[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5696-5697]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             MADE IN CHINA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry) is 
recognized for 25 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Madam Speaker, as I was shopping for some family 
items recently, I noted how difficult it is to find items that are made 
in America. While American manufacturing is, encouragingly enough, on 
the rebound, products ranging from hairbrushes to iPods still carry 
that ``Made in China'' label. All the while, many questions about China 
and its economic policies, foreign policies, and human rights records 
are left largely unexamined.
  For the good of our economy, it is essential that we thoroughly 
understand China's record and their intentions as a country. Our 
nations have a complicated and lopsided economic relationship. 
Americans buy great quantities of Chinese-made products. China finances 
a great portion of America's debt. Currently, nearly one-third of our 
debt is foreign owned with China easily being the largest debt holder 
at nearly $1.2 trillion. Other estimates peg the figure at closer to $2 
trillion. The effect of such indebtedness is the shift of our wealth 
assets into the hands of a foreign nation, losing the market for 
American-made products to a country with lax labor and environmental 
standards, which manipulates its currency and creates unbalanced and 
unfair trading conditions.
  China's involvement on the world stage is also of significant 
concern. While it aggressively pursues its own mercantilistic agenda, 
China lends little constructive hand to creating conditions for 
international stability. China is seen as an enabler of North Korea, 
who is actively pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities; and they 
continue on their march toward more aggressive missile testing, as 
well, despite the protest of the international community.
  Over recent months, as the U.S. and the European Union have 
accelerated important efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, China 
has been conspicuously absent from the leadership table in this 
discussion. China continues to be a top buyer of Iranian oil--one of 
the key leverage points of economic sanctions against Iran. At a 
discussion I attended, a Chinese official in so many words said the 
U.S. is to blame for Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. And 
he went on to say, while China does not desire this outcome, we're 
going to do business as usual.
  Africa is becoming a lost continent, diplomatically and economically, 
in favor of international players who do not have the same regard for 
human rights as we do. China's influence in resource-rich Africa is 
growing rapidly--with disturbing consequences. Direct Chinese 
investment in Africa has grown exponentially over the last 2

[[Page 5697]]

years. One million Chinese nationals now do business in Africa, and 
Chinese energy and mineral resource companies are quickly acquiring oil 
fields and mines.
  In the process, China has forged strategic alliances with war 
criminals. According to China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, China 
shares a ``deep and profound friendship'' with Sudanese war criminal 
Omar al-Bashir. I should note there was a bright spot this week. When 
approached by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir for assistance as 
Sudan and South Sudan march toward war, China's President Hu Jintao 
echoed the United States in calling for peace and negotiation between 
the two countries, rather than continuing to back Omar al-Bashir. The 
international community will look upon China's new role as a diplomatic 
figure in this conflict with great interest.
  Beyond this, an honest discussion is necessary about Chinese 
industrial virtues. A Chinese official has said that in dealing with 
``differences in corporate culture and the degree of openness to the 
outside world, Chinese companies always take the domestic business 
practices with them.'' Chinese companies always take ``domestic 
business practices'' with them. Those practices, according to witnesses 
who have given congressional testimony, include fertility monitors on 
factory floors, invasively examining female employees for pregnancy and 
reporting pregnant women to the Chinese family planning police. China 
has practiced the violence of forced abortions. China also has 
tragically high suicide rates for workers, who use suicide as their 
only means of collective bargaining against dire and oppressive labor 
conditions.
  As China continues to advance as a world economic power, it has a 
choice. It can join the responsible community of nations in respecting 
the dignity and rights of all persons while conducting affairs with 
other nations in an ethical fashion, or it can stand by current 
practices that exploit relationships in order to fuel its own brand of 
corporate collectivism, undermining international stability in the 
process.
  Madam Speaker, it is my belief that it is important to seek 
reasonable and good relationships with China, a country with a rich 
cultural history, a country which is rapidly ascending onto the world 
stage. We must do so ideally and practically for the sake of our own 
national security. But we must do so with open eyes, fully 
understanding the implications when all of us buy products with that 
``made in China'' label.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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