[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 2000)]
[Pages 1206-1207]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on House of Representatives Action on Permanent Normal Trade
Relations With China

May 24, 2000

    Good afternoon. Today the House of Representatives has taken an 
historic step toward continued prosperity in America, reform in China, 
and peace in the world. If the Senate votes as the House has just done 
to extend permanent normal trade relations with China, it will open new 
doors of trade for America and new hope for change in China.
    Seven years ago, when I became President, I charted a new course for 
a new economy, a course of fiscal discipline, investment in our people, 
and open trade. I have always believed that by opening markets abroad, 
we open opportunities at home. We've worked hard to advance that goal of 
more open and more fair trade since 1993 all the way up to the landmark 
legislation I signed just a few days ago to expand trade with Africa and 
the Caribbean Basin.
    Just this week Speaker Hastert and I reached an agreement that many 
Members of the House in both parties have already supported, to bring 
the same kinds of investment opportunity and jobs to America's new 
markets, to people and places here in this country who have not yet 
participated in our prosperity, in rural areas, inner cities, on our 
Native American reservations.
    With more than a billion people, China is the largest new market in 
the world. Our administration has negotiated an agreement which will 
open China's markets to American products made on American soil, 
everything from corn to chemicals to computers. Today the House has 
affirmed that agreement.
    We will be exporting, however, more than our products. By this 
agreement, we will also export more of one of our most cherished values, 
economic freedom. Bringing China into the WTO and normalizing trade will 
strengthen those who fight for the environment, for labor standards, for 
human rights, for the rule of law.
    For China, this agreement will clearly increase the benefits of 
cooperation and the costs of confrontation. America, of course, will 
continue to defend our interests, but at this stage in China's 
development, we will have more positive influence with an outstretched 
hand than with a clenched fist. The House today has affirmed that 
belief.
    Now, I have spoken personally to many, many Members of Congress. I 
have heard their concerns and those of their constituents. I know this, 
for many, was a difficult vote. Decisions like this one test our deepest 
beliefs. They challenge our hopes, and they call forth our fears. Though 
China may be changing, we all know it remains a one-party state, that it 
still denies people the rights of free speech and religious expression. 
We know that trade alone will not bring freedom to China or peace to the 
world. That's why permanent normal trade relations must also signal our 
commitment to permanent change.
    America will keep pressing to protect our security and to advance 
our values. The vote today is a big boost to both efforts. For the more 
China liberalizes its economy, the more it will liberate the potential 
of its people--to work without restraint, to live without fear.
    In January I pledged an all-out effort to take this important step. 
I want to thank everyone who has joined in it. I want to express special 
gratitude to Speaker Hastert for his leadership, to Congressman Archer 
and Congressman Rangel of the Ways and Means Committee. I also want to 
acknowledge Congressman Levin and Congressman Bereuter, who authored a 
provision on human rights that improves this bill and strengthens our 
ability to stand up for our values.
    I thank all the others who spoke out for this action, including all 
our former Presidents, all the former Secretaries of State, Defense, 
trade ministers, other Cabinet members, all the military leaders. I 
thank those who worked for human rights and the rule of law who spoke 
out for this legislation. And of course, I want to thank all those who 
worked in this administration: Secretary

[[Page 1207]]

Daley, for spearheading our campaign; Charlene Barshefsky and Gene 
Sperling, for their negotiation of the agreement; Steve Ricchetti, here 
in the White House; and Sandy Berger and all the others who worked so 
hard for this agreement here. I appreciate what everyone has done.
    Today the House has taken an important step for the kind of future I 
think we all want for our children, for an America that will be more 
prosperous and more secure, for a China that is more open to our 
products and more respectful of the rule of law at home and abroad. The 
House has spoken, and now the eyes of the world turn toward the United 
States Senate. I am confident it, too, will act swiftly to advance these 
interests.
    I will be speaking with many Senators in the days ahead to ensure 
that we continue to move ahead to get this done as promptly as possible. 
This is one of the most important votes the Senate will face in this 
session. I hope we can build on our momentum on this issue and on other 
pressing priorities, as well.
    I still believe the Congress can act to add voluntary prescription 
drug coverage to Medicare, to invest more in our children's education, 
to pass the legislation to invest in these American markets here at 
home, to pass the commonsense gun safety legislation, to raise the 
minimum wage.
    Again, I thank the House, and I look forward to working with the 
Congress in the days ahead.
    This is a good day for America. And 10 years from now we will look 
back on this day and be glad we did this. We will see that we have given 
ourselves a chance to build the kind of future we want. This is a good 
economic agreement because we get all the economic benefits of lowered 
tariffs and lowered access to the Chinese market. We get new protections 
against dumping of products in our own markets. What we have granted is 
full membership in the World Trade Organization, which brings China into 
a rule-based international system.
    But I have said many times, and I'd just like to say once more, to 
me, the most important benefit of all is that we have given ourselves 
and the Chinese a chance--not a guarantee but a chance--to build a 
future in the Asia-Pacific region for the next 50 years very different 
from the last 50. We fought three wars in that part of the world. A lot 
of Americans died for freedom; a lot of sacrifice should not go 
unredeemed. We owe it to them, to their children, and to our children 
and grandchildren to give the world a chance to build a better and a 
different future. We have taken a big step toward giving them that 
chance today.
    Thank you very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 6:03 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Public Law 106-200, the Trade and 
Development Act of 2000.