[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 65 (Friday, May 10, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN SEARCH OF A CHINA POLICY

                                 ______


                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 10, 1996

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member heartily commends the 
distinguished senior Senator from Kansas, Senator Robert Dole, for his 
first-rate analysis of the failures of the Clinton administration in 
Asia and the Pacific. The Senator's speech yesterday at the Center for 
Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, however, went 
beyond criticism and outlined key policy principles that would drive 
the policy and actions of a Dole administration in this strategic and 
dynamic region of the world. This Member, for one, would welcome the 
opportunity to serve as chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the 
Pacific working with a Dole White House guided by the principles 
enunciated yesterday in the Senate majority leader's speech. This 
Member shares the concerns expressed by Senator Dole that the ``weak 
leadership, vacillation and inconsistency'' of the Clinton White House 
have brought American credibility in Asia to new lows and resulted in 
challenges to American interests with impunity.
  On the Korean Peninsula, we must put the interests of our allies 
first. We must hold North Korea to its long-standing commitment for 
North-South talks. We must work with our allies in Seoul, Tokyo, and 
elsewhere to formulate a coordinated response to security challenges 
from Pyongyang--yes, challenges--without allowing ourselves to be so 
focused on the nuclear issue that the conventional threat and 
proliferation threats presented by the North are ignored.
  This Member's greatest frustration, however, is with American policy 
toward China. Senator Dole said it right when he commented that 
``extending MFN is not, in itself, a China policy.'' The President 
needs to articulate a coherent strategy for dealing with the many 
challenges--as well as opportunities--presented by China and then 
engage with the American people and the Congress to explain how MFN 
fits into that strategy. We in the majority need to warn the White 
House that they cannot continue to hide behind us on controversial 
trade issues, as they did on NAFTA and WTO, to ensure that Congress 
does the right thing. It is time for President Clinton to make the 
case, to invest the time and energy necessary to convince the American 
people that China must be engaged, not isolated, and to take the 
political heat from implementing this policy.

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