[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 87 (Friday, June 20, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1285-E1286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            FREEDOM FOR ALL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 20, 1997

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, there is an alarming trend that has occurred 
the past several months, led by some social conservative organizations 
in Washington who have called for the revocation of China's most-
favored-nation [MFN] status. They argue we should revoke this status, 
which is simply normal trade relations between countries, to retaliate 
against the Chinese Government for interfering with the practice of 
religion.
  I, too, am very concerned about the persecution of anyone who 
practices religion in China. It is for this very reason that I have the 
firm conviction that MFN must be renewed. In fact, missionaries in 
China, who are closest to the issue, say that MFN is essential for 
maintaining the positive work they do. As a conservative, as a 
Christian, and as the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on 
Trade I am absolutely convinced that by bringing the influence of the 
outside world into China, free trade will create opportunities for 
freedom of religion to take root.
  Trade has helped to expose millions of the Chinese people to values 
such as human rights and religious freedom by opening a door to the 
People's Republic of China. In the June 11, 1997, edition of the Wall 
Street Journal, Rev. Robert A. Sirico addressed many of these concerns 
and concluded that ``Just as religious freedom offers the best hope for 
Christian social influence, economic freedom is the best hope for 
spreading that influence around the world.'' I applaud his thinking and 
submit his article into the Record. I urge my colleagues to consider 
the points he raises here and to vote to renew China's MFN status.

             [From the Wall Street Journal, June 11, 1997]

                      China and the Trade Warriors

                         (By Robert A. Sirico)

       Despite occasional tensions between social conservatives 
     and economic conservatives, most social and cultural goals 
     have an economic dimension about which the two camps are 
     generally in agreement. But now a leader of the socially 
     conservative camp has proposed that there is an issue that 
     pits morality and prosperity irreconcilably against one 
     another--U.S. trade with China, a nation known for human-
     rights violations, and particularly for religious 
     persecution.
       Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council is demanding that 
     the U.S. government wage economic war against China with 
     sanctions, boycotts and embargoes. In his campaign for trade 
     restrictions with China, Mr. Bauer and a few other 
     conservative leaders are working hand in glove with labor 
     unions and other left-liberal protectionists, normally die-
     hard opponents of the religious right.

                       Barricades Have Collapsed

       The usual political barricades have collapsed as Mr. 
     Bauer's comrades join forces to oppose congressional attempts 
     to continue normal trading relations with China. In a recent 
     letter, Mr. Bauer compares the urgency of imposing sanctions 
     to issues such as ending slavery and defeating Hitler.
       How restricting trade with China will help strengthen 
     American families, faith and morality is unclear. What is 
     clear is that Mr. Bauer finds China's treatment of Christians 
     morally objectionable. I do, too. And he is to be commended 
     for his efforts at raising the public's awareness of Chinese 
     persecution. Christians are threatened, jailed, expelled and 
     even killed in China. Whether this occurs more or less today 
     than in decades past is in dispute. But one human-rights 
     violation is one too many.
       That's why I, along with many others, signed an open letter 
     from the Family Research Council to Vice President Al Gore 
     that appeared in major newspapers. It objected to Mr. 
     Gore's failure to emphasize China's poor human-rights 
     record during his March visit. The letter particularly 
     highlighted China's vicious suppression of rights of Roman 
     Catholics to worship in freedom. The letter said nothing 
     about a broader trade agenda.
       I would have signed a similar letter about the appalling 
     treatment of Christians in Egypt (which receives U.S. aid), 
     Saudi Arabia (which the U.S. has defended militarily) and 
     Iraq (where a Kurdish convert to Christianity, Mansour 
     Hussein Sifer, was recently martyred). Friends of freedom 
     should oppose restrictions on worship and religious speech 
     anywhere they may appear, including the U.S.
       When I signed the letter on China, however, I did not know 
     that it was a prologue to a full-blown political campaign 
     that would seek to curtail commercial ties between China and 
     the rest of the world. Mr. Bauer's position has evolved from 
     a strong moral stand in favor of religious freedom to waging 
     total trade war.
       A charge often leveled against the Christian right is that 
     it is not sensitive to the difference between urging certain 
     moral ends and using government coercion to bring them about. 
     It's usually a canard: In the case of the arts, for example, 
     the religious right seeks not censorship but an end to 
     taxpayer subsidies for blasphemy and obscenity. I regret 
     having to say that this time, however, the Family Research 
     Council has lived up to the stereotype. It is attempting to 
     enlist government power, at the expense of everyone who 
     benefits from U.S.-Chinese commercial relations, thus 
     choosing an inappropriate means to achieve a moral end.
       What's more, trade sanctions would be counterproductive. 
     Sanctions won't bring freedom for religious expression in 
     China. They won't end China's cruel policies limiting family 
     size. They won't stop the horrific policy of forced 
     abortions. They won't bring

[[Page E1286]]

     democracy. They can only further isolate China and close off 
     avenues for greater Western influence.
       The growth of Western businesses in China, however, would 
     dilute the power of China's communist rulers. As commercial 
     networks develop, Chinese businesspeople are able to travel 
     more freely, and Chinese believers have more disposable 
     income with which to support evangelistic endeavors.
       No one understands this better than evangelical 
     missionaries currently working in China. Mr. Bauer's 
     passionate campaign has elicited pleas from many of them for 
     Congress not to cut off trade. Such an action would endanger 
     their status there, and possibly lead China to revoke their 
     visas. It would severely limit opportunities to bring in 
     Bibles and other religious materials. These missionaries 
     understand that commercial relations are a wonderfully 
     liberating force that allow not only mutually beneficial 
     trade but also cultural and religious ex- changes. Why 
     doesn't Mr. Bauer listen to those who know far more about 
     China than Washington think tanks and labor unions do? 
     ``They may be too close to the situation,'' he answers, 
     somewhat flippantly.
       Until recently, trade warriors have cited the case of the 
     U.S. Catholic bishops, who have opposed renewing normal trade 
     status with China. At the same time, however, Hong Kong's 
     official Catholic newspaper, the Sunday Examiner, reports new 
     contacts between Beijing and Hong Kong's Catholic hierarchy. 
     These contacts are a major step toward an official 
     recognition of the Catholic Church on the mainland.

                              To the Good

       This would all be to the good. Diplomacy and international 
     trade strengthen people's loyalties to each other and weaken 
     government power. Beijing has shown itself to be supremely 
     interested in fostering prosperity at home. Christians must 
     take advantage of this impulse, rather than recklessly 
     treating China as a monster that must be slain.
       This need not be an issue that divides social conservatives 
     from economic conservatives. Economic prosperity through free 
     trade is the most effective distributor of wealth and power, 
     and trade with China is the surest way to break the gap of 
     centralized political power. Religious conservatives should 
     broaden their focus beyond purely social and cultural issues. 
     Mr. Bauer and his supporters are right to decry the immoral 
     treatment of believers in China. But allowing themselves to 
     be used by protectionist and labor lobbies is an imprudent 
     approach. Just as religious freedom offers the best hope for 
     Christian social influence, economic freedom is the best hope 
     for spreading that influence around the world.

     

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