TEXT: ALBRIGHT 5/19 REMARKS IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
(Clinton to recommend renewal of China's MFN status)

Wilmington, Delaware -- President Clinton has decided to recommend renewal of China's most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status for the coming year, according to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The Administration "proceeds from the realistic conviction that revoking MFN would de-rail prospects for U.S.-China cooperation" on human rights, arms control, and a variety of other important issues, Albright said at a May 19 foreign affairs luncheon in Wilmington, Delaware.

"It is important to remember that MFN is a powerful symbol of America's global commitment to open markets," she continued. "Despite its name, MFN is not a privileged status accorded only to close friends; it is the ordinary tariff treatment we extend to most nations."

Albright pointed out that ending normal trading relations with China would isolate the United States more than it would China.

"We could expect virtually no support from our friends and allies in Europe and Asia, all of whom support our policy of seeking China's integration into regional and global institutions," she said.

Albright stressed that the Administration remains committed to a strategic dialogue with China and believes that engagement is the best way to encourage China's integration into the international system.

"The Administration believes our strategic dialogue can both protect American interests and uphold our principles provided we are honest and frank about our differences on human rights and other issues -- which we have been and will continue to be," she said.

Albright also highlighted China's emergence as a major economic and military power.

"Whether or not we revoke MFN, China will be a rising force in Asian and world affairs," she said. "We have to think carefully about what our long term approach to China should be."

Following is the official text of Albright's remarks:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
As Prepared for Delivery
May 19, 1997

SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
LUNCHEON REMARKS -- WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
MAY 19, 1997

Senator Biden, thank you for that characteristically understated introduction. Senator Roth, Governor Carper, Congressman Castle, friends and guests, I am delighted to be here in Wilmington with you today. Although I was born in Prague and came of age in Denver, I have spent most of my adult life in New York and Washington -- or in transit between the two. So I am very glad to get off the train, at last, and see the city without a blur.

Delaware is a small state, but it has a very large presence in Washington.

I doubt there is a Senator in our era with a greater record of accomplishment than Joe Biden. I am delighted that he has decided to advance the interests of Delaware through his service as the leading minority member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

By his leadership on the Chemical Weapons Convention, his advocacy of a tough stance in the war against drugs, and his support for a foreign economic policy that works for America, Joe Biden is showing every day that strong policies abroad make a real difference for our citizens back home.

Senator Bill Roth is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In other words, like Senator Biden, he has clout. In fact, he is also serving, with Senator Biden, as Chair of the Senate's NATO Observer Group, consulting with the Administration on the historic enlargement of that historic alliance. Senator Roth has earned universal respect for his energy, fairness and achievements during his years of public service.

Representative Mike Castle has not been in Washington as long as his colleagues -- which you may or may not consider a good thing -- but he has already established a reputation for independence and courage. I thank all of you for taking the time to welcome me here today.

As Secretary of State, I am often asked my view of the world now that the Cold War is receding into memory and a new century is about to dawn.

There are obviously many elements to this and, because I am a former professor, I have the habit of discussing each in sound bites that are fifty minutes long.

But in deference to the lulling effects of this wonderful lunch, and to all our schedules, I will give you a highly abridged version.

Largely as the result of strong U.S. leadership from Administrations of both parties, we have in our era an unprecedented opportunity to integrate the world around basic principles of democracy, open markets, law and a common commitment to peace.

Not every country is yet able to participate fully in this integration. Some are in transition from centralized planning and totalitarian rule to democracy. Some have only begun to dip their toes into economic and political reform. Some are still too weak to participate meaningfully in the international system. And a few have governments that actively oppose the premises upon which that system is based.

It is in America's interests to strengthen the system, to ensure that it is based on high standards and sound principles of law, and to make it more inclusive. We do this by helping transitional states to play a greater role, by giving a boost to the weak states most willing to help themselves, and by making it clear to the outlaw states that they cannot prosper at the expense of the rest; they must either reform or suffer in isolation.

That is why we are working with our allies to build a NATO strengthened by new members and trained for new missions, and why we are pleased the alliance has made an historic breakthrough by enlisting Russia as a co-builder of peace.

It is why we have worked with friends in Asia to freeze North Korea's nuclear program.

It is why we stand with the peacemakers against the bombthrowers in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and other troubled regions of the world.

It is why we have insisted on tough UN sanctions against the outlaw regimes of Libya and Iraq.

And it is why we are engaged in a strategic dialogue with China aimed at encouraging that country to become a fully responsible and active participant within the international system.

Because it is a timely subject, and very important to American interests across the board, let me elaborate a bit on this last goal.

Next month, the annual Congressional debate concerning China's most-favored-nation, or MFN, trading status will begin.

I can say today that President Clinton has decided to renew China's MFN status for the coming year. I understand that the White House will be making the announcement shortly.

Some in Congress will not agree with this approach, arguing instead that a confrontational approach is more likely to alter China's policies in areas where we have differences, such as human rights and military exports. The Administration's view is that our long term interests are best served by a strategic dialogue with Chinese leaders on a full range of issues. Let me explain why.

First, it is important to remember that MFN is a powerful symbol of America's global commitment to open markets. Despite its name, MFN is not a privileged status accorded only to close friends; it is the ordinary tariff treatment we extend to most nations.

More generally, we have to think carefully about what our long term approach to China should be. There is no questioning the significance of China's emergence as a major, modern economic and military power. And there should be no doubt that China will play a major role in the future of Asia, where the United States has a panoply of vital interests.

The evolution of our relations with China will depend primarily on how China defines its own national interests during the remaining years of this century and into the next. Through our strategic dialogue, we are encouraging the Chinese to accept what we believe is true -- that China will be able to find greater security, prosperity and well-being inside a rule-based international system than outside.

Currently, China is constructively engaged with the international community in some areas; in some, it is not. Given the undemocratic nature of China's government, we can expect that further movement in the direction of inclusion will be gradual. But we also believe continued U.S. engagement is the best way to encourage that movement.

The opponents of maintaining normal trading relations with China have legitimate concerns -- which the Administration shares -- but the tool they have chosen is less scalpel than wrecking ball.

They proceed from the fragile hope that denying MFN would have a salutary effect on China's human rights or arms export practices.

The Administration, however, proceeds from the realistic conviction that revoking MFN would de-rail prospects for U.S.-China cooperation both on these and other important issues such as preserving peace on the Korean Peninsula, encouraging dialogue with Taiwan, controlling nuclear proliferation, safeguarding the global environment, cracking down on international terror, fighting the narcotics trade and further opening China's markets to meet World Trade Organization standards.

In recent weeks, some have advocated using China MFN as leverage to protect democratic rights in Hong Kong following its reversion to Chinese authority on July 1. However, as Senator Roth pointed out in last Friday's Wall Street Journal, this idea is strongly opposed by Hong Kong's democratic leaders, because of the damage it would do to Hong Kong's free market economy.

A further objection to ending normal trading relations is that it would do more to isolate the United States than China. We could expect virtually no support from our friends and allies in Europe and Asia, all of whom support our policy of seeking China's integration into regional and global institutions.

Critics say that denying MFN is essential to uphold U.S. principles. The Administration believes our strategic dialogue can both protect American interests and uphold our principles provided we are honest and frank about our differences on human rights and other issues -- which we have been and will continue to be.

Whether or not we revoke MFN, China will be a rising force in Asian and world affairs.

History teaches us the value of encouraging emerging powers to become part of international arrangements for settling disputes, facilitating shared economic growth and establishing standards of international behavior.

Here at home, we should not let the MFN debate obscure the fact that those on both sides share common goals. Whether our own particular interests in China are focused on diplomatic, security, commercial or humanitarian concerns, our overriding objective is to encourage in China full respect for the rule of law.

If you are a business person, you will care whether China's legal structure respects individual rights, and whether the political and security environment is stable. If you are a military planner, you will want to see China moving ahead with economic and political reform because you know that an open society contributes to peace. If you are a human rights activist, you will welcome the long-term liberalizing effects created by expanded commerce, creation of a strong private sector, and a broad dialogue between China and the world's democracies.

And if you are Secretary of State, you will be determined to move ahead on all fronts, encouraging the full integration of China into the international system.

A half century ago, a generation of American leaders led by President Truman and Secretary of State Marshall offered a plan for re-building a Europe decimated by war. Their goals then were similar to our goals today. They understood that nations working together as trading partners and partners in peace would be less likely to fall into the abyss of war.

They believed that gaining the commitment of nations to high standards of law and human rights would make the world less brutal and less unjust.

And they believed in human progress -- for they had just defeated the greatest enemies of progress ever to walk the earth.

Their task, then, was concentrated on the former battlegrounds of the second world war.

History enables us now to cast the net more broadly. Today, there is no region -- and no nation -- that need remain outside the international system.

Broadening and strengthening that system cannot be done by governments alone. It is a joint opportunity, in which educators, community leaders and the private sector -- that's you -- must play a strong partnership role.

As one whose job it is to protect American interests, I hope and believe that, together, we will seize that opportunity. And by so doing, arrive at the end of this century well prepared for the next. Thank you very much.

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