[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page E 1454]]


                        CHINA'S BROKEN PROMISES

                                 ______


                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 18, 1995
  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with you a recent 
article which appeared in the magazine The Economist which illustrates 
the dangers of China's weapons proliferation. Since China's nuclear 
missile promotion threatens every country, it is imperative that the 
United States adopt policies which promote peace and not appeasement. 
Following is a text of the article:
     China's Broken Promises: The World Needs to Make It Keep Them

       When it comes to establishing a workable order out of the 
     post-cold-war chaos, there are few more frustrating--or more 
     important tasks than to bind China into the international 
     game. Proud, prickly and, of late, worryingly pugnacious, 
     China has always seen itself as an outsider. In the days when 
     two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, 
     competed to be the top dog, China could bend or break the 
     rules with impunity, playing one off against the other. But 
     now, whether it is smothering regional conflicts, or 
     controlling the spread of missiles and weapons of mass 
     destruction, cooperation, more than competition, is the name 
     of the big-power game. Meanwhile, China is emerging as a more 
     muscular power, in Asia and beyond. For both reasons, China 
     needs to be encouraged to drop its finger-in-your-eye habit.
       For a while, it seemed as though China might be preparing 
     to do just that. Three years ago, it did a U-turn and signed 
     the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It has since 
     committed itself, along with the other four undeclared 
     nuclear powers, to reach a comprehensive test ban in 1996. 
     And last year it promised America that it would henceforth 
     observe the guidelines of the Missile-Technology Control 
     Regime (MTCR), which seeks to prevent the spread of those 
     missiles (along with the technology and equipment to build 
     them) whose range and payload make them capable of carrying a 
     nuclear warhead. But look at what China does, not what it 
     says: after seeming to accept these rules, it has bent, or 
     broken, all of them.
       In an effort to bolster the authority of the NPT, and to 
     put pressure on the handful of countries that remain outside 
     it, the other main nuclear suppliers now refuse to sell parts 
     and materials to countries that do not accept full 
     international checks on their nuclear industry. As a 
     consequence, India, one of the NPT hold-outs suspected of 
     having the bomb, had been finding it hard to get the enriched 
     uranium it needed to refuel one of its nuclear reactors--
     until China sold it the stuff. The Indian deal may be a one-
     off, but China has long kept band nuclear company; it has 
     worked closely with Pakistan, another NPT refusenik that has 
     the bomb, helped fend off action by the U.N. Security Council 
     against North Korea, which is thought to have cheated on its 
     NPT promises in order to get one, and is expanding 
     cooperation with Iran, which wants one.
       In a similar vein, when the NPT was extended indefinitely 
     this year, and the nuclear powers, including China, promised 
     the ``utmost restraint'' in nuclear testing, China waited 
     barely four days before setting off its next underground 
     blast. China is by no means the only nuclear power 
     equivocating over its test-ban promise, but its peculiar 
     determination to have the right to conduct ``peaceful nuclear 
     explosions'' (indistinguishable from nonpeaceful ones) could 
     yet sink the proposed treaty.
       Not all of this behavior has contravened the letter of the 
     international rule book, though at times China seems to have 
     willfully undermined its spirit. However, when it comes to 
     the promise to abide by the restrictions of the MTCR, there 
     is gathering evidence that China has systematically and 
     deliberately broken its promises. China is not yet a member 
     of the MTCR, but it agreed last year in a joint statement 
     with America that it would not, in the future, contravene the 
     MTCR's guidelines. This promise of correct behavior enabled 
     America to lift some commercial sanctions on China's space 
     industry. These had been imposed because, despite public 
     denials, China had sold the parts for MTCR-busting missiles 
     to Pakistan, and possibly others. Now evidence is 
     accumulating that more Chinese missile parts are going to 
     Pakistan; missile-guidance systems and clever machine-tools 
     for making sophisticated missiles are also thought to be 
     going to Iran. As always, it will be hard to come up with 
     cast-iron proof that the agreed rules have been broken. But 
     the evidence gathered so far is strong enough--and worrying 
     enough--for China to be asked by America to explain itself. 
     Once the proof is in, American law dictates that sanctions be 
     applied forthwith.
       The missile issue could not have reappeared at a more 
     awkward moment. Relations between China and America are badly 
     strained over President Clinton's decision earlier this year 
     to allow the president of Taiwan--which China regards as a 
     rebellious province only temporarily out of its control--to 
     pay a private visit to the United States. Indeed, the two 
     issues may yet become more dangerously entangled: at times in 
     the past China has shown its displeasure when America has 
     tilted towards Taiwan by deliberately stepping up military 
     sales to the world's outlaw states, and may do so again.
       Yet, however damaging the missile issue may seem, the 
     greater harm would come from trying to duck it. The world has 
     too much to lose by turning a blind eye to missile 
     proliferation promoted by any country, let alone one the size 
     of China. And this kind of proliferation, like the nuclear 
     kind, is a threat to all. It should be dealt with by as many 
     countries as possible, not just America. When America first 
     imposed sanctions on China for its missile sales, European 
     companies were among those competing to pick up the business 
     that American companies were being asked to forgo. If, once 
     again, it comes to sanctions on Chinese industries, Europe 
     and Japan should lean just as hard on their companies as 
     America does on its, to ensure that everyone toes the line 
     against proliferation.
     

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