[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 15, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: June 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
MFN FOR RED CHINA: A TRAGIC MISTAKE
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, President Clinton's decision to renew most-
favored-nation trading status for Communist China is another tragic
chapter in the President's foreign policy failures. Despite Red China's
having deliberately flaunted the conditions laid out by Mr. Clinton
himself for MFN renewal--through the May 1993 Executive order--the
President is discarding what he once proclaimed to be steadfast
principles. And he is doing it in a shameful kowtow to China's
Communist emperors.
This latest foreign policy disaster should be no surprise. From the
start, Mr. Clinton's China policy has been fraught with contradiction.
As a candidate, Mr. Clinton viciously attacked George Bush for
``coddling the dictators in Beijing'' and publicly endorsed human
rights conditionality for MFN. However, once in office, President
Clinton preferred Mr. Bush's soft approach--and tried to adopt it in a
very flawed way. Bill Clinton's attempt to reconcile his opposing
positions has resulted in the worst possible outcome, today's
ineffective policy of appeasement masquerading behind a human rights
facade.
The basis of my criticism of Mr. Clinton is not partisan politics. I
consistently and publicly expressed my disdain for President Bush's
being soft on China. I voted to override the Bush veto of legislation I
cosponsored--and Congress passed--conditioning China's MFN.
I therefore welcomed President Clinton's 1992 get-tough campaign
rhetoric. It was a policy change long overdue. While I had hoped that
nonproliferation and fair trade conditions also would be mandatory
requirements for China's MFN renewal, I nonetheless supported President
Clinton's Executive order which linked human rights progress to MFN as
an encouraging first step in the right direction.
But, Mr. President, it is now clear that the Executive order turned
out to be nothing but a bluff--and an amateurish one at that. By
elevating human rights through this defective plan to the primary MFN
renewal condition, all other concerns, including the equally important
nonproliferation and unfair trade problems, have been cast aside
receiving no attention at all. Assessing correctly from the beginning
that despite all its human rights bluster the Clinton administration
would not revoke MFN, China has balked at improving human rights and
has been let off the hook on every other issue thanks to the
administration itself.
Mr. President, instead of recognizing this policy to be a failure,
and changing course, the Clinton administration has turned to
appeasement in a desperate attempt to get something--anything--from
China. Knowing the administration needs some human rights gesture to
justify MFN renewal, the Chinese have been able to extort--and get--
whatever they want. The administration has succumbed almost daily to
this blackmail. Oh, how the Chinese Communists must enjoy seeing the
United States beg and grovel. How they must enjoy yanking the U.S.
chain. It is humiliating.
Recognizing that the United States accounts for 40 percent of China's
exports--96 percent of which are covered by preferential MFN tariffs--
and that the United States provides Beijing with its only significant
hard currency, MFN is a reward that the United States bestows upon
China, not the other way around. How the Chinese must be relishing the
irony of it all.
Mr. President, among some of the more blatant examples of
appeasement, the administration has:
Weakened nonproliferation sanctions despite China's continued nuclear
testing and lack of positive action on other nonproliferation concerns;
Failed to impose any penalties for China's gross violation of textile
quotas;
Failed to even cite--let alone penalize--China for the piracy of
intellectual property rights;
Failed to prosecute Chinese caught engaging in industrial espionage
in the United States;
Upgraded military relations and offered Chinese military experts
unprecedented access to America's most sensitive defense laboratories
despite China's continued, aggressive military modernization and
continued sale of weapons to brutal regimes like those in Burma and
Iran;
Approved the transfer of new super computers and sensitive satellite
launch technology that could be used to improve Red China's offensive,
strategic nuclear missiles arsenal despite China's refusal to join the
current nuclear testing moratorium or adhere to missile technology
controls;
Sanctioned Taiwan--but not mainland China--for inadequate endangered
species convention enforcement;
Insulted the democratically elected President of America's long-time
friend and ally on Taiwan at the behest of the Communist Chinese
ambassador in Washington;
And insulted the U.S. Congress--the elected representatives of the
American people--in an effort to placate Beijing's dictators.
What has all of this gotten the United States? Nothing. Even on human
rights, the one issue on which the Clinton administration staked its
entire policy, the result is failure.
The State Department's own 1993 human rights report chronicles abuse
after abuse by Beijing. China's human rights record has deteriorated
further with the arrest and disappearance of many formerly free
dissidents. According to Human Rights Watch, while China has freed 25
political prisoners over the past year--something the State Department
highlights, the Communists have turned around and arrested over 100
more. Where I come from, that is known as regression, not progress.
In Tibet, Chinese colonization and the methodical destruction of
Tibet's distinct heritage continue at full speed. Even after the Dalai
Lama met the Chinese precondition for talks, namely that the Tibetans
would not raise the issue of independence, the Communists still refuse
to negotiate.
Yet, despite the obvious lack of significant, overall progress as
called for in the President's own executive order, China's MFN is being
renewed.
Mr. President, the manner in which the administration has pandered to
the Communist Chinese is embarrassing and degrading to the United
States. We are not eunuchs required to kowtow to every demand of the
Chinese emperor.
The ramifications of this debacle go way beyond the Great Wall. Why
should North Korea take seriously our threats of sanctions should they
continue to refuse inspections of their nuclear facilities? It's no
wonder two-bit generals in Haiti laugh at us. American credibility is
being lost and I fear that the cost President Clinton will incur to
regain respect is the unnecessary loss of American lives in some ill-
defined military (mis)-adventure somewhere.
It is time for President Clinton to learn from mistakes and craft a
more effective policy that recognizes China as the tough, Communist
competitor that it is. Instead of allowing the Chinese ambassador in
Washington to dictate our China policy, Foggy Bottom ought to stand up
and fight for American interests. No relationship is too sensitive or
fragile to be a fair relationship.
Truly successful Sino-American relations must be based on respect.
Mr. President, how can the United States effectively pressure the
Chinese to address satisfactorily unfair trade, nonproliferation and
human rights concerns if we succumb repeatedly to Chinese blackmail and
make hollow threats, like MFN revocation, for which we have no
intention of carrying out? China will only start treating American
interests with respect when this administration begins to act in ways
that command respect. Renewing MFN under today's hypocritical standards
is a poor way to start commanding respect.
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