Text: Albright's Statement on PNTR for China
(Secretary of State "delighted" with Senate approval of PNTR)

Following is the text:

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
September 19, 2000

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT

CHINA -- SENATE VOTE ON PERMANENT NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS

I am delighted that the Senate has voted to extend Permanent Normal Trade Relations to China. This historic decision will provide new opportunities for American businesses, farmers and workers in a dynamic and important market and, by opening China further to the export of goods from America, help us sustain the economic growth we have experienced during the past eight years.

In addition, I commend the bipartisan debate on this bill in the Senate and in the House. Congress made what I believe was the right decision for America after a spirited and thoughtful review of our broad national interest in enacting PNTR for China. China's accession to the WTO and the extension of PNTR to China will serve the long-term interest of all Americans and a China that is more fully part of the international system. It will help lay the groundwork for expanding the benefits to the United States of a constructive bilateral relationship in the years to come.

Now that the Senate and the House have spoken, we need to continue our efforts in Geneva to complete, as soon as possible, the final working party documents. Only after this important step will the President be in a position to determine whether to certify that the protocol of accession is "at least equivalent" to the bilateral agreement we negotiated in November 1999.

Finally, I would like to thank all of those inside the Administration and outside for their effort to secure passage of PNTR. Thanks to the President's extraordinary personal leadership, we have taken a step that I believe history will judge to have been instrumental to building a more prosperous, peaceful, and open future in the Asian Pacific region.

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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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