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Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, one aspect of the livable community in a global economy is the struggle of this Congress to understand the huge and complex nation, that is China. An ancient society, over 4,000 years old, and a large country, almost beyond our comprehension, more than four times the United States, a quarter of the world's population. In my lifetime, we have turned a blind eye to the cruelty and corruption of the Kuomintang government, headed by Chiang Kai-Shek.
We chose to support that effort during World War II. We ended up making some unfortunate decisions perhaps only history will judge, but the recent evidence suggests that we did not have to make as much of an enemy of Mao Tse-Tung and the communists.
This tragic miscalculation came into fore during the Korean war, when General MacArthur defied President Truman and enlarged the conflict and ultimately cost thousands of United States lives that was unnecessary. At the time, of course, in the well of this Congress, MacArthur was viewed as a hero and Truman was vilified.
History has shown that President Truman was, in fact, a visionary in a number of respects; one of our greatest presidents, praised by no one less than Ronald Reagan, but we have seen the ebb and flow on this floor where Congress simply has not exercised proper perspective.
We saw where Richard Nixon, who was characterized during his early career as a red baiter, as someone who was against the Communist Chinese, yet he was able during his presidency, one of the most enduring and lasting contributions was to swing the balance of power towards a more strategic alliance with China, and that hastened the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
We have seen China behave as a nation of what appears to be to us in excess. The great leap forward, costing millions of lives of their own people, the cultural revolution of the seventies, the current turmoil that is in this context is perhaps a little more understandable, but one thing is very clear, that we are seeing unprecedented access to the Chinese people, more and more educated abroad, particularly in the United States.
Even with the Internet access, it is transforming the internal dynamics of China. The United States does not have to sit back helplessly as we look at forces in China but nonetheless it seems to me important that we do not use heavy-handed, clumsy behavior, assuming that the United States can isolate China and make it bend to our dictates. It is important that we use trade and our economic relationship as tools.
There is no turning back. Our history, both of the United States and of the West in general, has been mixed with the Chinese and there is much to make them apprehensive, but the United States has paid a heavy price for miscalculating during World War II, during the Korean War and Vietnam.
The United States and China spies on each other continuously but we really do not know each other very well. I am hopeful that this week on this floor Congress will reject the notion that we ought not to treat China as we do 180 other countries, with normal trade relations, because if we are able to take that important step, it is only going to hasten the further change and progress within China, strengthening our country, strengthening the Chinese people and their economy, and ultimately the world itself will be a better place.
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