[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1025-H1026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THINK HARD ABOUT MFN FOR CHINA

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today's New York Times points out that the 
State Department released its 1995 report on human rights, and human 
rights has fallen behind in China.
  We ought to be careful when we consider MFN later on this year, 
because there is slave labor in China making goods. In fact, I will bet 
there are members of Congress that are wearing clothing made by slave 
labor in China.
  There is organ sales; for $30,000 you can get a slave labor person 
shot, and they will donate their kidney for you.
  There is persecution of Christians whereby they are going in house 
churches. It goes on and on.
  Lastly, members concerned about the economy, the trade imbalance with 
China is now $30 billion. When Tiananmen Square came, it was $6 
billion, and now it is $30 billion.
  I strongly urge every Member to get today's New York Times and read 
it, especially before we vote on
 MFN, because we should never give MFN to a nation that is persecuting 
its own people and destroying the Christian Church and plundering 
Tibet.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the State Department released its 1995 Report 
on Human Rights which said what human rights observers have been saying 
for the past 7 months, that the human rights situation in China has 
deteriorated since President Clinton renewed China's most-favored-
nation status last May.
  The report, as quoted in today's New York Times says,

       In 1994, there continued to be widespread and well-
     documented human rights abuses in China, in violation of 
     internationally accepted norms, stemming both from the 
     authorities' intolerance of dissent and the inadequacy of 
     legal safeguards for freedom of speech, association and 
     religion.

  Even Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs 
Winston Lord was forced to admit the same thing several weeks ago in 
light of all the harsh realities.
  The Times article summarizes the report as follows:

       The report criticizes the Chinese Government for detention 
     of perhaps thousands of ``prisoners of conscience;'' an 
     inadequate accounting of those who are missing or detained 
     after the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations; and crackdown of 
     journalists; the routine arrest of dissidents during foreign 
     visits and requiring prisoners to work in labor camps.

  The report notes that forced abortion and sterilization occurs, and 
accuses the Chinese Government of forcing prisoners to donate their 
organs for transplants. It also acknowledges the horrendous repression 
of dissent occurring in Tibet the tiny Himalayan country occupied by 
the Chinese for over three decades.
  That is not all that has deteriorated. In 1989, the year of the 
Tiananmen Square tragedy, the United States trade deficit with China 
was $6 billion; now the trade deficit has exploded 
[[Page H1026]] to $30 billion. That's a 500-percent increase. And what 
is worse is that American workers are forced to compete with products 
manufactured with slave labor.
  On all fronts, our engagement policy with China is not working. It is 
not improving human rights and it is not improving the trade deficit. 
This year I hope the Congress will think long and hard about changing 
it.


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