[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 52 (Tuesday, May 2, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2349-H2350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE SIGNAL WE SEND WITH PNTR

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, the United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom, which was established just 2 years ago 
by Congress, stated yesterday that there are systematic, egregious, and 
ongoing manifestations of religious persecution in China. It is obvious 
to me and many of my fellow Nevadans that this is yet another reason 
why we should not, I repeat should not, extend the privilege of 
permanent normal trade relations with China.
  Mr. Speaker, granting PNTR to China sends a signal that the United 
States condones the inexcusable religious persecutions and human rights 
abuses that occur currently today.
  We would also be sending the signal that the United States is willing 
to endanger its own national security. After all, we would be trading 
with a country that holds Americans hostage every day by maintaining 
nuclear weapons targeted at the United States mainland.

[[Page H2350]]

  Mr. Speaker, there are too many reasons why we should not grant PNTR 
to China. I encourage my colleagues to stand up for democracy and 
freedom and against PNTR to China.
  I yield back this ill-conceived and dangerous trade policy that calls 
for the American people to trust its enemy.

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