[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 131 (Thursday, September 6, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H10196-H10197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CHINA ACTING MORE LIKE AN ENEMY THAN A FRIEND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Tim Murphy) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, what I am about to say 
may not be politically correct and it may not make folks in the White 
House or some of my colleagues in Congress happy, but every time I go 
home to my district, people ask me, when are we going to get serious 
about dealing with China?
  For a long time, China has acted more like an enemy than a friend. 
Over and over again, they have sold our families harmful and 
contaminated products, they have spied on us, and now we find out they 
are shipping weapons to our enemies in the Middle East to kill our 
soldiers. This is not the behavior of an ally, but the behavior of an 
enemy.
  They hurt our children. We have found toys containing lead paint and 
bibs and vinyl lunch boxes containing lead. Just this Wednesday, toy 
manufacturer Mattel announced it is recalling 700,000 Chinese-made toys 
because they contain excessive amounts of lead paint. This is the third 
recall of Chinese-made toys by the company in the past month.
  On August 1, Mattel's Fisher-Price announced it was recalling 1.5 
million

[[Page H10197]]

preschool toys, including nearly 1 million in the U.S. And then on 
August 14, the company announced a worldwide recall of 19 million toys. 
We all know the dangers caused by lead paint, which is why it is not 
used in American-made toys or homes. As a child psychologist, I can 
tell you firsthand exposure to lead paint can lead to attention deficit 
disorders, brain damage and medical ailments in children and in later 
life.
  China has continuously sent us products that are harmful to our 
families, and even our pets. Their harmful products sold to Americans 
include contaminated pet foods, used chop sticks, tires that have 
caused fatal accidents, diapers containing a fungus, lipstick 
containing carcinogens, juices with unsafe color additives, baby 
bottles with ingredients that can alter a child's hormones, pacifiers 
containing chemicals linked to cancer, and teething rings with toxic 
chemicals.
  In addition, China has systematically manipulated its currency to 
create an unfair trade advantage over the United States and other 
global competitors. They have repeatedly allowed their workers to 
counterfeit American products and steal our patents, costing us 
billions of dollars of trade each year, thus destroying American 
manufacturing jobs.
  They have built power plants with cheaper outdated technology, 
causing excessive pollution and environmental hazards throughout the 
world, including the United States, and they have stolen national 
secrets from our U.S. energy labs.
  Congress and the White House have allowed China to continue its 
blatant disregard for our country; and as a result, China has become 
more and more emboldened. They have now begun to directly and 
indirectly attack our military, actions that have taken the lives of 
American soldiers.
  Beijing appears to be the culprit of a cyberattack launched against 
the Pentagon this past June. While this attack was not with missiles or 
guns, it is nonetheless an attack on our sovereignty that should not be 
unchecked.
  Now we learn that China is supplying our enemies with weapons and 
ammunition being used to kill our soldiers. These weapons have included 
large-caliber sniper rifles; rocket-propelled grenades; improvised 
explosive devices, or IEDs; and shoulder-fired rockets. Millions of 
rounds of ammunition have also been linked to China. And many of these 
weapons are finding their way into the hands of the Taliban and 
insurgents in Iran. As U.S., Iraqi, and coalition forces try to prevent 
weapons from coming into Iraq, China has been directly aiding and 
abetting our enemies.
  For far too long, China has been harming our children, our families, 
and our economy. Now they are killing our soldiers.
  Well, enough is enough. China must be held accountable. If Congress 
can't act, the American people can, and Americans are saying no to 
China. From our food, to our clothes, to household goods, Americans are 
saying they will stop buying Chinese products.
  Unless China stops its practices that hurt Americans, kill our 
soldiers and kill our jobs, I believe the American people will continue 
to stop buying Chinese-made goods. But Congress must also demand that 
if China does not stop these practices that hurt our soldiers and hurt 
our citizens, Congress, too, must act, and do so quickly.

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