[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 86 (Thursday, June 19, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H4070-H4071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHINA MOST-FAVORED NATION STATUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pascrell] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, over the course of the next few days, the 
Members of this august body will be forced to weigh a great deal of 
information, withstand a tremendous lobbying effort from both sides of 
the issue, and eventually cast one of the most critical votes that we 
will take in this Congress.
  I am referring to the vote on extending most-favored-trade status to 
China. The outcome of this vote, Mr. Speaker, will say as much about 
where our priorities lie as any other dozen votes we will cast in the 
Congress, the 105th Congress.
  I am certain that there will be those who will take to this well over 
the next few days and claim that this vote is not really about anything 
exceptional. They will no doubt argue that we are already simply 
extending the same trade status to China that we do to 160 other 
nations. Such an evaluation of this debate is nothing short of 
sophomoric and fails to do little more than scratch the surface of the 
issue.

[[Page H4071]]

  In reality, the China MFN debate is about nuclear proliferation. It 
is about human rights. It is about small business in America, and it is 
about American jobs. We may in fact afford most-favored-nation status 
to nearly every other country, Mr. Speaker, but China is not any other 
Nation. China is very different and poses a far different set of issues 
to deal with as a package than any of the nations with which we have 
MFN status.
  China is one of the world's most dangerous proliferators of nuclear 
weapons. The Communist Chinese Government has, and is currently, 
engaged in the transfer of dangerous technology for nuclear weapons to 
rogue nations. The Chinese Government has provided Iran with advanced 
missile and chemical weapons technology. They have provided Iraq and 
Libya with materials used to produce nuclear weapons. They have 
provided missile-related components to Syria and given the Pakistanis 
the technology for nuclear weapons at the same time that Pakistanis get 
poorer and poorer. The Chinese Government has provided the nations with 
the least stable governments and that pose the greatest threat to the 
security of the Middle East, to our own security, with weapons of mass 
destruction.
  A vote in favor of MFN for China is a vote to condone nuclear 
proliferation by China. A vote in favor of extending MFN to China is 
also a vote to condone China's deplorable record of human rights 
abuses.
  The State Department Country Report on Human Rights for 1996 bluntly 
stated the Chinese Government continued to commit widespread and well-
documented human rights abuses in violation of internationally accepted 
norms stemming from the authorities' intolerance of dissent, fear of 
unrest, in the absence or inadequacy of laws protecting very basic 
freedoms.

                              {time}  2145

  Voting to extend most favored nation just days before China takes 
control of Hong Kong sends the wrong message, Mr. Speaker. Human 
rights, nuclear proliferation, these are important issues. But for 
thousands in my district in New Jersey, this is a debate about the 
future of their jobs. It is a debate about whether or not they will 
still have their jobs.
  Part of the reason for the loss of those jobs, Mr. Speaker, has been 
the incredible trade imbalance we have cultivated with China, Communist 
China. In 1996, our trade deficit with China ballooned to a record $40 
billion. On the same rate, we will move to $50 billion.
  Where is the plus for the United States of America? Where is the plus 
for our families? We are on a path that will soon lead to China 
replacing Japan as the largest contributor to the overall U.S. 
merchandise trade deficit.
  Renewing Chinese most-favored-nation status means renewing a status 
quo in which the average Chinese tariff on U.S. goods is 35 percent 
compared to the United States tariff on Chinese goods as 2 percent. Is 
this what the State Department and those advocating MFN for China call 
engagement?

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