[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 82 (Friday, June 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                             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. Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time to talk about a 
critically important foreign policy issue which is going to be debated 
in the next several weeks here in the Congress. I am talking about a 
decision that President Clinton made with which I agree, and that 
happens to be his very wise and thoughtful choice to proceed with the 
granting or renewal of most-favored-nation trading status for the 
People's Republic of China.
  Let me, at the outset, say that it is extraordinarily surprising to 
me to see the top leaders of the Democratic Party standing up and 
opposing their President on what is clearly a very important foreign 
policy question. I am referring, of course, to the majority leader of 
the U.S. Senate, Mr. Mitchell, and to the leaders here in the House, 
the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Bonior] and the gentleman from 
Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] and others who have chose to, in fact, try to 
defeat President Clinton in his very wise decision to proceed with MFN 
for China. Obviously, every one of us are concerned about the human 
rights situation as it exists in China. I am one who has proudly said 
on many occasions that I joined with Democrats and Republicans alike in 
marching up to the Chinese Embassy 5 years ago this month and 
demonstrating, joined in demonstrating our concern and outrage over the 
Tiananmen Square massacre which took place on the 4th of June 1989.

                              {time}  1400

  Having done that, Mr. Speaker, I came to the conclusion that if we 
really want to deal effectively with the human rights problems that 
exist in China, and they are very serious, they have been and they 
continue to be, the best way for us to effectively address that, and 
President Clinton has decided the same thing, is to proceed with most-
favored-nation trading status, basically strengthening, strengthening 
the exposure of Western values to the people of China. Most everyone 
has concluded that.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, if we look at a recent quote from Nicholas 
Christoff, who happens to be the Beijing bureau chief from the New York 
Times, he said it very clearly, having traveled throughout the country, 
of a country of between 1.2 and 1.3 billion people, he said ``If you 
talk with the peasants, if you talk with workers in China, if you talk 
with the intellectuals, they all unite in one simple statement: Do not 
curb trade.''
  They know that as we look toward the future of the most populous 
country on the face on the earth, that we do no want to see an 
economically devastated country. We have to realize that $8 billion a 
year is being exported from the United States to the People's Republic 
of China, so jobs are created here in this country, and at the same 
time the relationship that we have with China allows consumers here in 
the United States to have the chance to purchase goods at prices which 
are more affordable, basically enhancing the standard of living right 
here in the United States.
  Of course, having referred to those benefits, one cannot say that we 
have those as priorities over human rights. I happen to believe that 
human rights are very important there, but as we look at the past 
decade in China, we have seen improvements in human rights. After all, 
if we look at the statements that have been made by many Chinese 
dissidents, they have acknowledged that it has been the involvement of 
the United States which has improved the standard of living there.
  Mr. Speaker, I have told this story before. When I was in China a 
couple of months ago, one of the people who was with us, a tour guide, 
when we were outside of Beijing, was reminded of how devastating the 
quality of life has been in the former Soviet Union, and he responded 
by saying, ``That was the way things were in China 10 years ago.''
  If you look at the standard of living in the People's Republic of 
China, clearly it has seen improvements, steady improvements, and the 
elimination of most-favored-nation trading status I sincerely believe 
would not only reduce the standard of living for the 1.2 billion people 
in China, but in fact would exacerbate, rather than improve, the human 
rights situation there.
  That is why, Mr. Speaker, I find it absolutely shocking that the 
leadership on the majority side, the Democrat leadership in both the 
House and Senate, have chosen to stand up to President Clinton in this 
decision. I hope that when we face what certainly will be a motion here 
of disapproval for the President's decision, that in a bipartisan way 
we will be able to come together in the name of improving human rights 
in the People's Republic of China and improving the standard of living 
for people in China, the United States, and other countries throughout 
the world.

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