11 September 2000 Senator Thompson Ties Non-Proliferation Act to China PNTR Senator Fred Thompson (Republican of Tennessee) September 11 introduced the China Non-Proliferation Act as an amendment to H.R. 4444, the bill that would grant China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. "Granting permanent normal trade status to China without addressing their abysmal record of spreading weapons of mass destruction signals to the world that we won't do anything that might offend our trading partners -- even if it involves our national security," Thompson said in a September 11 press release. "If we ever get in a position in this country where we place the trade dollar above our national security, we're not going to be a great power for very long," Thompson added. The bill, Thompson said, was being offered as an amendment to H.R. 4444 after efforts to have the bill considered separately were stymied. While supporters of PNTR legislation have been successful so far in turning back amendments to H.R. 4444, Senate observers have considered the Thompson-Torricelli bill, were it to be introduced as an amendment, the most serious threat. Supporters of the China PNTR bill have stressed that any amendment to H.R. 4444 would probably prevent passage of the legislation in the 106th Congress. Following is the text of the press release from Thompson's office: September 11, 2000 Thompson Offers China Nonproliferation Act As Amendment To China Pntr Bill Washington -- U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) today introduced the China Nonproliferation Act, his legislation to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile technologies by key supplier countries including the People's Republic of China, Russia, and North Korea. The legislation was offered as an amendment to the bill granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations after repeated attempts to get a separate vote on it were blocked. "Granting permanent normal trade status to China without addressing their abysmal record of spreading weapons of mass destruction signals to the world that we won't do anything that might offend our trading partners -- even if it involves our national security," Senator Thompson said. "If we ever get in a position in this country where we place the trade dollar above our national security, we're not going to be a great power for very long." The Thompson legislation: Establishes an annual review mechanism that assesses the behavior of each key supplier country -- as identified by the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) -- with regard to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missile technologies and what the President is doing about it. Requires the President to impose non-trade related sanctions on individuals, companies, and groups if he determines violations have occurred. Authorizes the President to impose additional sanctions on key supplier countries. Requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish procedures through which investors in U.S. debt and equity markets who have invested in, or are considering investing in, foreign firms listed in the President's annual report on proliferation are made aware of this listing. Provides the President a waiver for national security and other reasons. Permits Congress, as part of its oversight role, to act if it determines the President's actions are insufficient. "Numerous reports, including one released just last month, have indicated that China continues to be one of the world's worst proliferators," Thompson said. "Yet the Administration's approach continues to be one of all carrot and no stick. Our plan can be particularly effective because it goes after the people who are actually supplying weapons of mass destruction to rogue nations." Thompson noted that in response to concerns raised by the Administration the following changes to the bill were made: The bill has been broadened to apply to all key suppliers of weapons of mass destruction as identified by the Director of Central Intelligence. (Those countries currently include China, Russia and North Korea.) This mechanism allows countries to be added or dropped from the list based on their behavior. The revised bill provides greater flexibility to the President by making sanctions against supplier countries under the act discretionary rather than mandatory. In response to a concern that individual companies could face mandatory sanctions based upon insufficient evidence, the evidentiary standard for imposing mandatory sanctions on companies identified as proliferators has been raised to give the President discretion in determining whether a company has engaged in proliferation activities. In response to a concern that the original bill captured legal transactions and legitimate efforts by countries to pursue their own defense needs, the language has been changed to make clear that only actions that contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will trigger penalties under the act. Also, the bill protects the U.S. agricultural community from any adverse impact; and its penalties apply only to companies of key supplier countries and not to U.S. companies. "We have addressed every legitimate concern raised about our legislation by the Clinton Administration," Thompson said. "Unfortunately it has become all too obvious that although their efforts to stop proliferation aren't working, they don't want to do anything now that might offend the Chinese." Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File