BUSINESS COALITION
FOR U.S.-CHINA TRADE
April 26, 2000
Permanent normal trade relations would send the Chinese people a powerful and positive message: The most powerful industrialized nation today will work with the Chinese people . . . This would put enormous pressure on both the government and the general public to meet the international standard not only on trade, but on other issues, including human rights and environmental protection. " Dai Qing, Los Angeles Times (April 20, 2000) (Ms. Dai is a leading Chinese environmental activist and investigative journalist. She has been honored with fellowships from Harvard and Columbia Universities, the 1993 Goldman Environment Award, and the 1992 Golden Pen for Freedom Award from the Paris-based International Federation of Newspaper Publishers. She was imprisoned from 1989 to 1990.)
"We should instead be asking a more important question: Are Chinese workers better off with or without this agreement? The answer is that this agreement, in a variety of ways, will be enormously beneficial to Chinese workers. . . Every survey has shown that working conditions and environmental standards in plants run by Western European and North American firms are usually better than those in Asian and in indigenous Chinese firms. The greater foreign presence also will expose Chinese workers to more ideas about organization and rights. This is perhaps one reason why almost every Chinese political dissident who has spoken out on the issue has called the U.S.-China WTO agreement good news for freedom in China. . . " Hon. Leonard Woodcock, Former President of the United Auto Workers and former U.S. Ambassador to China, Los Angeles Times (March 9, 2000).
Pro-democracy leader Ren Wanding: "A free and private economy forms the base for a democratic system. So [WTO] will make China's government organs and legal system evolve toward democracy."
As Wang Dan, who helped lead the Tiananmen Square protests, said in 1998: "Economic change does influence political change. China's economic development will be good for the West, as well as for the Chinese people. China needs Most-Favored Nation trade status with the United States and it should fully enter the world trading system."
Dai Qing: "The Post-Deng era has been enlightening. [The Chinese people] . . . have the opportunity to open their eyes, to see the whole world . . . The new era is making new Chinese. This situation in China is different. Ordinary people are exercising their rights. Business Week (June 14, 1999).
"It was, according to observers in China, Li Peng, who used the emotion of the moment to direct criticism of Zhu Rongji. At a Politburo meeting after the Embassy bombing . . . Li Peng . . . was critical of Zhu for pursuing too many reforms too quickly. Many of these reforms were good, Li asserted, but they cannot be done all at once or pushed too quickly. Cutting the bureaucracy had hurt lots of good cadres . . . " Prof. Joseph Fewsmith, "China and the WTO: Politics Behind the Agreement" (November 1999).
"I find that there is no perfect answer to the question whether or not China should be admitted [to WTO]. . . But if one needs to choose between whether or not China should be admitted, I prefer to choose 'yes' . . . Both fundamental change in the human rights situation and democratization in China will come from efforts by Chinese within China. The more the relationship between the two countries expands, the more space there will be for independent forces to grow in China. . . Such independent forces will eventually push China toward democracy." Wang Juntao, Leader of Tiananmen Square protests (2000).
Whatever levels of repression today, they pale in comparison to the Great Leap Forward, when tens of millions died of famine, or the Cultural Revolution, when hundreds of thousands more died in political purges, arbitrary show trials, summary executions, forced internal exile, and mob violence. Today, virtually all Chinese condemn this dark period in history.
"Our case for greater trade. . . is less about money and more about morality. It is about ensuring that one-fifth of the world's population is not shut off from businesses spreading the message of freedom - and ministries spreading the love of God. . . [I]s it any surprise that some of our nation's most respected religious leaders, from Billy Graham to Pat Robertson, have called for keeping the door to China open?" Hon. Randy Tate, Co-Chair Working Families for Free Trade, former Executive Director of Christian Coalition, and former Member of Congress (1999).
"[A] public Christian stance against MFN status for China is not in the interest of the church in China, and will seriously hamper the efforts of Christians from outside China who have spent years seeking to establish an effective Christian witness among the Chinese people. For this reason the China Service Coordinating Committee, which services more than one hundred Christian organizations involved in service and Gospel witness in China, cannot support the current anti-MFN campaign and calls upon those involved in the campaign to seriously consider their strategy and methods." China Service Coordinating Committee, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College (1997).
Village-level Democracy. Over 800 million Chinese peasants have participated in village-level elections. These elections, which are taking place in 90% of China's 950,000 villages, are being expanded to municipalities and urban townships. In some provinces, 40% of successful candidates do not belong to the Communist Party.
"[W]e saw evidence of progress in each successive round of elections since they were introduced in 1988. Hunan, for example, just passed a law requiring a secret ballot. In November 1998, with the help of the Carter Center, it conducted training for officials on how to ensure a free election. In Jilin province, local officials experimented with various ways to assure that the party branch does not control the nomination process. . . " Professor Robert Pastor, The Carter Center (1999)
"China, through village elections, is starting to demonstrate signs of democratization . . . Village elections clearly contribute to a process of political reform . ." International Republican Institute.
"[W]e are seeing the beginning of a system of elections which will, I believe, move steadily up the scale from the village to the province and ultimately to the highest national level." Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1996).
Rule of Law. The Chinese Government is under tremendous popular pressure to address corruption and bureaucratic abuse. Accordingly, China has strengthened laws authorizing citizens to sue the state for abuses of authority and infringements of personal and property rights.
About 100,000 administrative lawsuits challenging government abuses were filed in 1998. According to one study, about 39% of the recent cases are being resolved in favor of citizen-plaintiffs. Minxin Pei, "Citizens v. Mandarins: Administrative Litigation in China." The China Quarterly.
There has been a litigation explosion. In just 10 years, the number of civil and commercial lawsuits filed has increased from 1,580,728 in 1987 to 4,760,928 in 1997. Minxin Pei, "Rights and Resistance" in Chinese Society (Perry and Selden eds.) Martin Lee, Chairman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party: "[T]he participation of China in WTO would not only have economic and political benefits, but would also serve to bolster those in China who understand that the country must embrace the rule of law, which is of course a key principle underlying active membership in global trade organizations . . . For those of us who have long pressed for vigorous adherence to the rule of law in China, it is encouraging that so many Chinese officials support the nation's entry into groups such as the WTO."
Information/Internet. China's opening to the outside world has unleashed a torrent of information into a previously closed society. Millions of Chinese now have access to foreign magazines and newspapers, copiers, and satellite TV dishes.
There were an estimated 8.9 million Chinese Internet users by the end of 1999 - a figure that continues to grow exponentially. IPO shares in a new website, "China.com," opened at $20 and rose quickly to $60, giving it a market cap of $1.8 billion, despite annual sales of only $3.4 million.
"[A] growing army of Chinese Web surfers is scaling firewalls, posting radical criticisms of government policy and engaging in deep, unregulated discussions of China's fate." Washington Post (2000)
Publishing. "[I]t is free market economics that is spawning liberalization and eroding Government control [over the Chinese publishing industry]. . . 'The fact that I'm now able to publish my books is entirely thanks to the emerging marketplace,' said Mo Luo, an essayist and author of the recent Notes from a Loser: A Free Thinker's Life Experiences, 'In the current consumer market you can't survive publishing books that are dull and boring. So the liveliness of the publishing world has opened up; there is wider space for speaking out." New York Times (June 27, 1999)
Civil Society. As the Chinese people have lost faith in Communism, they have turned to civil society.
"The polarization of human rights issues . . . often obscures the fact that both the Chinese state and society are in a process of incremental but remarkable change, which has afforded ordinary citizens unprecedented personal freedom. . . Much of this change is unofficial and undeclared. It can be attributed to the effects of the economic reforms introduced in China in 1979 . . . " Catharin E. Dalpino, Brookings Institution, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.
Religious Revival. Despite the harsh crack-down on Falun Gong, China is experiencing a religious revival. Officially, there are 200 million believers in China. Unofficial estimates are higher - 10 million Catholics, 80 million Protestants, 60 million Buddhists, 20 million Muslims, many of whom attend unregistered "house" churches. "Citizens worshiping in officially sanctioned churches, mosques, and temples reported little or no day-to-day interference by the Government. The number of religious adherents in many churches, both registered and unregistered, continued to grow at a rapid pace." State Dept. Human Rights Report (2000).
Poverty. According to the World Bank, 170 million Chinese escaped poverty between 1978 and 1993: "This implies that the equivalent of the population of Indonesia was lifted out of poverty since the start of economic reforms." The World Bank.
"The case for granting PNTR to China is I think a simple and compelling one. The greatest human rights impact that the United States can have on China will come through trade and investment. . . In my book, I call this the 'human rights spin-off.' By granting PNTR to China, the United States will accelerate "human rights spin-off," fuel the dramatic social changes taking place in China, and thereby hasten the day that democracy and human rights can flourish in China." Professor Michael Santoro, Author of Profits and Principles: Global Capitalism and Human Rights in China (2000).
"In dealing with our economy, more is in question than just prosperity. Ultimately, peace and freedom are at stake. The United States took the lead after World War II in creating an international trading and financial system that limited government's ability to disrupt trade. We did this because history taught us the freer the flow of trade across borders, the greater the world economic progress and the greater the impetus for world peace." President Ronald Reagan, Remarks to the Commonwealth Club (1983).
"Before the sky was black. Now there is a light. . . This [WTO] can be a new beginning." Ren Wanding, Leader of the 1978 Democracy Wall Movement