[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 94 (Friday, June 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, if I had to come up with a title for the 
short statement I would like to make this morning, I would call it 
something along the lines of: ``Look which pot is calling the kettle 
black.'' Anyone even fleetingly familiar with the People's Republic of 
China will recognize the Beijing Government's frequent admonitions to 
us about ``interfering in China's internal affairs.'' We express 
concern about the PRC's deplorable treatment of hundreds of 
prodemocracy students at Tiananmen Square in 1989, and we are told not 
to interfere in China's internal affairs. We worry about how Chinese 
policies may affect our economic interests in Hong Kong, and we are 
told not to interfere in China's internal affairs. Myriad statements 
made just this month by the Foreign Ministry, the State-controlled 
press, party and government cadres are replete with these references.
  For example, the PRC's Xinhua domestic service on May 11 carried the 
following statement in reaction to the Senate vote urging the 
administration to admit Taiwan's President Lee to this country for a 
private visit: ``The U.S. Senate, in passing the resolution in 
disregard of the solemn position of the Chinese side, has constituted a 
gross interference in China's internal affairs.'' When our government 
last week protested the recent arrests of several members of China's 
prodemocracy movement for no apparent reason other than the approach of 
the June 4 anniversary of Tiananmen, the reaction of the Foreign 
Ministry's spokesman Shen Guofang was this:

       ``A very evil shortcoming of the U.S. Government is that it 
     always criticizes the internal affairs of other countries * * 
     *. It would be advisable for the U.S. Government to mind its 
     own affairs.''

  When the State Department urged the parties to the Spratly Island 
dispute to come to a peaceful solution thereto because of the serious 
effect any regional conflict might have on world trade, we were 
reminded that the PRC is opposed to ``other countries' interference in 
the matter.
  It is clear to me, though, that our Chinese friends are in no 
position to lecture this country on the topic of meddling; they are 
better at it than most. For example, in regards to the visit of 
President Lee, which individuals we admit to this country for private 
visits pursuant to our immigration laws is purely an internal affair of 
the United States in which China has no business meddling; yet the PRC 
has raised a furor over the decision and has sought to impose its will 
on us by dictating our internal policies to us. Similarly, the Chinese 
Foreign Ministry derided the administration's recent decision to impose 
a trade embargo on Iran because of the latter's penchant for sponsoring 
terrorism; yet that decision is inarguably a bilateral issue between us 
and Iran in which China has no license to interfere.
  Related examples of China seeking to inject itself into the purely 
internal affairs of other countries are legion. For instance, China 
consistently denounces the government of Israel in that country's 
various dealings with its Arab neighbors; yet these issues are strictly 
bilateral ones between Israel and the country concerned and China has 
no place in concerning itself with them. The PRC has a long history of 
condemning the government of the Republic of Korea in its dealings with 
North Korea, but China has no business meddling in such a uniquely 
bilateral relationship.
  Vice-Premier and PRC Foreign Minister Qian Qichen recently quoted a 
saying from the Confucian Analects: ``What you do not want done to 
yourself, do not do to others.'' Yet, every day the PRC comments on 
issues which clearly, unambiguously do not concern it. So, Mr. 
President, the next time the PRC feels the urge to trot out the rather 
hackneyed phrase about us ``interfering in their internal affairs'' 
they should pause and remember a variation of another famous saying: 
``Governments that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.''


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