[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  MOST-FAVORED-NATION STATUS FOR CHINA

  (Ms. CANTWELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage President 
Clinton and my colleagues to approve most-favored-nation status for 
China, and broaden the decision from our equally important concerns 
about human rights abuses.
  The United States has worked hard for more than 20 years to develop 
an increasingly close relationship with China. As we consider our 
concerns about China's human rights abuses, and the best way to help 
improve that record, we should remember that a driving economic 
relationship between China and the rest of the world will produce 
greater understanding and support for human rights than a closed 
society.
  Encouragement from a friend is more persuasive than ultimatums from 
an adversary.
  Let us not continue, year after year, to draw a line in the sand, 
only to erase it. We need all the tools we can assemble--both 
diplomatic and disciplinary. Drawing China closer to us by granting MFN 
status will expand our toolbox and increase our chances of achieving 
our economic, social, and political goals.
  Mr. Speaker, I come from a State with longstanding relationships 
throughout Asia and the Pacific rim. Washington State has made 
international trade a cornerstone of its economy. I believe the United 
States' best opportunity to help right the wrongs we continue to 
observe in China is to increase United States influence by 
strengthening our economic, political, and cultural ties with the 
Chinese people, and to use that relationship as a vehicle for positive 
internal change.

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