Statement of the Honorable Frank R. Wolf, M.C., Virginia

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Trade
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on United States-China Trade Relations and the
Possible Accession of China to the World Trade Organization

June 8, 1999

Trade Privileges for China Are Not in the U.S. Interest

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on China=s trade privileges.

For a number years I have been a strong opponent of extending Most-Favored-Nation trade status C now known as Normal Trading Relations C to the People=s Republic of China. My objections have historically stemmed from my concern about China=s human rights abuses, its proliferation of weapons and its unfair trading practices. There has been no improvement in any of these areas.

But this year, a new element has been thrown into the mix -- undisputed evidence of China=s espionage in U.S. nuclear labs and its acquisition of knowledge about some of America=s most advanced nuclear warheads.

As I look at this issue and the Cox report, I am concerned that the United States will be providing China the economic means through trade to develop missiles on which to attach advanced nuclear warheads designed with information stolen from the United States so these missiles can then be used to hit our grandchildren, or even our children.

The report of the bipartisan Select Committee on National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People=s Republic of China chaired by Rep. Chris Cox found clear evidence that design information stolen from the United States will enable China to build thermonuclear warheads and attach them to ICBM missiles sooner than would have otherwise been possible. It said Athe PRC has the infrastructure and the technical ability to use elements of U.S. warhead design information in the PLA=s next generation of thermonuclear weapons.... The PRC could begin serial production of such weapons during the next decade....@ It also concludes, AThe Select Committee judges that elements of the stolen information on U.S. thermonuclear warhead designs will assist the PRC in building its next generation of mobile ICBM=s, which may be tested this year.@ China=s mobile ICBM missiles will have the ability to hit the United States.

While it may be painful for some if we restrict China=s ability to trade on favorable terms with the United States, China is now a greater threat to the U.S. national security than it has ever been in the past.

We also need to remember that China has deliberately tried to influence our political process through illegal campaign donations.

Every year I share with this subcommittee a litany of human rights abuses committed by the Chinese government. The human rights abuses are the same this year. There has been no improvement. Even the State Department acknowledged that in its most recent human rights report.

Catholic bishops and priests are still being arrested, fined, beaten and imprisoned. Some have been in prison for many, many years C even decades.

House church Christians and laypeople are still being arrested, fined, beaten and imprisoned.

Churches are still being destroyed.

Bibles are still being confiscated.

The Tibetan culture and religion is still being systematically destroyed. Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns are being arrested and tortured. Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are still being controlled by cadres of Chinese communist security officials. The Tibetan people are still being deprived of their freedom, their livelihood and their culture.

I have seen the repression in Tibet with my own eyes. It is frightening.

Muslims in the Northwest portion of China are still being persecuted C Amnesty International issued a comprehensive report on persecution of Muslim Uighurs earlier this year. Uighurs are being arbitrarily detained. Thousands of Uighur political prisoners are in jail and are being tortured.

Democracy activists are still being watched, arrested, imprisoned, held under house arrest and sent to reeducation through labor camps.

Over one hundred Tiananmen Square protestors are still in prison.

Those wishing to remember the 10th anniversary of the tragic events of spring 1989 when hundreds of protestors were brutally massacred at Tiananmen Square were prevented by the Chinese government from doing so. The families of the dead, wounded and exiled who are demanding an apology from the government of China for its actions in 1989 are being persecuted.

Th Ambassador insulted the intelligence of the American people on Sunday talk shows with his demands.

China still runs a massive system of gulag slave labor camps C the laogai.

It still has a program in which the kidneys, corneas and other organs are taken from executed prisoners and sold to foreign buyers for tens of thousands of dollars. Some of these organs are being peddled in the United States, against U.S. law.

It still engages in coercive population practices C including forced abortions and sterilizations.

So nothing has really changed with regard to human rights in China.

Our policy has done nothing to improve China=s behavior regarding proliferation. According to the Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, China remains a Akey supplier@of technology inconsistent with our nonproliferation goals C particularly missile and chemical technology to Pakistan and Iran. On April 15, 1999, the Washington Times cited intelligence reports that the Chinese are continuing to sell weapon technologies.

Finally, our policy has resulted in no improvement in ending China=s unfair trade practices. The U.S. trade deficit with China continues to skyrocket (approaching over $60 billion), U.S. goods are shut out of China=s market and U.S. jobs continue to be lost to cheap Chinese labor. In 1989, at the time of the Tiananmen massacre, our trade deficit with China was only $6 billion. Today it is 10 times that.

Some say allowing China into the WTO will force China to play by the rules. China doesn=t abide by its commitments regarding human rights and proliferation now. I doubt they will in the future C especially if it is not in their interest to do so.

Our policy with regard to China has been a total failure. It has produced no positive change in the Chinese government on issues of human rights, proliferation and trade and it has a diminished the ability of the United States to speak credibly on these issues. It is also endangering U.S. national security. companies making money in China without standing firm on other issues important to the United States. Our current policy is hurting the interests of the American people and it is not bringing freedom to China.

We are building up China=s economy so that one day, a strong, authoritarian China with some of the most advanced nuclear weapons in the world can threaten our interests in the region and threaten our people at home. Why are we doing this? It just doesn=t make sense.

This subcommittee, the Congress and the administration must send China a strong message about its espionage, its human rights abuses, its proliferation, its unfair trade practices and the other issues on which we have concern. At the very minimum, this subcommittee should include some statement in the report accompanying this bill about the Catholic bishops and priests that are in jail; the people of Tibet who are being persecuted; the Tiananmen protestors who are still in jail and the other grave abuses being committed by the Chinese government. We must let these people know they are not forgotten.

Congress should not rubber-stamp the administration=s request for Normal Trading Relations with China. William Safire commented several weeks ago in the New York Times that the best scenario would be for the Congress to reject MFN for China, the President to veto the bill and the Senate to sustain the veto. At least that would be something.

I oppose Normal Trade Relations with China. But, I believe Congress will ultimately renew NTR for China and let them off the hook. At a minimum, I urge this subcommittee and Congress to follow the Safire scenario. Let=s send China a message.