[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 107 (Monday, August 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H6882-H6883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SECURITY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE IS TOO IMPORTANT TO RISK CONTINUED 
                         ENGAGEMENT WITH CHINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, the Pentagon is considering a plan for our 
elite Special Forces to train Chinese PLA troops. Recently the House 
debated a resolution to express the dissent of this Congress to extend 
normal trading, or formally known as Most Favored Nation status to the 
People's Republic of China.
  Myself and many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle agree 
that extending this economic advantage to a Communist Nation is more 
than just an issue of trade. As Americans, we live free. Free from 
oppressive government and free to enjoy the rights and liberties 
awarded by our Constitution. Chinese citizens are not so fortunate. 
They suffer horrible violations of their basic human rights on a daily 
basis, and those who seek their fundamental rights or seek democracy 
are jailed, tortured and too often killed.
  The State Department's Human Rights Report for China states that in 
1996, all public dissent against the party and the government was 
effectively silenced by intimidation, exile, incarceration, 
administration detention, or house arrest. By year's end, all 
dissidents have effectively been silenced by the government, and those 
released from prison were often prevented from seeking employment or 
resuming any semblance of a normal life.
  Freedom of religion is a freedom Americans take for granted every 
day. In China, the harassment and incarceration of religious leaders 
and the forcible closure and destruction of places of worship is all 
too common when the faith and church are not government-sanctioned. The 
government of the People's Republic of China has arrested, tortured and 
detained hundreds, if not thousands, of Protestants, Roman Catholics 
and Buddhists for practicing their religious beliefs. As a man of 
strong religious convictions, I find this appalling. However, the 
Chinese government does not even stop there. It maintains a policy of 
forced abortion and sterilization. Not only does it silence its 
citizens, it silences innocent life.
  In the last 50 years alone, 10 times the number of people killed 
during the Holocaust have been killed in China. Let me repeat that, Mr. 
Speaker. Ten times the number of people killed during the Holocaust 
have been killed in China since 1949.
  Mr. Speaker, does Congress need any more evidence to realize that we 
cannot trust the Chinese government?
  The United States has tried to build a relationship with China, but 
to no avail. We give China an inch, and China takes a mile. In 1995 we 
extended Most Favored Nation status to China if it would agree to stop 
its abusive human rights practices and stop exporting nuclear weapons. 
China failed on the first account, Mr. Speaker, and it failed on the 
second account as well.
  In January of this year, President Clinton told this Congress that 
China had assured him it was not participating in the sale of nuclear 
technology. Less than a month later, China was found planning to sell 
chemical weaponry to Iran. In fact, just last year, the CIA reported 
that in 1996, China was the greatest supplier of weapons-of-mass-
destruction related goods and technology to foreign countries. Not only 
has China failed to comply with our terms of agreement, but it poses a 
significant threat to our Nation's security.
  Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reported that it is China's 
proliferation of ballistic missiles, weapons of mass destruction, and 
enabling technologies that has threatened the security of the United 
States. The CIA reported this year that 13 of 18 Chinese CSS-4 missiles 
are targeted at United States cities.
  The Air Force's National Air Intelligence Center reports that the 
Chinese government is developing a new ICBM with the capability of 
hitting targets throughout the western United States running southwest 
from Wisconsin through California. And China took advantage of having 
President Clinton in Beijing to test a component of its new missile.
  Mr. Speaker, what a blatant indication of China's lack of respect for 
our country. And yet, because our administration wants access to 
China's military secrets and training practices, it is willing to 
engage in cooperative military training with the hope of establishing a 
mutual relationship of trust and confidence. That is right. Despite the 
threat China poses to the security of the United States of America, we 
are allowing our elite Special Forces, the best in the world, to train 
and share military technology and training with a Communist Nation.
  If the past is any indication, we have no reason to trust China. This 
proposal

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is far too great of a risk for our men and women in uniform to assume 
when the security of the American people is at stake.
  Mr. Speaker, may God bless America.

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