TOM LANTOS OPPOSES PNTR FOR CHINA – CITES LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEMS; SAYS LAW SIMPLY PROTECTS "REPULSIVE REGIME" FROM ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW
Press Release -- May 24, 2000
Washington, D.C. --
Congressman Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo County / San Francisco, California) spoke
out strongly against granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR)
today. He called the proposal "unwise, unprincipled, and counterproductive."
Congressman Lantos, a senior member of the International Relations Committee and
Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, cited a number of
serious problems as the basis for his decision.
He argued that American multi-national corporations will simply create
production platforms in China to take advantage of "cheap labor and non-existent
health, safety, and environmental regulations" to replace working Americans. He
also cited the Chinese trade surplus of $70 billion as "vital for their military
armament plans and their economic progress." "We have all the cards," he said,
"but pretend to be impotent."
He argued that China's human rights record justified an annual Congressional
review. He said that the commission created in the legislation to review Chinese
human rights practices in order to give Members of Congress a "fig leaf" to vote
for the legislation "gives a bad name to fig leaves" because there is no need
for yet another commission to confirm China's "outrageous human rights abuses."
The impact of granting PNTR status to China, he said, shows "that what we
really care about is stability and investment opportunities." The only effect of
the legislation being considered is that it "protects this repulsive regime from
an annual debate in the Congress, which over the past decade has pointed out
China's serious shortcomings."
The full text of Congressman Lantos' statement is as follows:
Mr. Speaker, granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations status is
unwise, unprincipled, and counterproductive.
American multi-national corporations are realistic enough to understand that
most of them will never sell anything in China. They will create production
platforms taking advantage of cheap labor and non-existent health, safety, and
environmental regulations to replace American men and women who work for a
living wage in the United States.
In our economic relations with China, it is we who have the leverage, not the
Chinese. They have a $70 billion trade surplus with the United States – and this
surplus is vital for their military armament plans and their economic progress.
We have all the cards but pretend to be impotent.
Mr. Speaker, fig leaves have a noble function in Greek sculpture – they
conceal valuable and at times indispensable parts. The "Commission" proposed in
this legislation gives a bad name to fig leaves. We have governmental and
private studies overflowing our desks, all proving the outrageous human rights
abuses, violations of religious freedom, and the denial of political discourse
that permeate China. No one in his or her right mind believes for a moment that
yet another commission will have any impact on the dictatorial regime in
Beijing.
China's victory in this struggle today, however, will be carefully studied
and imitated by the new KGB-trained President of Russia. Our ability to advocate
pluralism, religious freedom, and political liberties in Russia will be
profoundly crippled by the hypocrisy of this debate today. President Putin will
have no trouble learning the lesson that what we really care about is stability
and investment opportunities. All the rhetoric about liberty, freedom of the
press, and religious freedom is just that – sheer rhetoric with no substance.
Mr. Speaker, China already has Normal Trade Relations with the United States.
This measure on which we are voting today merely protects this repulsive regime
from an annual debate in the Congress, which over the past decade has pointed
out China's serious shortcomings. Now the government in Beijing will have a free
ride.