Text: Senator Biden in July 18 Committee Hearing on PNTR for China
(Permanent Normal Trade Relations will enhance U.S. security)Granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to China will not only open Chinese markets to U.S. goods and investments, it will also enhance U.S. national security, according to Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (Democrat of Delaware).
PNTR would provide a foundation for building "trust across the Pacific" and demonstrate that the United States is not attempting to "'contain' [the Chinese] through economic coercion," the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in his opening statement to a July 18 hearing of the committee.
The United States should support China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), Biden told fellow lawmakers, because membership would subject China to multilateral pressure in a rules-based organization and provide a venue for Chinese and Taiwanese leaders to begin negotiating peacefully.
Biden called for Senate debate on granting PNTR before the August recess.
"The annual threat to deny China normal trade relations has never offered us effective leverage to encourage greater Chinese compliance with international norms," he said.
Following is the text of Senator Biden's opening statement, as prepared for delivery:
(begin text)
Normal Trade Relations with China and National Security
Statement of Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
July 17, 2000Mr. Chairman, today's hearing is on the national security implications of granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR). I hope the Majority Leader will eventually permit the Senate to debate granting China PNTR. He ought to schedule that debate before the Senate recesses in August. But in the mean time, while we all wait on the Majority Leader, I applaud the Chairman for going ahead with today's hearing and another scheduled for tomorrow.
I, for one, am ready for this issue to be joined, and am frustrated by the foot-dragging on this vital issue.
Looked at one way, granting permanent normal trade relations to China has little to do with our national security.
PNTR for China does not lift any sanctions on China, does not increase their access to controlled U.S. technology, does not increase their access to our markets. That's because the U.S. already grants China normal trade status on an annual basis, and has every year since 1979.
Granting permanent normal trade relations to China is all about opening their markets to U.S. goods and investment. The trade concessions are all one-way in this deal. They drop tariffs. They drop non-market barriers. They agree to increase protection of our intellectual property rights.
We agree only to forego an annual vote on China's trade status. The annual threat to deny China normal trade relations has never offered us effective leverage to encourage greater Chinese compliance with international norms in the areas of human rights, international security, and trade.
The annual vote was a trigger we never pulled on a gun loaded with blanks, not silver bullets.
So on balance, the nuts and bolts of getting China into the World Trade Organization and opening their markets would appear to have little to do with our national security.
But looked at another way, granting permanent normal trade relations has everything to do with our national security. Why?
First, granting China permanent normal trade status will put our relationship on a more firm foundation and begin to build trust across the Pacific. China attaches great significance to getting permanent normal trade relations and membership in the World Trade Organization. They want to be a member of the club. Our support for their membership demonstrates that we do not intend to keep them weak or "black ball" them.
Denying China permanent normal trade status, however, would have the opposite effect. It would convince China's leaders that we want to keep them weak and backward, and that we hope to "contain" them through economic coercion.
Second, getting China into the World Trade Organization, a rules-based organization, will subject China to multilateral pressure on trade and, over time, enhance their respect for the rule of law.
Change will come slowly, and China will always be governed by its self-interest. But I believe we want China to be invested in the international system. We want China to recognize the ways in which it benefits by complying with international norms.
Over time, that's the best way to get China to clean up its act.
Third, granting China permanent normal trade status will help promote stability across the Taiwan Strait. That's because China's entry into the World Trade Organization will facilitate Taiwan's entry into the WTO. This will encourage investment and trade, reducing the likelihood that either side, will act in ways which will endanger peace and security. It will also provide a venue for Chinese and Taiwanese officials to meet and resolve economic differences through peaceful negotiations, setting a good precedent for solving tougher political issues.
That is why Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian -- along with all of our Asian allies -- supports China's entry into the WTO.
So, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to hearing from our distinguished witnesses. I hope they will focus their remarks on how granting or withholding permanent normal trade relations will affect our national security.
We all know that we have serious issues with China in the areas of non-proliferation, human rights, and trade. That's not the question.
The question is whether denying China permanent normal trade relations, thereby denying the United States the commercial benefits of China's accession to the World Trade Organization, will enhance or decrease our national security.
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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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