[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 45 (Thursday, April 21, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          RENEW MFN FOR CHINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, this month of April and next month of May 
mark the fifth anniversary of the events which led up to one of the 
most horrendous tragedies in recent world history, that being the 
Tiananmen Square massacre, which took place on June 4, 1989.
  Following that terrible incident, I joined a number of my colleagues, 
including Nancy Pelosi, David Skaggs, my former colleague from 
California, Mel Levine, and others, and we marched from here to the 
Chinese Embassy up on Massachusetts Avenue to protest the horrendous 
massacre that took place in Tiananmen Square.
  After spending a great deal of time closely analyzing that situation, 
I came to a conclusion which I had strongly reaffirmed just 2 weeks ago 
when I had the opportunity to spend several days traveling under the 
auspices of the Center for Strategic and International Studies 
throughout China. I traveled with the former Defense Secretary, Harold 
Brown, who is a counselor at CSIC, Garrett Gong, the Director of Asian 
Studies at CSIC and the former President of CSIC, who now holds the 
Pacific Forum, and Dr. Amos Jordan.
  We had a number of meetings with leaders in China and business people 
there. We met with Fang Lizhi and others. And I came to the very strong 
conclusion, Madam Speaker, that it is critically important that we once 
again renew most-favored-nation trading status and expand exposure that 
China has with the West.
  Now, there are many people who have come to the conclusion that 
elimination of MFN will somehow improve the human rights conditions in 
China. Well, frankly, we have found over the past several years that 
the threat of revocation of MFN has in fact done virtually nothing when 
it comes to the human rights situation.
  What we have found, Madam Speaker, is that over the past 10 years, 
the horrible situation that we have seen, with some individuals 
notwithstanding, there has been an improvement in the human rights 
situation in China.
  Now, it is not anything like the way those of us in this House and 
Americans and those of us who stand by Western standards would like to 
see. But quite frankly, it has improved over the past decade.

                              {time}  1620

  I will never forget when in July 1990, I had the opportunity to meet 
with Fang Lizhi, who for one year had been holed up in the U.S. 
Embassy. He had been one of the dissidents in China. And when he was 
released and I met with him in London, he said to me at that time, make 
sure that when we see the older leaders from China fade from the scene 
that the Chinese people do not inherit a horrible economic situation.
  That really is the important key. The standard of living for the 
people of China has been greatly improved. And if you look at the two 
southern provinces of Guang Dong and Fujian, which adjoin Hong Kong, 
that is where the standard of living of the Chinese people had most 
greatly been enhanced. So one of the things that we need to do is we 
need to ensure that ties with United States and other western 
businesses expand even further into China. Why? So that the kind of 
economic freedom which the people on these two southern provinces are 
enjoying is expanded throughout China.
  Not everyone is aware of the fact that China is the most populous 
country in the world. Madam Speaker, China is about nearly five times 
the size of the United States of America. And as we look at that 
situation, we need to recognize that if we eliminate Most Favored 
Nation trading status, we are not alienating China from the rest of the 
world. What we would be doing, in fact, is alienating the United States 
of America from the largest country on the face of the Earth.
  I think that we need to also look at many other issues that go hand 
in hand with the issue of human rights. Denuclearization of the Korean 
Peninsula is something which is of grave concern to every one of us 
and, frankly, to the Asian nations and especially to China. They do not 
want to see the buildup of nuclear capability in North Korea.
  Our Defense Secretary, Mr. Perry, has been over in Asia and has just 
left Tokyo today. He has been focusing on this issue of nuclearization 
in North Korea.
  We also need to look at a wide range of other factors. Cooperation 
with the Chinese in the U. N. Security Council is obviously very 
important. We had the support of the Chinese as we were looking at the 
28 nations coalition that was assembled to stand up to Saddam Hussein 
as the Persian Gulf war expanded.
  There are many factors that need to be brought into this mix, but it 
would be wrong for us to in fact end the very important relationship 
which has been developed with China over the past several years. I am 
convinced, as we all pray for President Nixon's speedy recovery, that 
two decades ago, when he began to open relations with China, that that 
started the very important movement that we will see toward greater 
economic and political freedom for the Chinese people.

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