[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 26, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     MOVING BEYOND TIANANMEN: LEARNING THE LESSONS OF CHINA POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Clayton). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of February 11, 1994, the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Glickman] 
is recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GLICKMAN. Madam Speaker, tomorrow the country buries Richard 
Nixon, the President who will be remembered both for his far-sighted 
foreign policy and his disastrous involvement in the Watergate scandal. 
Today I wish to talk for a few minutes about our country's China 
policy, recognizing that the timing of Mr. Nixon's death provides a 
unique opportunity to focus the future of United States-China 
relations.
  Few would have predicted, 5 years ago, the changes that have reshaped 
the world. The Berlin Wall is a museum piece; former Warsaw Pact states 
apply to join NATO, but the cold-war paradigms and 5-year-old memories 
of Tiananmen Square still define United States-Chinese relations.
  Ironically, the first post-cold-war administration has yet to 
articulate a clear post-cold-war policy toward China. The 
administration correctly elevated Asia to the more prominent position 
it deserves in U.S. foreign policy. A sampling of the geopolitical 
landscape illustrates that as important as Tokyo and Seoul are to the 
United States, the fate of United States-Asian interests will rest on 
Beijing.
  China may not be able to dissuade the North Koreans from their 
nuclear ambitions, but its leverage over North Korea will be essential 
for defusing the Korean nuclear problem. It will take China's 
cooperation to cool the arms race between India and Pakistan as well as 
deal with the simmering instability in the central Eurasian states of 
the former Soviet Union, as well as taking into account the great 
instability faced by the Russian Government itself.
  A stable China is a necessary element for stability in all these 
regions. The administration is not alone in recognizing China's 
importance to the United States. Iran has already approached Beijing, 
proposing an Iranian-Chinese alliance to counter the United States, as 
well as, no doubt, to give Iran a freer hand for its regional 
expansionism. Although the first entreaty was rebuffed, it ought to 
send a signal to us that the United States runs a risk in putting off 
China and keeping China separate from us. If the United States can make 
peace with the old Soviet Union, the archenemy we faced on the brink of 
nuclear annihilation for nearly five decades, surely we can bring 
ourselves to move beyond the searing images of Tiananmen Square that 
seem to exclusively drive China policy. To do less threatens not only 
the complexity of the geopolitical interests in the world but 
jeopardizes an incredible opportunity to participate in China's 
economic and political revolution and help to moderate their political 
system and help to moderate their human rights treatment.

  MFN status--most favored nation status--the cold war relic underlying 
our China policy, should not be the basis for the entire United States-
Chinese relationship. That was created constructively to pry exit visas 
out of the hands of the Soviets. Moreover, there was little risk to 
United States interests denying MFN to Russia. Contemporary China, 
which beckons a rush of eager investment from dozens of countries, is 
much different.
  The President, during his campaign, stitched together a winning 
coalition addressing basic economic themes and resisting the pressures 
of certain interests who for years damaged the Democratic Party 
credibility with the public on issues of foreign policy and national 
security. NAFTA is perhaps the greatest example of this.
  The fact of the matter is that China has been an exception. In spite 
of the fact that China's economy is the most robust in the world right 
now, China is not the enemy. Instead of threatening Beijing with the 
trade equivalent of a nuclear strike, we should be promoting measures 
to build confidence into the relationship as well as throughout the 
region. The most immediate objective should be addressing regional 
security and stability, weapons proliferation, and strengthening trans-
Pacific economic ties. These directly threaten United States lives and 
interests just as much as Chinese human rights policies do.
  Rather than pursuing a policy based exclusively on human rights, a 
nonlinear approach to bilateral relations that respects China's role as 
an emerging world leader will do far more to improve China's bleak 
record on human rights than a relationship exclusively focused on 
China's dissidents.
  The United States has a special role in insisting that governments 
respect the dignity of their citizenry. But given the torturous history 
of China's relations with Western nations and its historic antipathy 
toward both Russia and Japan, success with China will depend on a whole 
range of factors beyond specific performance standards, preconditions, 
and expanding trade relationships.
  Let me close by saying the following: Richard Nixon recognized that a 
strong China allied with the United States could divide the Communist 
world and perhaps lead to the breakup of the world Communist system. We 
need to recognize that China is a powerful moderating force against a 
nuclear Korea, against an unstable Russia, and against a worldwide 
unpredictable terrorist threat, not even taking into account the 
exploring economic growth in East Asia.
  Finally, it is absolutely clear to me that Chinese treatment of its 
citizens does need serious attention. But treating China as an equal 
partner of the world will give us much greater moral authority to 
improve their domestic human rights than the current policy being 
proposed by many people throughout this country.

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