[Page: H3399]---
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, American business men and women have eyed China for years, knowing that the sky is the limit when it comes to selling American-made goods and services to the world's largest market. But Americans have found it difficult to trade with China since complete access to this vast market has been vastly restricted.
In today's global marketplace, we can no longer afford any restrictions on trade with the world's largest population. We must engage China to ensure that American companies and American workers have the tools to compete with other nations now already in these markets. Remember, when America competes, we win.
Over the past year, Mr. Speaker, I have worked with the gentleman from California (Mr. DREIER), chairman of the Committee on Rules, and a number of colleagues in support of extending permanent normal trading relations with China. Back home in New Jersey, I have met with hundreds of people from the business community to encourage them to organize and help spread the word about the benefits of increased trade with China that will bring benefits to the Garden State, and I would like to discuss for a few minutes a few of these items.
First, extending permanent normal trade relations with China is a win for fairness. This agreement forces China to adhere to our rules-based trading system. Without an agreement, there are no rules and we have no say whatsoever in how China conducts its business with the rest of the world.
Secondly, it is a win for U.S. workers and businesses, Mr. Speaker. China is an incredibly important emerging market with more than a billion consumers.
Thirdly, trade with China is a win for American values inside China. Through free and fair trade, America will not only export many products and services, but we will deliver a good old-fashioned dose of our democratic values and free market ideas.
Fourthly, international trade whether it be with China or any other Nation means jobs for my State of New Jersey, and that is the bottom line, continued prosperity for all of us. Out of New Jersey's 4.1 million member workforce, almost 600,000 people statewide from main street to Fortune 500 companies are employed because of exports, imports and foreign direct investment. Currently, China ranked as New Jersey's ninth largest export destination in 1998, an increase from 13th in 1993. Our Garden State has exported $668 million in merchandise to China in 1998, more than double what was exported 5 years earlier.
With a formal trade agreement in practice, imagine the potential as access to China's vast markets is improved. Enormous opportunities exist for our State's telecommunications,
[Page: H3400]
Fifth and finally, in the interest of world peace, it is absolutely a mistake to isolate China, a nation with the world's largest standing army, an estimated 2.6 million member force.
America's democratic allies in Asia support China's entry into the World Trade Organization because they know that a constructive relationship with China and a stable Asia offers the best chance for reducing regional tensions along the Taiwan Strait and for avoiding a new arms race elsewhere in Asia and throughout the world.
As I work to pass PNTR for China, I am fully aware of the controversies surrounding this vote. Indeed, humanitarian and environmental issues remain important to me in our dealings with China, but I refuse to believe that if we walk away from China our national interest would be better served. In fact, I am positive to do so would greatly deter from our ability and our credibility to push reform in China and around the globe.
Mr. Speaker, as General Colin Powell has said, and I quote, from every standpoint, from a strategic standpoint, from the standpoint of our national interest, from the standpoint of our trading interest and our economic interest, it serves all of our purposes to grant China this status.
END