[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7672-7673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



PASSING PNTR WILL ONLY CONFIRM THAT CHINA'S BEHAVIOR WILL CONTINUE AND 
                                 WORSEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, this Congress is built upon a common 
desire to promote democratic ideals throughout the world. But as we 
strive to encourage democracy in developing nations, something is 
sorely amiss in our China policy.
  When the CEOs of multinational corporations lobby for increased trade 
with China, they talk about access to 1.2 billion Chinese consumers. 
What they do not say is that their real interest is 1.2 billion Chinese 
workers, workers whom they pay 10 cents, 20 cents, 30 cents, 40 cents 
an hour.
  These CEOs will tell us that increasing trade with China will force 
China to improve, that engagement with China will bring democracy to 
that Communist dictatorship. But as we engage with developing countries 
in trade and investment, democratic countries in the developing world 
are losing ground to more authoritarian countries. Democratic nations 
such as India are losing out to more totalitarian governments such as 
China where the people are not free and the workers do as they are 
told.
  In the post-Cold War decade, the share of developing country exports 
to the U.S. for democratic nations fell from 53 percent in 1989 to 34 
percent in 1998. Corporate America wants to do business with countries 
with docile work forces that earn below poverty wages and are not 
allowed to organize to bargain collectively.
  In manufacturing goods, developing democracies' share of developing 
country exports fell 21 percent, from 56 percent to 35 percent. 
Corporations are relocating their manufacturing to more authoritarian 
regimes where the workers do not talk back for fear of being punished.
  Western corporations want to invest in countries that have below 
poverty wages, that have nonexistent environmental standards, that have 
no worker safety standards, that have no opportunities to bargain 
collectively. As developing nations make progress toward democracy, as 
they increase worker rights, as they create regulation to protect the 
environment, American business punishes them by pulling its trade and 
pulling its investment in favor of other totalitarian governments.
  Decisions about the Chinese economy are made by three groups: the 
Chinese Communist Party, the People's Liberation Army, which controls a 
significant number of the business that export to the United States, 
and, third, Western investors. Do any of these three want to empower 
workers? Does the Chinese

[[Page 7673]]

Communist Party want the Chinese people to enjoy human rights? No. Does 
the People's Liberation Army want to close the labor camps? I do not 
think so. Do Western investors want Chinese workers to bargain 
collectively? Obviously no. None of these groups, I repeat, none of 
these groups, the Chinese Communist Party, the People's Liberation 
Army, and Western investors, none of these groups have any interest in 
changing the current situation in China. All three profit too much from 
the status quo to want to see human rights and labor rights improve in 
China.
  The People's Republic of China ignores the United Nations High 
Commission on Human Rights. The People's Republic of China ignores the 
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. They ignore the 
State Department's country reports, and the People's Republic of China 
has broken almost every agreement they have made with the United 
States. Why would the Chinese government pay any attention to the 
congressional task force? Passing PNTR, passing permanent Most Favored 
Nation status trading privileges for China, will only confirm that 
China's behavior will continue and worsen.

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