[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 71 (Thursday, June 4, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5640-S5641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 242--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE OF THE 
    PRESIDENT'S UPCOMIING VISIT TO AND NATIONAL POLICY TOWARD CHINA

  Mr. ASHCROFT (for himself and Mr. Hutchinson) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 242

       Whereas the President has pledged that the United States 
     ``must remain a champion'' of the liberties of the Chinese 
     people;
       Whereas two of the most notable Chinese dissidents, Wang 
     Dan and Wei Jingsheng, effectively have been exiled from 
     their country;
       Whereas thousands of other individuals remain imprisoned in 
     China and Tibet for peacefully expressing their beliefs and 
     exercising their inalienable rights, including freedom of 
     association, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     routinely, systematically, and massively continues to commit 
     widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, including instances 
     of death in detention, torture, arbitrary arrest, 
     imprisonment for the peaceful expression of religious and 
     political views, and intensified controls on the freedom of 
     speech and the press, particularly for ethnic Tibetans;
       Whereas China has taken extraordinary steps to avoid the 
     condemnation of the United Nations Commission on Human 
     Rights;
       Whereas the President has failed to press China 
     aggressively to protect the civil liberties of the Chinese 
     people and failed even to sponsor a resolution at the meeting 
     of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights condemning 
     China's human rights violations, which include forced 
     abortion, summary execution, arbitrary imprisonment, and 
     persecution of religious minorities;
       Whereas since November 1994, the President has declared 
     annually a national emergency regarding the proliferation of 
     weapons of mass destruction and stated that such 
     proliferation poses ``an unusual and extraordinary threat to 
     the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the 
     United States'';
       Whereas, in a June 1997 report on proliferation activity, 
     the Central Intelligence Agency identified China as ``the 
     most significant supplier of weapons of mass destruction-
     related goods and technology'', including missile, nuclear, 
     and chemical weapons technology to rogue states such as Iran;
       Whereas United States satellite cooperation with China has 
     benefited China's intercontinental ballistic missile 
     program--missiles with nuclear warheads pointed at the United 
     States, and the Department of Justice is investigating 
     possible missile technology transfers to China resulting from 
     United States-Chinese satellite cooperation;
       Whereas the President's decision to waive restrictions on 
     the export to China of missile technology similar to that 
     under investigation by the Department of Justice, and the 
     President's efforts to lift the requirements for launch 
     waivers altogether, undermine the present Justice Department 
     investigation and threatens United States national security;
       Whereas the Department of Justice is investigating possible 
     campaign contributions from the People's Liberation Army to 
     the Democratic National Committee through contributions from 
     an executive at China Aerospace International Holdings, an 
     affiliate of China Aerospace Corporation, the firm which 
     oversees China's missile development and space programs;
       Whereas China made written commitments to the United States 
     during the October 1997 summit to terminate nuclear 
     cooperation with Iran and was later reported to be violating 
     that pledge by attempting to provide Iran with hundreds of 
     tons of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, a material for use in 
     Iran's nuclear weapons complex to enrich uranium to weapons 
     grade;
       Whereas the President, in allowing nuclear cooperation to 
     proceed with China, certified that ``the People's Republic of 
     China has provided clear and unequivocal assurances to the 
     United States that it is not assisting and will not assist 
     any nonnuclear-weapon state, either directly or indirectly, 
     in acquiring nuclear explosive devices or the material and 
     components for such devices'';
       Whereas the credibility of this certification is undermined 
     by China's continuing proliferation activity, including 
     efforts to assist Iran's nuclear weapons program;
       Whereas since the United States normalized trade relations 
     with China in 1979, China has risen from the 57th to 4th 
     largest supplier of United States imports;
       Whereas China's trade and investment practices have 
     resulted in a 1997 trade deficit of $49,700,000,000, an 
     imbalance more than 2.5 times larger than the United States 
     trade deficit with all European countries, and accounting for 
     one-fourth of the United States trade deficit with the entire 
     world;
       Whereas in the Executive branch's 1997 National Trade 
     Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers, China's trade regime was 
     identified as ``political'', ``severely restricted'', 
     ``prohibitive'', ``unpredictable'', ``preferential'', ``de 
     facto'', ``unpublished'', ``vague'', ``inaccessible'', 
     ``inconsistent'', and ``noncompetitive'';
       Whereas facing Congress's near withdrawal of most-favored 
     nation (MFN) status in 1991 and President Bush's threat of 
     sanctions, China, in order to keep MFN status and have the 
     United States support its accession to the World Trade 
     Organization (WTO), agreed that it would allow the United 
     States automobile sector to compete freely in the Chinese 
     market and that, by December 31, 1997, it would eliminate 
     significant trade barriers to United States agricultural 
     exports;
       Whereas China's trade liberalization commitments in 1991 
     have not been honored, yet the Executive branch is moving 
     forward in negotiations for China to accede to the WTO;
       Whereas concessions made by China in negotiations to accede 
     to the WTO have been piecemeal, inconsistent, and deficient, 
     and thus limit the economic opportunity of United States 
     businesses and workers;
       Whereas Taiwan serves as an example of democratic 
     governance to China and the authoritarian Chinese communist 
     party;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China carried out missile 
     exercises in 1995 and 1996 intended to intimidate the people 
     of Taiwan, continues a military buildup directed at the 
     island, refuses to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, 
     and consistently seeks to isolate Taipei from membership in 
     international organizations and general relations with other 
     countries;
       Whereas the Chinese communist party has undermined the 
     institutions of democratic government in Hong Kong by 
     abolishing Hong Kong's elected legislature, designing a 
     framework for legislative elections that severely limits 
     representative democracy, and passing retroactive legislation 
     exempting Chinese entities from a host of Hong Kong's laws; 
     and
       Whereas the Democratic Party of Hong Kong won every seat 
     elected by direct ballot in Hong Kong, garnering over 60 
     percent of the popular vote, yet President Clinton has

[[Page S5641]]

     declined to meet individually with the leadership of the 
     Democratic Party of Hong Kong: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That, in the interest of improving United States-
     China relations, it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) a healthy and stable relationship with China is in the 
     national interests of the United States;
       (2) the Chinese people should be allowed to freely exercise 
     their unalienable rights, including the rights to freedom of 
     speech, of religion, and of association;
       (3) efforts by the Chinese government to restrict those 
     liberties pose a threat to a stable China and a positive 
     long-term relationship with the United States;
       (4) the President should submit a report to Congress as 
     soon as possible after the proposed summit in China 
     concerning his progress in securing the release of persons 
     remaining imprisoned in China and Tibet and other significant 
     steps to improve human rights;
       (5) China's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction 
     technology poses an unusual threat to the national security 
     of the United States;
       (6) the President has failed to confront China's 
     proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, 
     proliferation that is directly responsible for contributing 
     to an escalating nuclear arms race between India and 
     Pakistan;
       (7) the trustworthiness of the Chinese government is 
     undermined when nonproliferation and trade commitments of 
     Chinese officials are repeatedly broken;
       (8) the President, in addition to applauding narrow trade 
     concessions from China, should ensure that the highest levels 
     of diplomacy are used to open the entire Chinese market to 
     United States trade and investment;
       (9) China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
     should be conditioned on China's compliance with past market 
     access commitments and further steps to open China's market 
     to United States investment and trade in goods and services;
       (10) the United States should not jeopardize cooperation 
     with and assistance to the democratic government of Taiwan to 
     appease the Chinese government but instead should maintain 
     unambiguously its legal commitments to help maintain Taiwan's 
     capacity for self-defense while calling upon the Chinese 
     government to renounce the use of force against the people of 
     Taiwan;
       (11) the preservation of democratic government and rule of 
     law in Hong Kong is an obligation of the Chinese government 
     and failure to honor that obligation will have a negative 
     effect on United States policy toward China;
       (12) China is resisting the spread of democracy in Asia, 
     which is occurring from South Korea to Indonesia, and the 
     failure of President Clinton to meet with the leaders of the 
     Democratic Party of Hong Kong undermines his statement to 
     President Jiang that China's repressive government is ``on 
     the wrong side of history''; and
       (13) the President should not go to China to attend a 
     summit with President Jiang until--
       (A) the President has provided a full disclosure to 
     Congress concerning the transfer of United States satellite 
     and missile technology to China; and
       (B) United States policy toward China in general has been 
     formulated more effectively to protect United States national 
     security, economic, and human rights interests.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the President.

 Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, it is fitting on this day, the 
ninth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, to submit this 
resolution calling for the President to delay his trip to China. With 
allegations swirling about China's efforts to influence U.S. elections, 
and with the hard evidence we do have of China's continuing 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technologies, rewarding 
China with a summit visit is sending the wrong signal at the wrong 
time.
  There is perhaps nothing more indicting than a vote in the United 
States Congress that the actions of a Commander-in-Chief were not in 
the national interest. And yet, that is precisely what the House of 
Representatives did on May 20, 1998. By a vote of 417 to 4, the House 
voted that the President's decision in February 1998 to allow the 
export of satellite technology to China was ``not in the national 
interest.'' The Justice Department reportedly protested the waiver, 
expressing concern that it would undermine an ongoing criminal 
investigation of a possible satellite technology transfer that occurred 
in 1996.
  What is just as troubling is the possible link between the export of 
U.S. satellite technology and political donations from China's People's 
Liberation Army (PLA). Liu Chao-ying, an officer in the PLA, gave 
Johnny Chung--one of the central figures in the Administration's 
fundraising scandal--$300,000 to funnel into democratic coffers in the 
1995-96 election cycle. Ms. Liu just happens to be a senior manager and 
vice president in the China Aerospace conglomerate, Beijing's state-
owned company that oversees China's missile development and space 
launch programs.
  The White House says it did not know the source of Mr. Chung's 
funding. I question how diligently Administration officials and 
democratic fundraisers wanted to know. Warnings from the National 
Security Council as to the intentions of Mr. Chung, described by one 
official as a ``hustler,'' went unheeded. Senator Thompson's 
fundraising investigation describe in careful detail how the Democratic 
National Committee dismantled its vetting process for contributions. 
Mr. Chung himself visited the White House 49 times. This was not a 
superficial relationship. This man was a regular guest of the 
Administration.
  The recent scandals surrounding satellite technology transfers and 
Chinese efforts to influence U.S. elections are only the latest, 
troubling signs that this Administration's China policy is an abysmal 
failure. As Harry Wu said at this morning's press conference to 
commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre, appeasement does not bring 
peace.
  Appeasement is precisely what this Administration's China policy has 
become. China announces it will not conduct an inquiry into the 
Tiananmen Square massacre, yet President Clinton begins his summit at 
this site, where possibly thousands of Chinese were killed. In Hong 
Kong, President Clinton will not meet individually with Martin Lee, the 
leader of pro-democracy forces in the former colony whose Democratic 
Party won over 60% of the popular vote in the May 24 elections. China 
is identified by the CIA as the world's worst proliferator of weapons 
of mass destruction technology, proliferation activity that has 
contributed directly to the spiraling arms race between India and 
Pakistan. Yet the Administration rewards China with a nuclear 
cooperation agreement that will send America's best reactor technology 
to China. China repeatedly breaks commitments to open its market to 
U.S. businesses, yet the President renews MFN year after year.
  This Administration apparently will overlook any offense to our 
nation's principles and security to continue the bankrupt policy of 
engaging communist China. China points nuclear missiles at the U.S., 
and PLA officers describe the United States as China's ``international 
archenemy.'' Yet the Administration allows advanced satellite and 
missile technology to be sent to China which a Pentagon memo says 
harmed U.S. national security.
  China's actions, and this Administration's response to those actions, 
has set the U.S.-China relationship on a gravely dangerous course. It 
is time for a fundamental reevaluation of U.S. China policy. This 
resolution will provide a good start. This resolution outlines the 
areas of concern in our policy toward China, from human rights to 
national security to trade matters. In contrast to how U.S.-China 
relations have been administered for the last six years, a sound 
relationship between our two countries must be based on integrity, 
responsibility, and mutual respect.
  China's behavior across the board has not given any basis for this 
Administration to pursue a ``strategic partnership'' with Beijing. 
Appeasement will not bring peace. This Administration obviously did not 
learn the lessons of the Cold War. China is an aggressive power that 
seeks regional hegemony. Extending MFN trade status in exchange for a 
$50 billion trade deficit, sending China our best nuclear reactor 
technology in exchange for Chinese weapons proliferation, and beginning 
the summit at Tiananmen Square when China continues to imprison its 
people is not the kind of policy that will bring mutual respect and 
peace in East Asia.
  I call on the President to delay his trip to China until questions 
surrounding satellite technology transfer have been answered and U.S. 
China policy has been formulated more effectively to protect American 
interests. Senator Hutchinson is joining me as a cosponsor of this 
resolution, and I appreciate his tremendous work in this area. This 
resolution is designed to send a signal to the Chinese government and 
the victims of its repression that there are limits to the tolerance of 
China's appalling human rights record, continuing trade obstructionism, 
and destabilizing proliferation.




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