[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CHINESE SALES OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION THREATEN AMERICAN TROOPS

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                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 9, 1997

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, the Chinese have exported, in violation of 
international law, weapons of mass destruction to terrorist states, 
including Iran. These actions have contributed to regional instability 
and pose a significant potential threat to American Armed Forces.
  As we all know, it is American troops, whether as part of a U.N. 
force, an Allied mission, or operating independently which are called 
upon to quell regional conflicts. The strong correlation between the 
volatility of a region, the deployment of weapons of mass destruction, 
and the likelihood of U.S. troop involvement may culminate in American 
suffering and deaths when the tension in these areas boils over. The 
weapons of mass destruction, which China has willfully placed in 
irresponsible hands, could claim the lives of tens of thousands of 
American troops involved in one of the world's dangerous hot spots.
  The Chinese persist in selling weapons of mass destruction, including 
nuclear technologies to Iran. According to a recent Washington Post 
report, China has been selling to Iran the equipment required to 
convert uranium into weapons grade material. With China's technical and 
scientific support, Iran will be capable of deploying nuclear weapons 
within 5 years.
  According to a March 8, 1996 Washington Post, ``China is also engaged 
in selling massive quantities of chemicals used in the production of 
nerve gas and chemical weapons to Iran.'' The influx of Chinese 
technology is helping to fuel the most active chemical weapons program 
in the Third World. United States Government analysts say that Iran's 
ambitious long-term aim is to develop an indigenous capability to 
produce each of the chemical ingredients of powerful poison gases, as 
well as to construct all of its own equipment to produce the finished 
weapons.
  The Department of Defense has already responded to this growing 
chemical and biological threat, by approving a plan to vaccinate all 
U.S. Armed Forces personnel against anthrax, a germ warfare agent. 
Unfortunately, the chemical weapons being supplied by China to Iran 
involve even more dangerous chemicals and nerve agents. Relations 
between Iran and the U.S. remain hostile.
  The Chinese also provide weapons of mass destruction to Pakistan, 
which, due to ongoing tensions with India, is another source of 
concern. If in 1995, the Director of Central Intelligence stated that 
``the arms race between India and Pakistan poses perhaps the most 
probable prospect for future use of weapons of mass destruction, 
including nuclear weapons. Pakistan already has enough nuclear material 
to make a dozen nuclear warheads, and India has a much larger nuclear 
arsenal.''
  In 1996, in an obvious violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation 
Treaty and Federal law, China sold ring magnets to Pakistan. These 
5,000 ring magnets are used in gas centrifuges to enrich uranium which 
can be used for construction of nuclear weapons. However, soon after 
this treaty violation, the Clinton administration determined that China 
would not be sanctioned stating that China had reaffirmed its 
commitment to nuclear nonproliferation.
  Despite this promise, however, China sold a special industrial 
furnace to an unsafeguarded nuclear facility in Pakistan, and high 
level Chinese officials planned to submit false documentation related 
to the sale.
  The practice of selling weapons of mass destruction is just one more 
example of China's disregard for the value of human life. The Daily 
Gazette, one of my hometown newspapers, captured the true nature of 
China in a recent editorial entitled ``New China Policy Needed'' when 
it stated, ``The Chinese government persecutes political dissidents, 
Buddhists, Christians, pregnant women, orphan girls, labor activists 
and anyone else who declines to toe the party line * * * It pledges to 
reverse the democratization of Hong Kong, and has threatened to go to 
war over Taiwan. It moves no closer toward liberty and democracy, but 
it does get richer. Armed with nuclear weapons, it is clearly the most 
dangerous country in the world * * * As long as China remains 
totalitarian, and no matter how capitalist it becomes, it will likely 
remain not just an oppressor of its own people but a threat to peace.'' 
The United States can no longer continue to implicitly approve of 
China's weaponry sales and other abuses of international law by 
accepting China's routine and transparent denials of wrongdoing. It is 
time to revise our China policy in such a way that makes it 
unacceptable for China to engage in reckless activities, including 
those that threaten the lives of the young men and women who serve in 
America's Armed Forces.

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