*EPF113 07/24/00
Texts: Asian Pacific Charter Commission Bill, Rep. Gilman's Remarks
(H.R. 4899 aims at "consistent and coordinated" policy) (3610)
The most significant challenge to peace and prosperity in Asia is the rise of a regional hegemon, and the People's Republic of China "is the most likely candidate" for that role, says the chairman of the House Committee on International Relations.
China "presents the greatest challenge to the United States in the Pacific, with the potential to be a major destabilizing force in the region," Representative Benjamin Gilman (Republican of New York) said July 20 in introducing H.R. 4899, a bill that would set up a commission to promote the coordination of U.S. policy for the Asia-Pacific region.
One reason that the United States has difficulties with China, Gilman said, is because China "is governed by a totalitarian regime."
"It is obvious that the Beijing government is bent upon a policy of regional expansion and domination, and to eventually expelling the United States from the Western Pacific," he said.
The United States needs "a new national policy toward Asia," Gilman said, "one which addresses in a forthright manner both the opportunities and challenges presented by a continent in flux."
While the economic opportunity presented by an Asia emerging from "economic crisis is obvious to all," Gilman said, it is less clear how the United States can "finesse such critical national security concerns as easing cross-strait tensions between China and Taiwan, monitoring developments on the still volatile Korean peninsula, and reducing the threat posed by nuclear proliferation on the Indian subcontinent."
H.R. 4899 would establish an "Asian Pacific Charter Commission" that would aim to "promote a consistent and coordinated foreign policy of the United States to ensure economic and military security in the Pacific region of Asia," and to support "democratization, the rule of law, and human rights in the Pacific region of Asia," and to advance "free trade and open markets on a reciprocal basis in the Pacific region of Asia," according to the text of the legislation.
Such a charter, Gilman said, "would strengthen security arrangements by providing a basis for a long-term U.S. presence through basing and access agreements, for regional security agreements, and for an American presence following the reunification of the Korean peninsula."
The charter could also "provide the basis for the continuation of a credible forward presence of U.S. forces to deter aggression, help resolve crises, and protect and defend our interests as well as those of our allies and trading partners," he said.
Following are excerpts from Gilman's July 20 extension of remarks from the July 21 Congressional Record followed by the text of H.R. 4899:
(begin Gilman's remarks)
ASIAN PACIFIC CHARTER COMMISSION, H.R. 4899
A BILL TO ESTABLISH A COMMISSION TO PROMOTE A CONSISTENT AND COORDINATED FOREIGN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES TO ENSURE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY SECURITY IN THE PACIFIC REGION OF ASIA THROUGH THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, THE RULE OF LAW, FREE TRADE, AND OPEN MARKETS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
(Extension of Remarks - July 21, 2000)
HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN
in the House of Representatives
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2000
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing H.R. 4899, legislation to establish a commission to promote a coordinated foreign policy of the United States to ensure economic and military security in the Pacific region of Asia through the promotion of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, free trade, and open markets, and for other purposes.
Asia is a region vital to the future of our nation. Over the past 50 years, Asia has become a significant center of international economic and military power. Our nation has sacrificed our blood of our sons and daughters on Asian soil in defense of our national shores. America has fought three wars in Asia since 1941 and American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are engaged in ensuring peace across the Pacific. Our basic interests in Asia have remained virtually the same for the past 200 years: fostering democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Shortly after World War II, the renowned American soldier and statesman George C. Marshall said that a safe and free America depends on a safe and free Europe. Marshall, of course, was emphasizing the importance of Europe to our nation at the time. Permit me to suggest that Marshall's paradigm has now changed. Today, he could have stated that a safe and free America depends on a safe, democratic, and free Asia.
Just as we could not take Europe for granted during the Cold War, we must not take Asia for granted as we enter the 21st century. It is incumbent upon us as a global leader to provide the leadership that will both protect our interests in this vital region of the world and, at the same time, keep the peace. However, our leadership role in Asia is being questioned. Some Asians perceive the American approach to foreign policy is marked by uncertainty, questioning our sincerity and commitment to the region. Militarily, they have watched as American troop strength declined from 135,000 in 1990 to 85,000 in 1996. They were concerned with the closing of our strategic bases in the Philippines in 1992. There has been a mixed message of sacrifice of security and human rights issues to commercial engagement.
The democratic election which brought an opposition leader peacefully to power in Taipei this spring was welcomed by democratic nations around the world. It is such an orderly, democratic change which the Asian Pacific Charter Commission is designed to nurture.
Asia is a region not only of great diversity--ethnic, religious, cultural, linguistic--but also of historic rivalries--ancient in their origins but no less severe today. Such rivalries can become serious threats to Asian stability. Potential flash points range from the 38th parallel on the Korean peninsula to the Taiwan Strait to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea to Kashmir on the Indian subcontinent. Weapons proliferation and regional arms races that are fueled by territorial, maritime, and ethnic disputes only add to the possibility of a major conflagration.
U.S. Leadership is continually being challenged to maintain and advance our national interests amid these relationships. Further challenges to U.S. interests include access to markets that are obstructed by trade barriers, violations of intellectual property rights, and other trade-related issues. Nor can we ignore the growth of transnational criminal activities that range from the threat to America's youth from narcotics produced in the Golden Triangle to the smuggling of illegal aliens onto our shores.
The most significant challenge to peace and prosperity in Asia is the rise of a regional hegemon. The People's Republic of China is the most likely candidate in that [text missing].
Much of Asia is looking to the United States for answers to these and other important questions regarding the future of the region. If the answers do not come from Washington, be assured they will come from elsewhere, and they may not be to our liking. Resolving these challenges requires a continued and significant American presence in the region. The wind favors a ship whose course is marked. In the years following World War II, America was the indispensable leader and peacekeeper of the Pacific. But America's position is now being challenged. The political, economic, and security challenges which our nation faces require principled and consistent leadership from Washington. The wind favors our ship of state, but only if our course, or strategy, has been clearly set.
We need a new national policy toward Asia--one which addresses in a forthright manner both the opportunities and challenges presented by a continent in flux. The opportunities for a further commercial partnership with a continent which has made significant headway in recovering from economic crisis is obvious to all. Less clear, though, is how we can finesse such critical national security concerns as easing cross-strait tensions between China and Taiwan, monitoring developments on the still volatile Korean peninsula, and reducing the threat posed by nuclear proliferation on the Indian subcontinent. It is there that this Asian Pacific Charter Commission can play a constructive role.
In 1941, the United States and Great Britain laid down a set of principles of conduct. It was called the Atlantic Charter. Similarly, I propose that we establish an Asian Pacific Charter Commission that would assist our government in laying out the principles for our policies in Asia in the 21st century. Such an Asian Pacific Charter articulates America's long-term goals and objectives in the Pacific and link them with the means for implementation. It is a comprehensive model for our involvement in the region, supporting our national interests and assuring others of our intention to remain a Pacific power. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the United States is placing its relations with Asia in the 21st century on a par comparable to that which has formed our relations with Europe over the latter half of the 20th century.
The principles of an Asian Pacific Charter provides for effective security; prevention of regional hegemony by one nation; promotion of democracy and the rule of law; respect for human and religious rights; and expansion of trade on a reciprocal basis.
Such a charter would strengthen security arrangements by providing a basis for a long-term U.S. presence through basing and access agreements, for regional security agreements, and for an American presence following the reunification of the Korean peninsula. It could provide the basis for the continuation of a credible forward presence of U.S. forces to deter aggression, help resolve crises, and protect and defend our interests as well as those of our allies and trading partners [text missing].
An Asian Pacific Charter would also provide a basis for Japan to participate more fully in regional security arrangements, as well as for exploring new cooperative approaches that foster security in the entire region. As Mike Mansfield, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, has stated, the U.S.-Japan relationship is--in his words--the `single most important bilateral relationship, bar none.' The security environment in Asia in the 21st century will be shaped largely by our relationship with Japan. Our relationship is strong today. We must make certain that it remains so.
Another great democracy of Asia that we have too long neglected is India, which, like many nations in the region, is undergoing a dramatic economic change as it embraces a market economy. Although located in the heart of an area largely characterized by national political institutions that are authoritarian or totalitarian, India adheres courageously to the same core values that we also hold so dear. The United States needs to reach out to India beyond our friendship and mutual respect and become close partners in a struggle that assures that Asia's security, economic growth, and market economies are protected by the rule of law and democratic institutions. An Asian Pacific Charter could provide a framework for advancing such ties.
Francine Frankel, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, writing in the Autumn 1996 issue of The Washington Quarterly, states that the new global context gives reason for both countries to want better ties. U.S. and Indian policymakers have converging geopolitical interests in establishing a rough equilibrium in Asia, particularly as China's military modernization increasingly threatens neighboring countries, including those in Southeast Asia, in the coming century. India's democratic institutions, advanced educational system, and millions of highly educated citizens could form an important hub in a new Asia--an Asia that supports economic growth but allows for the rights of workers to be protected; an Asia that supports development but permits non-governmental advocacy groups to speak out against exploitation of the environment; and an Asia that integrates traditional values with a deep regard for the rule of law and human and religious rights.
An Asian Pacific Charter could invigorate U.S. efforts to advance the Post-Summit dialogue between North and South Korea that would eventuate in unification and a final peace. Such a charter could also lay out U.S. policy with regard to weapons proliferation, narcotics trafficking, terrorism, environmental degradation, and other transnational issues. In short, by clearly enunciating U.S. policy toward Asia, a Asian Pacific Charter would establish a bright line clearly understood by all nations in the region. At the same time, it would provide a basis for sound long-term relations with China.
Most agree that China presents the greatest challenge to the United States in the Pacific, with the potential to be a major destabilizing force in the region. One reason that the United States has difficulties in its relations with China is because the latter is governed by a totalitarian regime. It is not a democracy. We do not have comparable problems with such other Asian democracies as Japan, India, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, or the Philippines. To some, it is obvious that the Beijing government is bent upon a policy of regional expansion and domination, and to eventually expelling the United States from the Western Pacific.
Those who espouse this view believe that any improvement of relations with Washington on the part of Beijing is purely tactical. They note that senior U.S. officials arriving in the Chinese capital for talks are almost invariably greeted by editorials in the government-controlled press denouncing American `hegemonism.' Others believe that the Chinese government views America in such a light because of our occasional
America's foreign policy toward the region is perceived by Asians as amounting to one issue: trade. There seems to be a belief that enhanced trade, even at a cost to the United States of a trade deficit approaching $70 billion a year, will bring economic prosperity to China; and that, in turn, will improve the prospects for democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. Missing from that calculation, is an understanding that trade alone does not bring democracy and the rule of law, and that trade flourishes best under the umbrella of democracy's rule of law. An Asian Pacific Charter would emphasize the importance that the United States attaches to such principles as these. To paraphrase something His Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet recently said, our concerns are not about the Chinese people or Chinese culture, but about the Chinese communist government. An Asian Pacific Charter could help to encourage China's participation as a fully responsible and constructive member of the international system.
America's interests in Asia and the Pacific are relatively simple and straightforward, including promotion of democracy and the rule of law; human and religious rights; market economies; and regional security for all. Many nations in the region look to the United States for continued leadership, but, despite any high-sounding rhetoric, we have too often been seen so myopic in placing short-term opportunities ahead of longer-term pursuit of both regional stability and security.
The time has come to lay out an architecture of policy that will establish our intention to remain engaged in Asia and the terms of our continued long term engagement. A Commission to establish an Asian Pacific Charter for the 21st century would provide the framework for such a sound U.S. policy. It would assure the entire region-allies and otherwise-of the continuation of a leadership that is consistent, coherent, and coordinated.
Accordingly, I invite my colleagues to support H.R. 4899, and I submit the full text of H.R. 4899 to be printed at this point in the Record.
(end Gilman's remarks)
(begin text of H.R. 4899)
H.R. 4899
A BILL TO ESTABLISH A COMMISSION TO PROMOTE A CONSISTENT AND COORDINATED FOREIGN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES TO ENSURE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY SECURITY IN THE PACIFIC REGION OF ASIA THROUGH THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, THE RULE OF LAW, FREE TRADE, AND OPEN MARKETS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Asian Pacific Charter Commission Act of 2000'.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to promote a consistent and coordinated foreign policy of the United States to ensure economic and military security in the Pacific region of Asia;
(2) to support democratization, the rule of law, and human rights in the Pacific region of Asia;
(3) to advance free trade and open markets on a reciprocal basis in the Pacific region of Asia;
(4) to combat terrorism and the spread of illicit narcotics in the Pacific region of Asia; and
(5) to advocate an active role for the United States Government in diplomacy, security, and the furtherance of good governance and the rule of law in the Pacific region of Asia.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.
There is established a commission to be known as the Asian Pacific Charter Commission (hereafter in this Act referred to as the `Commission').
SEC. 4. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.
(a) Duties.--The Commission shall establish and carry out, either directly or through non-governmental and international organizations, programs, projects, and activities to achieve the purposes described in section 2 of this Act, including research and educational or legislative exchanges between the United States and countries in the Pacific region of Asia.
(b) Advisory Committees.--The Commission may establish such advisory committees as the Commission determines to be necessary to advise the Commission on policy matters relating to the Pacific region of Asia and to otherwise carry out this Act.
SEC. 5. MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.
(a) Composition.--The Commission shall be composed of 7 members all of whom--
(1) shall be citizens of the United States who are not officers or employees of any government, except to the extent they are considered such officers or employees by virtue of their membership on the Commission; and
(2) shall have interest and expertise in issues relating to the Pacific region of Asia.
(b) Appointment.--
(1) In general.--The individuals referred to in subsection (a) shall be appointed--
(A) by the President, after consultation with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
(B) by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(2) Political affiliation.--Not more than 4 of the individuals appointed under paragraph (1) may be affiliated with the same political party.
(c) Term.--Each member of the Commission shall be appointed for a term of 6 years.
(d) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made.
(e) Chairperson; Vice Chairperson.--The President shall designate a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Commission from among the members of the Commission.
(f) Compensation.--
(1) Rates of pay.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), members of the Commission shall serve without pay.
(2) Travel expenses.--Each member of the Commission may receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United States Code.
(g) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the Chairperson.
(h) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings.
(i) Affirmative Determinations.--An affirmative vote by a majority of the members of the Commission shall be required for any affirmative determination by the Commission under section 4.
SEC. 6. POWERS OF COMMISSION.
(a) Contributions.--The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of gifts, bequests, or devises of services or property, both real and personal, for the purpose of assisting or facilitating the work of the Commission. Gifts, bequests, or devises of money and proceeds from sales of other property received as gifts, bequests, or devises shall be deposited in the Treasury and shall be available for disbursement upon order of the Commission.
(b) Mails.--The Commission may use the United States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as other departments and agencies of the United States.
SEC. 7. STAFF AND SUPPORT SERVICES OF COMMISSION.
(a) Executive Director.--The Commission shall have an executive director appointed by Commission after consultation with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Majority Leader of the Senate. The executive director shall serve the Commission under such terms and conditions as the Commission determines to be appropriate.
(b) Staff.--The Commission may appoint and fix the pay of such additional personnel, not to exceed 10 individuals, as it considers appropriate.
(C) Staff of Federal Agencies.--Upon request of the chairperson of the Commission, the head of any Federal agency may detail, on a non-reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of the agency to the Commission to assist the Commission in carrying out its duties under this Act.
(d) Experts and Consultants.--The chairperson of the Commission may procure temporary and intermittent services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code.
SEC. 8. REPORTS OF COMMISSION.
The Commission shall prepare and submit to Congress an annual report on the programs, projects, and activities on the Commission for the prior year.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2001 and 2002.
(b) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.
(end text of H.R. 4899)
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