[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 22 (Monday, June 7, 1999)]
[Page 1030]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Decision To Extend Normal Trade Relations Status With 
China

June 3, 1999

    I have decided to renew Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status with 
China, so that we will continue to extend to China the same trade 
treatment we provide to virtually every other country on Earth. 
Maintaining NTR with China, as every U.S. President has done since 1980, 
will promote America's economic and security interests, and I urge 
Congress to support this decision.
    NTR with China is good for Americans. Our exports to China have 
quadrupled over the past decade. Exports to China and Hong Kong support 
some 400,000 American jobs. Revoking NTR would derail ongoing 
negotiations to increase our access to China's market and to promote 
economic reforms there.
    Trade also remains a force for social change in China, spreading the 
tools, contacts, and ideas that promote freedom. A decade ago at 
Tiananmen, when Chinese citizens courageously demonstrated for 
democracy, they were met by violence from a regime fearful of change. We 
continue to speak and work strongly for human rights in China. A 
continued policy of principled, purposeful engagement reinforces these 
efforts to move China toward greater openness and broader freedom. This 
is the path to lasting stability and prosperity for China, to a future 
that will benefit the Chinese people--and the American people.
    We pursue engagement with our eyes wide open, without illusions. We 
continue to speak frankly about our differences and to firmly protect 
our national interests. A policy of disengagement and confrontation 
would only strengthen those in China who oppose greater openness and 
freedom.
    Therefore, I am committed to bringing China into global structures, 
to promote China's adherence to global norms on human rights, weapons of 
mass destruction, crime and drugs, immigration, the environment, and on 
trade. I am determined to pursue an agreement for China to join the 
World Trade Organization on viable commercial terms. This is not a favor 
to China but a means of opening and reforming China's markets and 
holding China to the rules of the global trading system--developments 
that will benefit America. Accordingly, I am prepared to work closely 
with Congress to secure permanent NTR status for China in the context of 
a commercially strong WTO agreement.

Note: The Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, 
Public Law 
105-206, section 5003, changed the term ``most-favored-nation'' status 
to ``normal trade relations'' status.