[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 40 (Tuesday, April 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONFLICT OR COOPERATION WITH ASIA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BUD SHUSTER

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 8, 1997

  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker. Napoleon said, ``when China awakens it will 
shake the earth'' and as we approach the 21st century, not only China, 
but the entire Pacific rim is emerging to become the world's next 
economic superpower region. Whether we engage this coming colossus to 
help build a better world, or confront it as a dangerous adversary will 
depend in large measure on the wisdom of our policies in facing the 
realities of a complex and sometimes contradictory challenge.
  China with 1.2 billion people, nearly a quarter of the world's 
population--and increasing to 1.6 billion people in the next 20 years--
is booming economically. By moving toward a market economy, promoting 
both domestic and international private sector competition, it has 
achieved a sustained 10 percent annual growth rate which is raising the 
standard of living for most Chinese and creating extraordinary 
opportunities for American businesses, which means jobs for Americans. 
A few examples:
  A McDonnell Douglas aircraft plan in Shanghai created 1,000 Chinese 
jobs, but also created 4,000 Americans jobs providing the aircraft 
parts for assembly in China;
  A new General Motors assembly plant will use $1.15 billion in 
American manufactured parts;
  China's recent $800 million aircraft order to Boeing means hundreds 
of American jobs. A high-ranking Chinese official publicly coined the 
phrase ``If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going'';
  Over 100 McDonalds restaurants are sprouting up in Beijing, using 
products from America and around the world;
  Shanghai has 20,000 major construction projects underway, employing 6 
million people, including several United States firms, with 17 percent 
of the world's construction cranes busily clogging up the skyline, 
while 600,000 cellular phones are in use by the city's 17 million 
people.
  Five major airports are under construction in China and the $25 
billion Three Gorges Dam project will become one of the wonders of our 
modern world. While requiring the relocation of 1.3 million people and 
eliminating 116 square miles of farmland, Three Gorges, now under 
construction, will harness the mighty flow of central China's Yangtze 
River, whose floods have already killed 500,000 Chinese in this 
century. Creating a 360-mile-long lake, it will be the largest 
hydroelectric power dam in the world, generating 15 percent of China's 
electricity--over 18,000 megawatts of power, the equivalent of 15 
Hoover Dams. The locks and flow control will open up the Yangtze to 
ocean-going vessels, increasing water transportation by 40 million tons 
annually and reducing transportation costs on the Yangtze by 30 
percent.
  China's human rights violations--from the killing of hundreds of 
students in Tiananeman Square in 1989 to present day curbs on freedom 
of speech--are to be deplored. But turning our back on China will not 
make life in China better. By pressing  for reforms, within the context 
of a continuing relationship, we stand a better chance of moving China 
toward political freedom to match their recently established economic 
freedoms. Moreover, strategically we need a friendly China to be part 
of the balance of power in Asia, and especially as a check on the 
unstable and irrational dictatorship in North Korea.

  While China emerges as the economic colossus of the next century, a 
technologically advanced Japan continues to grow. Investing over $30 
billion in a single international airport at Kansai, 200 miles 
southwest of Tokyo, while trying to lock out United States competition 
in the Asian market, Japan continues as a ferocious competitor seeking 
dominance in global markets.
  When the British flag is lowered on June 30 in Hong Kong and China 
takes control, the world will watch to see if China keeps its promise 
to let the Hong Kong miracle survive. Unimpeded, Hong Kong will 
continue as a gateway to the Orient. With the largest privately owned 
container port in the world, efficiently moving 2\1/2\ times the 
container cargo of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles combined, 
Hong Kong next year will open the largest multimodal airport complex in 
the world. Costing $21 billion, it will handle 35 million passengers 
with 288 check-in counters and 3 million tons of air cargo annually, 
including the world's largest combined highway-rail suspension bridge.
  These multibillion-dollar infrastructure investments being made 
throughout the Orient clearly show that Asia will be a formidable 
global competitor in the coming century.
  While in America we reduce our investment in infrastructure, potholes 
on our highways proliferate, water pipes rust, bridges crumble, 
antiquated computers control the landings in our crowded airports, 
passenger rail service teeters near bankruptcy, and several of our 
ocean ports become clogged with silt, Asia is busy building for the 
future.
  If we do not wake up and begin increasing our investment in 
infrastructure, the shaking Earth that Napoleon predicted will be 
caused by an oriental bulldozer, burying us beneath its global path.

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