[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6434-H6435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NO SPECIAL TRADING PRIVILEGES TO THE BUTCHERS OF BEIJING

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, today the House Committee on Ways and Means 
will vote to renew Chinese most-favored-nation status, which means our 
country will again grant China the same privileges in our market as we 
do to democratic states like England.
  As the committee casts its vote, may I remind my esteemed colleagues 
of the Golden Rule: Free trade can only occur among free people. By any 
measure, China is not a nation of free people. Let me read from Amnesty 
International's report on China, and I quote: ``Torture remains 
endemic, causing

[[Page H6435]]

many deaths each year. The death penalty is used extensively and 
arbitrarily to instill fear. More people are executed every year in 
China than in all other countries combined.'' The list goes on and on: 
Forced abortions, repression of ethnic and religious groups, thousands 
of democracy activists jailed every year.
  Given China's lack of basic human freedoms, it should come as no 
surprise that China does not have a free market. China remains one of 
the most closed markets in the world. Why should we be giving special 
privileges to the butchers of Beijing?

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