[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 103 (Monday, August 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 1, 1994]



                              {time}  1910
 
            WE MUST STAND WITH THE LONE MAN BEFORE THE TANK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McDermott). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi] is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform my colleagues about 
legislation, H.R. 4590 introduced by the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. 
Gephardt], the House majority leader, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. 
Bonior], the House majority whip, and over a hundred Members of the 
House, Democrats and Republicans, including the gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Gilman] and the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf] among many 
others on the Republican side. This bill would revoke most-favored-
nation status for products made by China's People's Liberation Army and 
certain other state-owned enterprises. Our approach is a focused 
compromise which gets to the heart of Congress' concerns about 
proliferation, trade and human rights.
  Why target the Chinese military? Each year, American consumers 
unknowingly subsidize China's military modernization by purchasing 
hundreds of millions of dollars worth of consumer products made by 
companies which are fronts for China's People's Liberation Army [PLA]. 
The products made by these PLA companies, including AK-47 assault 
rifles to pharmaceuticals to stuffed toy animals, enter the U.S. market 
under preferential most-favored-nation tariffs.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the same Chinese military that ran over its own 
students with tanks, the same military that brutally occupies Tibet, 
and the same Chinese military that proliferates weapons of mass 
destruction.
  The Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA] has produced a chart, DIA VP-
1020-271--90, identifying the relationships among import and export 
organizations in China's defense industrial complex. The DIA says that 
these PLA front companies are a ``key to supporting the uniformed 
services and China's industrial base and to acquiring military and 
dual-use technology. They market products and earn foreign currency to 
support defense-related research, development, and operations.''
  The huge profits and hard currency earned through these sales are 
bankrolling the massive modernization and expansion of China's military 
and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue regimes.
  Of particular concern:
  During a week of meetings in early June the entire Chinese military 
hierarchy turned out to greet their North Korean counterparts declaring 
the two countries ``as close as lips and teeth.'' (Christian Science 
Monitor)
  According to Seoul's largest newspaper, these meetings produced a 
pledge of 85,000 Chinese troops to the defense of North Korea in the 
event of war and credit assistance to Pyongyang for food and energy in 
case of U.N. sanctions. (Choson Ilbo, Seoul)
  If Defense Intelligence Agency analysts are correct, the Chinese 
military has aided the development of North Korea's new TD-2 missile by 
transferring advanced missile technology to North Korea. (Wall Street 
Journal)
  China's military companies have sold billions of dollars worth of 
ballistic missiles to the Middle East and, in the words of CIA Director 
Woolsey, China is ``Iran's principal nuclear supplier.'' (Congressional 
Research Service)
  Chinese military companies have sold nuclear and missile technology 
to Pakistan, including bomb designs and enough weapons-grade uranium 
for two weapons. (Congressional Research Service)
  Cambodian Government sources say that, according to their 
intelligence services, in March, a new shipment of Chinese weapons 
worth $18 million was received by the Khmer Rouge, (led by Pol Pot) in 
violation of the Paris accord on Cambodia that was coauthored and 
signed by Beijing. (Far Eastern Economic Review)
  Alone among the nations of the world, China's military is still 
testing nuclear weapons, including the detonation of a nuclear weapon 
5-10 times the power of the Hiroshima blast on June 10, just 2 weeks 
after President Clinton's decision to renew MFN unconditionally. 
(Washington Post)
  As I mentioned earlier, China, alone among the declared nuclear 
powers, is massively increasing its defense spending--by 20 percent 
this year alone. (Wall Street Journal)
  China has purchased billions of dollars worth of highly sophisticated 
Russian military equipment including SU-27 air superiority fighters and 
the latest main battle tank, the T80-U. (International Defense Review)
  By continuing to provide preferential most-favored-nation treatment 
for these PLA exports, American consumers are in effect subsidizing 
China's program of guns to butter to guns. We believe that this should 
end. American consumers should not subsidize the Chinese Army with 
preferential trade treatment. Instead we must stand with the lone man 
before the tank.

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