[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 107 (Friday, August 5, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  MOST-FAVORED-NATION STATUS 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 out this time this afternoon to 
talk about an extraordinarily important issue which the House is going 
to be addressing next week. I am referring to the resolution which is 
going to be coming before us which would disapprove the very wise 
decision that the President made to renew most-favored-Nation trading 
status with the People's Republic of China.
  I very sincerely believe, Mr. Speaker, that one of the most inhumane, 
immoral things that this Congress could do would be to deny most-
favored-nation trading status to the People's Republic of China, Why? 
Because every shred of empirical evidence that we have has demonstrated 
that over the last 15 years, since economic liberalization has taken 
place in China, as exposure to the West has expanded, the human rights 
situation there has improved.
  We actually have a multifaceted approach as it deals with China. We 
are looking at regional security, which obviously is very important, 
economic policy, nuclear proliferation international cooperation and, 
of course, human rights. Human rights is the major thrust of debate as 
we look at this issue, and it is the one we will be hearing about next 
week.
  We have just up in the Rules Committee a couple of hours ago reported 
out the rule which will bring three provisions to the floor. I hope 
very much t hat the Hamilton provision, if the rule is passed, will be 
the one that prevails. Why? Because as we listen to the arguments which 
have been provided to us by people who have lived in China, people who 
have been dissidents, who have been imprisoned in China, victims of 
human rights violations in China, they say things like the statement 
that was provided by Yang Zhou, who is one of the most famous 
dissidents, who said:

       MFN status helps our economic reforms and in the long run 
     that will help improve human rights.

                              {time}  1530

  We have listened to many people argue about how cutting off trade 
ties with China will improve the situation there, creating a closed 
society in China will improve the situation there. But obviously those 
who make that claim have failed to look at history.
  Just a few weeks ago, the reports came out in the Washington Post 
that during the Mao era in the 1950's and 1960's in China 80 million 
Chinese people were killed, but the information of those tragic deaths 
just came out recently.
  Now, in a closed society, Mr. Speaker, obviously the butchering of 80 
million people can take place, and the world will not know it. That is 
why, as we realize, that the openness which has taken place in China 
through United States business investment and exposure to Western 
values, that openness is what has brought to light the tragic 
information of those 80 million murders which took place.
  Mr. Speaker, it is assured to the Chinese people and the rest of the 
world that this kind of thing could not happen again without the world 
knowing about it, and that is why, if we try to do as some of our 
colleagues want, cut off trade ties with China, we will be creating a 
situation which could potentially see the tragic murder of another 80 
million people.

  This country is the largest nation on the face of the Earth, 1.2 
billion people, five times the size of the United States. We have got 
to realize that change is taking place gradually. Thousands of years of 
history in China, and we cannot expect an immediate improvement 
overnight in the human rights situation, but it has improved.
  As we look at statements made by people like Nicholas Christophe, who 
was the New York Times bureau chief in Beijing, when he wrote:

       ``Talk to Chinese peasants, workers, and intellectuals, and 
     on the subject you will get virtual agreement: ``Don't curb 
     trade.''

  A very liberal writer for the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington editor 
of the Atlantic Monthly, James Fallows, said:

       To carry out the threat to cut off MFN would actually 
     retard the cause of human rights.

  And the Progressive Policy Institute said:

       The best reason to guarantee MFN status for China is that 
     it buttresses economic and social forces that are creating 
     demand there in China for political change.

  Political change is going to take place, Mr. Speaker, if we maintain 
ties with the People's Republic of China. Yes, raise very serious 
concern about the human rights violations that do exist in that 
country, but I have an aggressive solution to the problem: Encourage 
further United States business investment in China so that we can 
expose the people and the leaders of that country to the ideas of our 
Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution.

                          ____________________