[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11854-11855]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       PERMANENT NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS WITH CHINA AND THE CHINA 
                          NONPROLIFERATION ACT

  Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, we will shortly be taking up the matter 
of permanent normal trade relations with China.
  Mr. President, normally, I do not think matters of trade should be 
encumbered by other non-trade considerations; however, in the case of 
China, the situation is different. Not only are we considering trade 
with someone other than an ally, someone other than a nation that 
shares our values and outlooks on life, but we are beginning a new 
relationship with a nation that is actively involved in activities that 
go against the national security of this nation, and go against the 
security of the entire world. China still is one of the world's leading 
proliferators of weapons of mass destruction. We are right now engaged 
in a debate in this country over a national missile defense because of 
the activities of certain rogue nations and the weapons of mass 
destruction that they are rapidly developing. They're developing those 
weapons, Mr. President, in large part because of the assistance they're 
getting from the Chinese.
  The Rumsfeld Commission reported in July of 1998 that ``China poses a 
threat as a significant proliferator of ballistic missiles, weapons of 
mass destruction, and enabling technology. It has carried out extensive 
transfers to Iran's solid fuel ballistic missile programs, and has 
supplied Pakistan with the design for nuclear weapons and additional 
nuclear weapons assistance. It has even transferred complete ballistic 
missile systems to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. China's behavior thus far 
makes it appear unlikely it will soon effectively reduce its country's 
sizable transfers of critical technology, experts, or expertise, to the 
emerging missile powers.
  Mr. President, I speak today not to get into the middle of the PNTR 
debate, because that is yet to come, but because something has come to 
my attention that I think deserves comment.
  Under issue cover dated June 22--today--the Far Eastern Economic 
Review reports this:

       Robert Einhorn, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for 
     Nonproliferation, left Hong Kong on June 11 with a small 
     delegation bound for Beijing. Neither the American or Chinese 
     side reported this trip. Einhorn is on a delicate mission to 
     get a commitment from Beijing not to export missile 
     technology and components to Iran and Pakistan. China has 
     agreed in principle to resume nonproliferation discussions 
     with the U.S. in July. But Einhorn's trip has an added 
     urgency because recent U.S. intelligence reports suggest that 
     China may have begun building a missile plant in Pakistan. If 
     true, it would be the second Chinese-built plant there. A 
     senior U.S. official declined comment on the report, but said 
     that Washington is concerned that China has resumed work on 
     an M-11 missile plant it started building in Pakistan in 
     1990. Work stopped in 1996 when Pakistan, facing U.S. 
     sanctions, pledged itself to good behavior.

  Mr. President, if this report is true, I must say it's totally 
consistent with everything else the Chinese have been doing over the 
past several years. In summary, they have materially assisted 
Pakistan's missile program; they have materially assisted North Korea's 
missile program; they have materially assisted Libya's missile program. 
They have now been responsible apparently for two missile plants in 
Pakistan. The India-Pakistan part of the world is a nuclear tinder box. 
They are going after one another with tests of missiles with the 
Indians saying they're responding to the Pakistanis' tests. The 
Pakistanis in turn are developing capabilities almost solely dependent 
on the Chinese. All of this activity by China is in clear violation of 
the Missile Technology Control Regime, which they have agreed to adhere 
to. In addition, they have assisted in the uranium and plutonium 
production in Pakistan. This is in violation of the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty. They have been of major assistance to the Iranian 
missile program. They have supplied guidance systems to the Iranians. 
They have helped them test flight their Shahab-3 missile. They have now 
successfully conducted a test flight of that missile. They have 
supplied raw materials and equipment for North Korea's missile program. 
Plus, in addition, they have supplied cruise missiles to Iran, and they 
have supplied chemicals and equipment and a plant to Iran to help them 
produce chemical weapons.
  Now, all of these have to do with reports, most have to do with 
intelligence reports, that we have received in open session before 
Congressional committees year after year after year where the Chinese 
have promised that they would do better, promised that they would 
adhere to international regimes and norms of conduct, and they have 
consistently violated them. We cannot turn a blind eye to these factors 
as we consider PTNR.
  What is to happen to a nation that will not protect itself against 
obvious threats to its national security? That's why, Mr. President, we 
have introduced a bill that will establish an annual review mechanism 
that assesses China's behavior with regard to the proliferation of 
weapons of mass destruction. And if it is determined that they continue 
this conduct, we will have responses. They will be WTO-compliant; for 
the most part they will not be trade-related. They address things like 
Chinese access to our capital markets. They now are raising billions of 
dollars in our capital markets, and there's no transparency. We do not 
know what the monies are going for. We know precious little about the 
companies except that they are basically controlled by the Chinese 
government. Many people feel like the money is going back to enhance 
their military and other activities such as that. There needs to be 
transparency. They need to be told that if they continue with this 
pattern of making the world less safe, creating a situation where we 
even need to have to worry about a national missile defense system, 
assisting these rogue nations with the capability of hitting us with 
nuclear and biological and chemical weapons, that there's going to be a 
response by this country. It will be measured; it will be calculated; 
it will be careful; it will be tiered-up in severity based upon the 
level of their activities. And this is what we're going to be 
considering in conjunction with the PTNR debate.
  I thought it was important that I bring this latest information 
concerning the Chinese activities in building apparently another 
missile plant in Pakistan, which is a nuclear tinder box, even at the 
time--even at the time--that we have under consideration permanent 
normal trade relations with them. That shows no respect for us; it 
shows no respect for the international regimes which seek to control 
such things, and it is time we got their attention. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bunning). The Senator from Delaware.

[[Page 11855]]


  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, are we still in morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are.
  Mr. BIDEN. I ask unanimous consent if I could proceed in morning 
business for 10 minutes. If the committee is prepared to begin their 
deliberation, I will withhold.
  Mr. SPECTER. We are prepared to begin our deliberations, but if the 
Senator from Delaware wants some time, I will defer to him.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BIDEN. Before the Senator from Tennessee leaves, let me say that 
I think his rendition of Chinese behavior and proliferation is 
accurate. I remind all Members to keep that in mind when we vote on a 
national missile defense system.
  Right now, I point out, as my friend on the Intelligence Committee 
knows, China has a total of 18 intercontinental ballistic missiles. If 
we go forward with the national missile defense system that we are 
contemplating, and if we must abrogate the ABM Treaty in order to do 
that, I am willing to bet any Member on this floor that China goes to 
somewhere between 200 and 500 ICBMs within 5 years.
  It is bad that China still proliferates missile technology. It is 
even more awesome that they may decide they are no longer merely going 
to have a ``city buster'' deterrent, which is no threat to our military 
capability in terms of our hardened targets and silos. If we deploy a 
national missile defense, they may decide that they must become a truly 
major nuclear power.
  I also point out that, notwithstanding that everything the Senator 
said is true, I do believe there is hope in engagement. There is no 
question that the reason North Korea is, at least at this moment--and 
no one knows where it will go from here--is withholding missile 
testing, at least at this moment adhering to the deal made with regard 
to not reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, at least has begun discussions 
with South Korea, is in no small part because of the intervention of 
China.
  As the Senator from Tennessee and the rest of my colleagues know, 
foreign policy is a complicated thing. We may find ourselves having to 
balance competing interests. I am not defending China's action. As the 
Senator may know, I am the guy who, with Senator Helms 5 years ago, 
attempted to sanction China for their sale of missile technology to 
Pakistan. However, I think that as this develops and we look at the 
other complicated issues we will have to vote on, we must keep in mind 
that, as bad as their behavior is, we sure don't want them 
fundamentally changing their nuclear arsenal. I don't want them MIRVing 
missiles. I don't want them deciding that they are to become a major 
nuclear power.
  I respectfully suggest that before we make a decision on national 
missile defense, we should know what we are about to get, for what we 
are bargaining for. Maybe we can build a defensive system that could 
intercept somewhere between 5 and 8 out of 7 or 10 missiles fired from 
North Korea.
  As they used to say in my day on bumper stickers, ``One nuclear bomb 
can ruin your day.''
  I am not sure, when we balance all of the equities of the concerns 
about what is in the interest of those pages on the Senate floor and 
their children, that if deployment of a national missile defense starts 
an arms race in Asia, it is actually in their interest in the long run.
  I thank the Senator for his pointing out exactly what China is doing.

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