*EPF312 07/19/00
Excerpts: Rep. Crane July 18 Remarks on China Trade Measure
(H. J. Res. 103 would cut U.S.-China trade relations) (1380)
Representative Phil Crane (Republican of Illinois), who as chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade helped lead the successful fight in the House of Representatives for H.R. 4444, legislation that would grant China permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status, came out hard and fast July 18 against a resolution that sought to deny the renewal of China's NTR status.
"I rise in strong opposition to House Joint Resolution 103 (H. J. Res. 103), which would terminate normal trade relations with China 60 days after enactment," the Illinois Republican said in debate on the resolution.
H. J. Res. 103, he said, "would effectively extinguish trade relations between our two countries."
The Illinois Republican said that after supporting H.R. 4444 in May, "rejecting House Joint Resolution 103 should be pro forma."
H. J. Res. 103 was defeated by a vote of 147 to 281 on July 18.
Following are excerpts of Representative Crane's speech from the Congressional Record:
(begin excerpts)
Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to House Joint Resolution 103, which would terminate normal trade relations with China 60 days after enactment.
By raising tariffs to the prohibitive levels that applied before 1980, and thereby prompting mirror retaliation on the part of the Chinese against $14 billion in U.S. exports, this bill would effectively extinguish trade relations between our two countries.
House Joint Resolution 103 is an annual resolution of disapproval of the President's recommendation to extend normal trade relations status to China under the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974.
In light of our action earlier this year on H.R. 4444, rejecting House Joint Resolution 103 should be pro forma.
On May 24, after a vigorous debate which considered the opportunities that will be possible for the United States and the Chinese people when China accedes to the World Trade Organization, the House voted 237 to 197 to eliminate this annual review of China's NTR status upon China's accession to the WTO.
Unfortunately, H.R. 4444 is still pending in the other body, and I hope that H.R. 4444 will go as quickly as possible to the President without amendment. As the historic debate and the strong vote on H.R. 4444 documents, there is overwhelming support in this body for bringing China into the rules-based trading system of the WTO. It is the right thing to do for Americans and for the Chinese people.
Under the WTO deal, in exchange for applying tariffs on Chinese imports identical to those in effect now, United States exporters will have unprecedented access to 1.2 billion consumers in China. Tariffs on our exports to China will be steeply reduced, and the Chinese trade regime subject to the whole scale of reforms.
For example, under the agreement, average tariffs on agricultural goods would drop from 40 percent to 17 percent, Chinese tariffs on American-made automobiles would fall 75 percent, while quotas on U.S. auto exports to China would be eliminated entirely.
The opportunity we have to impose an enforceable system of fair trade rules on a nation of 1.2 billion people, as it emerges from the iron grip of communism and state planning, is one that cannot be lost. In my estimation, the revolutionary change WTO rules will bring to China dwarfs any other avenue of influence available to the United States.
Maintaining normal trade relations supports the continued presence of Americans throughout Chinese society, whether they be entrepreneurs, teachers, religious leaders, or missionaries. It is these individual contacts that are bringing our ideals of freedom to the Chinese people. These contacts would be lost if we revoked NTR.
The Reverend Pat Robertson has urged Congress `to keep the door to the message of freedom and God's love' open, not shut. `Leaving a billion people in spiritual darkness punishes not the Chinese government but the Chinese people,' he wrote. `The only way to pursue morality is to engage China fully and openly as a friend.'
Motorola, my corporate constituent, directly promotes the exchange of ideas through its activities in China. For example, Motorola sends hundreds of Chinese employees to its United States facilities each year to attend technology, engineering, and management seminars. In a country where only 10 to 15 percent of the people have access to a college education, this is precious training that allows for eye-opening exposure to the American way of life.
H.R. 4444 has the active bipartisan support of more former presidents and cabinet officials, more distinguished Americans, more small businessmen and farmers, more Governors, more religious and human rights leaders, both here and in China, more of our allies, such as Taiwan and Great Britain, than any foreign policy or trade legislation in recent memory. H.R. 4444 even has the support of a past president of the United Auto Workers, Leonard Woodcock.
Denying normal trade relations with China means severing ties that would take years to repair. For the interests of all Americans and for the Chinese people, I urge a no vote on House Joint Resolution 103....
Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, we have heard expressions here on the floor today as we have heard in the past during our debates on this issue of persecution of Christians, Muslims and other groups in China which is a legitimate and serious concern. However, the U.S. can be most effective in advancing religious freedom by expanding our engagement with the Chinese people and by continuing to press Beijing to respect the rights of Chinese believers.
World religious leaders, including the Reverend Billy Graham, the Reverend Pat Robertson, the Dalai Lama, the American Friends Committee, Father Robert Drinan, the National Council of Churches, Rabbi Arthur Schneier and Reverend Don Argue with the National Association of Evangelicals see continued U.S. engagement with China as key to promoting religious freedom. Two years ago, the Chinese Service Coordinating Committee, an umbrella group for U.S. religious agencies working in China, said `a public Christian stance against MFN status for China is not in the interest of the church in China, and will seriously hamper the efforts of Christians from outside China who have spent years seeking to establish an effective Christian witness among the Chinese people.'
Religious activity of all types is flourishing as ordinary Chinese reach out for new forms of belief. Unofficially, it is estimated that there are now 30 to 60 million Chinese Protestants, 6 million Catholics, 17 million Muslims, and 100 million Buddhists.
The present situation stands in stark contrast to the post-Communist revolution China of the 1950s when religious activity was harshly suppressed. The situation worsened even further during the Cultural Revolution when many churches were closed and church properties were seized.
Engagement with China has made it possible to disseminate Bibles and religious literature to Chinese citizens. World Pulse, a publication of the Billy Graham Center, has 250,000 readers in China. East Gates International, a Christian organization, publishes and distributes religious materials in China and reports that `expanding U.S. economic ties with China and especially China's admittance to the World Trade Organization will continue to benefit religious organizations working in China.'
While some, indeed, believe the annual Normal Trade Relation votes can be used as leverage, U.S. religious groups who are actively engaged in evangelical work in China believe such threats are highly counterproductive.
Threatening U.S. economic sanctions in the name of religion creates an impression that religion is being used as a tool of U.S. foreign policy and undermines their work in China. Recently pastors of key house churches in China, many of whom have served time in prison for their beliefs, urged Congress to approve Permanent Normal Trade Relations.
We in the House have already taken that action as everyone knows, and it is the absence of completion of that work still that causes us to go through this annual renewal procedure, but the annual renewal procedure is consistent with what we did recently when the House overwhelmingly supported granting mainland China Permanent Normal Trade Relations, and we should.
In this instance, on today's resolution, all vote no to reject it overwhelmingly and be insistent with what we have done thus far.
(end excerpts)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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