Text: Lawmaker Says U.S. Should Reevaluate Relationship With China
(Representative Cliff Stearns speech on China)China's actions since receiving Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status call into question the idea that granting China full access to the U.S. market would lead to reform in Beijing and to better relations between America and China, according to Representative Cliff Stearns (Republican of Florida).
The Beijing regime's "already poor human rights record sadly worsened last year," Stearns said in an April 3 speech in the House of Representatives.
Stearns said he was pleased that the Bush administration has urged the United Nations "to address the widespread oppression in China."
America's relationship with China, Stearns said, "needs to be carefully reevaluated. Since PNTR, we have seen aggressive behavior on their part. Our prayers are with the 24 crew members, and I am hopeful that a speedy resolution will occur."
Following is the text of Stearns's remarks from the April 3 Congressional Record:
(begin text)
CHINA: FRIEND OR FOE?
House of Representatives
April 03, 2001Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, in the last Congress and many before, many of us have heard predictions that have been made regarding China. Advocates last year stated that granting permanent normal trade relations to China would help bring reform to this Communist government, and establish a real friendship between our nations.
Reading the papers last year and this year, this week particularly, I see nothing to support that statement. I think relationships are pretty shaky as they are.
On February 11 of this year, Chinese officials detained an American family. In doing so, they separated the couple's 5-year-old son from his parents for 26 days. After 26 days, little Andrew was reunited with his father and expelled; but his mother is still being held.
President Bush is demanding the release of this Washington-based sociologist. Her family claims that the alleged spying charges are trumped up. The State Department has announced this woman was not even an agent of the American intelligence service.
Now China has detained a second American scholar. This hardly seems like a nation that is becoming cooperative after receiving permanent normal trade relations with the United States. China's already poor human rights record sadly worsened last year. I am pleased that the new administration has recognized that fact and has urged the United Nations to address the widespread oppression in China. The United States U.N. Ambassador stated that the U.S. ``should not be silent when those who call for democratic government or more cultural preservation and religious freedom in Tibet and elsewhere in China are suppressed or when advocates of labor rights are thrown in jail.'' But sadly, this may never take place.
Mr. Speaker, every year since the 1989 killing of student protestors in and around Tiananmen Square, China's delegation has introduced a ``no-action motion,'' therefore successfully stopping all attempts to examine its human rights record. It would seem naive to ask why.
All of this would seem troublesome enough, but now we face even larger concerns. On Sunday of this week, a U.S. Navy plane and a Chinese fighter jet collided over the South China Sea causing the American craft to make an emergency landing in China and the Chinese plane to crash. Officials from China are claiming that the bulkier, clumsier American plane that is roughly the size of a Boeing 737 rammed the light, agile Chinese fighter jet. This would again seem to contradict our view of common sense. Many U.S. experts agree that the incident was most likely caused by an accident on the part of the Chinese.
Sensitivity to the situation will ultimately result from the Chinese handling of the American EP-3 and its crew of 24. It is a reconnaissance aircraft, so it would seem likely that the Chinese military experts would want to board the aircraft to assess what is there, and I understand this morning that diplomats are meeting with the crew.
U.S. officials state that the Chinese generally intercept one out of every three U.S. patrol flights. Recently, concern has been raised with the Chinese Government regarding the fact that Chinese pilots have ``become more aggressive.'' Now, according to Admiral Dennis Blair, Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, the U.S. has protested the ``pattern of increasingly unsafe behavior,'' but ``did not get a satisfactory response.'' It is presumed that all 24 crew members are safe, but there is yet to be a direct contact between the crew and American officials. American officials are there and are hoping to get in to talk to the crew.
Navy officials also claim that last week a confrontation occurred between a Chinese warship and a Navy surveillance ship in international waters. The officials describe the incident as threatening.
Other examples showing cracks within our forged relationship with China also bear noting, such as China's involvement with Pakistan's nuclear bomb program and their recent questionable involvement in Iraq, to name just a few.
Mr. Speaker, it is clear that our relationship with China needs to be carefully reevaluated. Since PNTR, we have seen aggressive behavior on their part. Our prayers are with the 24 crew members, and I am hopeful that a speedy resolution will occur. I look to the Bush administration to move forward appropriately with China.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Return to The United States and China.Return to IIP Home Page.