[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 159 (Friday, October 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15163-S15164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE NOMINATION OF JIM SASSER TO SERVE AS UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO 
                             MAINLAND CHINA

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, on another subject, with varying frequency 
all Senators occasionally find themselves in the predicament of having 
to be in two places or more at one time. Generally, the problem can be 
resolved by dividing time between conflicting responsibilities. This 
happened to me yesterday, when the distinguished former Senator from 
Tennessee, Jim Sasser, appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee, 
having been scheduled a week or so earlier in connection with his 
nomination by President Clinton to serve as United States. Ambassador 
to mainland China, which calls itself the People's Republic of China. 
If ever there was a misnomer, that is it.
  In any case, the hearing had been set several days ago for 10 a.m. 
yesterday morning.
  On Wednesday evening, the distinguished majority leader and the 
distinguished minority leader of the Senate scheduled the Cuba Libertad 
bill to be the pending business of the Senate at 11 a.m. yesterday. 
This kind of scheduling happens to all Senators with a high degree of 
frequency, as I say. And all of us understand that it is endemic to 
Senate procedure.
  Yesterday morning I knew it would be a tight fit to handle both 
responsibilities, but I had many times done it before. But yesterday it 
did not turn out quite that way.
  In any event, in my opening statement as chairman of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee I wanted to say some positive things about 
former Senator Sasser's nomination to be Ambassador to Communist China. 
So, midway through my brief remarks I commented, and I quote myself:
  When Jim was nominated, I was especially pleased to learn that the 
President had nominated a gentleman who hasn't always been that easy on 
the Communists in Beijing.
  When Mr. Sasser was in the Senate, in fact, he and I often agreed on 
our respective approaches to China.
  Between 1988 and 1994 Senator Sasser voted six times to condition the 
renewal of most-favored-nation trading status for China until the 
Chinese made significant progress on human rights. He helped override 
President Bush's veto of the legislation prohibiting the President from 
extending MFN until the Chinese cleaned up their act after the massacre 
of 1989.
  I commend Senator Sasser for standing firm.
  In his capacity as Senator from Tennessee, Jim Sasser voted to impose 
some of the very sanctions against China that many U.S. businessmen now 
actively seek to relax--for example, the suspension of the operations 
in China by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Senator Sasser 
supported restrictions on the transfer of nuclear equipment, materials, 
or technology to China unless specific conditions were met. These were 
hard, tough issues and Senator Sasser chose the right way every time. I 
hope he will continue to stick by his principles in making the 
decisions he will have to make as Ambassador Sasser.
  Now that he has been nominated to represent the President and the 
executive branch, I trust he will understand, encourage, and support 
the congressional role in the formulation and adaptation of the United 
States foreign policy toward China, Taiwan, and Tibet.
  That was the statement I made yesterday at the hearing.
  Now, then, I am getting to the point. Mr. President, I ask unanimous 
consent that the full text of a letter I have this afternoon faxed to 
Senator Sasser be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                 Washington, DC, October 13, 1995.
     Hon. Jim Sasser,
     Ambassador Nominate to the People's Republic of China, U.S. 
         Department of State, Washington, DC.
       Dear Jim: It was unfortunate that circumstances yesterday 
     required that I depart from your hearing and go to the Senate 
     Floor to manage a piece of legislation that became the 
     Senate's pending business at 11 a.m.
       Your comments on two matters after I departed left two 
     significant additional matters that I feel obliged to have 
     you discuss further in a second public hearing on your 
     nomination.
       They are: (1) Your comment after I had departed, to the 
     effect that you ``corrected the record'' (according to media 
     reports) by testifying that you had become ``less and less 
     convinced'' that it was correct to link trade with China to 
     human rights, and (2) your comments relating to China's 
     threat to disband Hong Kong's Legislative Council.
       It need not be a lengthy hearing but I believe it essential 
     that there be one. Accordingly, I am asking Admiral Nance and 
     his staff to work with you and the State Department in 
     scheduling your appearance at the most mutually agreeable 
     date and time.
       It is my intent to schedule a business meeting of the 
     Foreign Relations Committee as quickly as possible for a vote 
     on reporting your nomination to the Senate.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Jesse Helms.

  Mr. HELMS. Let me read the letter.

       Dear Jim: It was unfortunate that circumstances yesterday 
     required that I depart from your hearing and go to the Senate 
     Floor to manage a piece of legislation that became the 
     Senate's pending business at 11 a.m.
       Your comments on two matters after I departed left two 
     significant additional matters that I feel obliged to have 
     you discuss further in a second public hearing on your 
     nomination.
       They are: (1) Your comment after I had departed, to the 
     effect that you ``corrected the record'' (according to media 
     reports) by testifying that you had become ``less and less 
     convinced'' that it was correct to link trade with China to 
     human rights, and (2) your comments relating to China's 
     threat to disband Hong Kong's Legislative Council.
       It need not be a lengthy hearing but I believe it essential 
     that there be one. Accordingly, I am asking Admiral Nance and 
     his staff to work with you and the State Department in 
     scheduling your appearance at the most mutually agreeable 
     date and time.
       It is my intent to schedule a business meeting of the 
     Foreign Relations Committee as quickly as possible for a vote 
     on reporting your nomination to the Senate.

  When I made my statement, my positive statement, regarding the Sasser 
nomination, and identified the six votes that Senator Sasser as a 
Senator had cast correctly, he nodded. It never dawned on me that he 
was going to correct the record after I left the hearing. If he had 
made any indication of what he was going to do, I would have called the 
Senate floor and said I will be delayed in getting there, because it is 
time that the American people, and particularly those of us who say we 
represent the American people, understand that we become a part of what 
we condone. For us to condone what is going on in Red China is to be a 
part of it. And that is the reason I want to hear further from Senator 
Sasser, about his nomination to be Ambassador to Communist China--which 
they call the People's Republic of China.
  Mr. President, yesterday's comments by Mr. Sasser relating to the 
administration's position on China's threat to disband and abolish the 
Hong Kong Legislative Council deserves a bit more comment as well. I do 
not challenge the opinion expressed by Mr. Sasser on behalf of the 
administration regarding this action by China. I want to emphasize, 
however, that China is sweeping away every vestige of democracy in Hong 
Kong. It is a matter that deserves somewhat more detailed understanding 
by Americans of precisely what is at stake in Hong Kong.
  Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a front page 
article of the South China Morning Post faxed to me from Hong Kong be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

           [From the South China Morning Post, Oct. 13, 1995]

           U.S. Nominee Says China Has Right To Disband Legco

                            (By Simon Beck)

       The nominee to become U.S. Ambassador to China last night 
     appeared to side with Beijing one the Hong Kong question, 
     saying China was not required to keep the Legislative Council 
     in place after 1997.

[[Page S 15164]]

       Even though former senator James Sasser said he hoped China 
     would not carry out its threat to abolish Legco, his remarks 
     at this sensitive time are certain to be viewed with alarm.
       Until now, successive administrations have lent strong 
     support to widening the democratic franchise in the 
     territory. Governor Chris Patten was praised for his brave 
     stand in going ahead with his reforms in the face of violent 
     opposition from Beijing, Democratic Party leader Martin Lee 
     Chu-ming was recently feted in the U.S. and awarded the 
     American Bar Association Human Rights Award.
       But speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing late last 
     night, Mr. Sasser said: ``Governor Patten has sought to 
     `enlarge it' [the 1984 Joint Declaration] to some extent by 
     his encouragement of the democratic movement in Hong Kong.
       ``The Chinese have indicated that they are not going to 
     abide by this democratic election of legislative councillors, 
     and clearly by the covenant of 1984, they are not required 
     to. But I am hopeful they will reconsider that.''
       His comments appeared to conflict with the passion in the 
     US for supporting the continuation of Hong Kong's rights and 
     freedoms after 1997.
       In June, senators joined senior officials in declaring US 
     determination to stay deeply involved in the future of the 
     territory.
       China came under fire from all sides for blocking the Court 
     of Final Appeal and for vowing to dismantle the Legislative 
     Council.
       Assistant Secretary of State Winslow Lord said the Legco 
     issue had caused great concern to Washington and warned that 
     apparent moves by China to put pressure on civil servants 
     were ``making many in the career rank uncomfortable at a time 
     when Beijing should instead be reassuring them''.
       Former US attorney-general Dick Thornburgh said China ``has 
     signalled its intention to renege on virtually all of the 
     guarantees it made to preserve Hong Kong's legal system and 
     the rule of law''.
       He said he was troubled by the lack of attention that Hong 
     Kong and its people were receiving despite the gravity of the 
     developments taking place in the territory.
       Beijing has warned Britain not to ``internationalise'' the 
     Hong Kong issue and the US not to interfere in China's 
     internal affairs.
       Foreign Relations Committee chairman Senator Jesse Helms, a 
     staunch critic of China, promised to ``expedite'' Mr. 
     Sasser's confirmation for the Beijing job.
       A vote could come within one week at which Mr. Sasser is 
     expected to be easily confirmed.
       Mr. Sasser vowed to push for human rights improvements in 
     China, stick firmly to the United States' one-China policy 
     and promote US trade with Beijing.
       Mr. Sasser told senators: ``Some people say China needs us 
     more than we need China. The reality is that China and the 
     United States need each other.''
       Asked by several senators how he would handle Tibet and 
     other human rights issues, he replied: ``I intend at every 
     appropriate occasion and on occasions when it might not seem 
     appropriate to make the views of the administration known in 
     this regard.
       ``The American people expect the Chinese Government to 
     respect the human rights of its own citizens.''
       The White House made a symbolic gesture of support for its 
     nominee, by sending Vice-President Al Gore to urge the 
     committee to support Mr. Sasser, whom he described ``a man of 
     stature, wisdom and authority''.
       Mr. Sasser, who when he was a senator voted six times to 
     link China's trading status to human rights, said he had 
     changed his mind and now believed that trading with China was 
     the best way to encourage freedom and democracy in that 
     country.
       On Taiwan, he defended the administration's one-China 
     policy.
       If he is confirmed before October 24, Mr. Sasser said he 
     hoped to take part in the summit meeting in New York between 
     presidents Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton.
       The only question as to Mr. Sasser's competence in the job 
     was raised by Senator Craig Thomas, who pointed out that the 
     past five ambassadors were career diplomats with much China 
     experience, and not political appointees like Mr. Sasser.
       However, Mr. Sasser, a Democrat who lost his Senate seat 
     last year, said he had spent recent months studying Chinese 
     language and politics at Harvard University and the Foreign 
     Service Institute.

  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair. I apologize for keeping the Senate in 
session a little bit longer than would otherwise have been the case.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Helms). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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