People's Republic 
        of China has met the standards described in section 3 of the 
        United States-China Act of 1993'', with the blank space being 
        filled with the appropriate date.
            (2) Applicable rules.--The provisions of sections 153 
        (other than paragraphs (3) and (4) of subsection (b) of such 
        section) and 402(d)(2) (as modified by this subsection) of the 
        Trade Act of 1974 shall apply to a resolution described in 
        paragraph (1).
    (d) Determination of Duty Status of Enterprises.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary of 
        the Treasury shall determine which persons are state-owned 
        enterprises of the People's Republic of China for purposes of 
        this Act and compile and maintain a list of such persons.
            (2) Definitions and special rules.--For purposes of making 
        the determination required by paragraph (1), the following 
        definitions apply:
                    (A)(i) The term ``state-owned enterprise of the 
                People's Republic of China'' means a person affiliated 
                with or wholly owned, controlled, or subsidized by the 
                Government of the People's Republic of China and whose 
                means of production, products, and revenues are owned 
                or controlled by a central or provincial government 
                authority. A person shall be considered to be state-
                owned if--
                            (I) the person's assets are primarily owned 
                        by a central or provincial government 
                        authority;
                            (II) a substantial proportion of the 
                        person's profits are required to be submitted 
                        to a central or provincial government 
                        authority;
                            (III) the person's production, purchases of 
                        inputs, and sales of output, in whole or in 
                        part, are subject to state, sectoral, or 
                        regional plans; or
                            (IV) a license issued by a government 
                        authority classifies the person as state-owned.
                    (ii) Any person that--
                            (I) is a qualified foreign joint venture or 
                        is licensed by a governmental authority as a 
                        collective, cooperative, or private enterprise; 
                        or
                            (II) is wholly owned by a foreign person,
                shall not be considered to be state-owned.
                    (B) The term ``qualified foreign joint venture'' 
                means any person--
                            (i) which is registered and licensed in the 
                        agency or department of the Government of the 
                        People's Republic of China concerned with 
                        foreign economic relations and trade as an 
                        equity, cooperative, contractual joint venture, 
                        or joint stock company with foreign investment;
                            (ii) in which the foreign investor partner 
                        and a person of the People's Republic of China 
                        share profits and losses and jointly manage the 
                        venture;
                            (iii) in which the foreign investor partner 
                        holds or controls at least 25 percent of the 
                        investment and the foreign investor partner is 
                        not substantially owned or controlled by a 
                        state-owned enterprise of the People's Republic 
                        of China;
                            (iv) in which the foreign investor partner 
                        is not a person of a country the government of 
                        which the Secretary of State has determined 
                        under section 6(j) of the Export Administration 
                        Act of 1979 to have repeatedly provided support 
                        for acts of international terrorism; and
                            (v) which does not use state-owned 
                        enterprises of the People's Republic of China 
                        to export its good or services.
                    (C) The term ``person'' means a natural person, 
                corporation, partnership, enterprise, instrumentality, 
                agency, or other entity.
                    (D) The term ``foreign investor partner'' means--
                            (i) a natural person who is not a citizen 
                        of the People's Republic of China; and
                            (ii) a corporation, partnership, 
                        instrumentality, enterprise, agency, or other 
                        entity that is organized under the laws of a 
                        country other than the People's Republic of 
                        China and 50 percent or more of the outstanding 
                        capital stock or beneficial interest of such 
                        entity is owned (directly or indirectly) by 
                        natural persons who are not citizens of the 
                        People's Republic of China.
    (e) Petition for Change in Duty Status.--Any person who believes 
that a person should be included on or excluded from the list compiled 
by the Secretary under subsection (d)(1) may request that the Secretary 
review the status of such person.

SEC. 6. EFFECT OF GATT ENTRY ON MFN STATUS.

    Notwithstanding the entry of the People's Republic of China into 
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, most-favored-nation 
treatment shall not be automatically conferred on the products of the 
People's Republic of China unless the People's Republic of China 
satisfies the standards described in section 3 and complies with 
section 402 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2432).

SEC. 7. SANCTIONS BY OTHER COUNTRIES.

    If the President decides not to seek a continuation of a waiver in 
1994 under section 402(d) of the Trade Act of 1974 for the People's 
Republic of China, the President shall, during the 30-day period 
beginning on the date that the President would have recommended to the 
Congress that such a waiver be continued, undertake efforts to ensure 
that members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade take similar 
action with respect to the People's Republic of China.

SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Detained and imprisoned.--The terms ``detained'' and 
        ``imprisoned'' include, but are not limited to, incarceration 
        in prisons, jails, labor reform camps, labor reeducation camps, 
        and local police detention centers.
            (2) Acceptable accounting.--The term ``acceptable 
        accounting'' includes--
                    (A) providing information regarding the location of 
                any person being held,
                    (B) the legal status of such person,
                    (C) if convicted, the sentence of such person, and
                    (D) if released, when and with what restrictions.
            (3) Convict, forced, or indentured labor.--The term 
        ``convict, forced, or indentured labor'' has the meaning given 
        such term by section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 
        1307).
            (4) Violations of internationally recognized standards of 
        human rights.--The term ``violations of internationally 
        recognized standards of human rights'' includes, but is not 
        limited to, torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or 
        punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, 
        causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and 
        clandestine detention of those persons, secret judicial 
        proceedings, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, 
        liberty, or the security of any person.
            (5) Missile technology control regime.--The term ``Missile 
        Technology Control Regime'' means the agreement, as amended, 
        between the United States, the United Kingdom, the Federal 
        Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and Japan, 
        announced on April 16, 1987, to restrict sensitive missile-
        relevant transfers based on an annex of missile equipment and 
        technology.
            (6) Significant progress.--(A) The term ``significant 
        progress'' in section 3, means the implementation of measures 
        that will meaningfully reduce, or lead to the end of, the 
        practices identified in such section.
            (B) With regard to section 3(5)(E), progress may not be 
        determined to be ``significant progress'' if, after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President determines that the 
        People's Republic of China has transferred--
                    (i) ballistic missiles or missile launchers for the 
                M-9 or M-11 weapons systems to Syria, Pakistan, or 
                Iran; or
                    (ii) material, equipment, or technology that would 
                contribute significantly to the manufacture of a 
                nuclear explosive device to another country and that 
                the material, equipment, or technology is to be used by 
                such country in the manufacture of such device.

                                 <all>

HR 1991 IH----2