DATE=3/8/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-CHINA-WTO
NUMBER=5-45600
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  President Clinton has formally sent Congress 
legislation that would give China permanent normal 
trade status with the United States.  The move is a 
prerequisite to Chinese membership in the World Trade 
Organization.  And it sets the stage for a bruising 
election-year political fight that has already badly 
split the President's Democratic party. V-O-A's David 
Gollust reports from the White House.


TEXT:  The issue of permanent normal trade relations 
with China - or P-N-T-R - has created an unusual set 
of allies in Washington.  The legislation is being 
championed by the Clinton administration and the 
Republican leadership in Congress, while a large 
segment of the president's Democratic party strongly 
opposes it -- backed by traditional friends of Mr. 
Clinton in the labor and environmental movements. 

The opponents argue that with China's human rights 
performance at a low ebb and Beijing renewing threats 
of military force against Taiwan, it is no time to be 
giving China trading favors. 

But at a Washington address Wednesday marking the 
kick-off of the legislative fight, Mr. Clinton 
insisted the United States stands to gain the most 
from lower tariffs in a trade relationship that has 
until now been lopsided in China's favor.

Rejecting the deal, Mr. Clinton said, would not only 
cost the United States the chance to reverse the trade 
imbalance, but would mean less American influence with 
China on issues such as Taiwan, human rights, and 
labor standards:

            /// CLINTON ACTUALITY ///

      Voting against P-N-T-R won't free a single 
      prisoner or create a single job in America, or 
      reassure a single American ally in Asia. It will
      simply empower the most rigid anti-democratic 
      elements in the Chinese government. It would 
      leave the Chinese people with less contact with 
      the democratic world, and more resistance from 
      their government to outside forces.  Our friends 
      and allies would wonder why after 30 years of 
      pushing China in the right direction, we turned 
      our backs now that they finally appear to be 
      willing to take us up on it.

            /// END ACT ///

Republican leaders -- including those prominent little 
more than a year ago in the effort to impeach Mr. 
Clinton - have become his most vocal supporters on 
China trade.  After a White House strategy session 
Tuesday night, Senate Majority leader Trent Lott 
promised speedy Senate consideration of the measure, 
and said the more access China has to American goods 
and services -- especially Internet technology -- the 
more open its society is likely to become:

            /// LOTT ACTUALITY ///

      People say what about human rights violations? 
      What about their closed society? I say this is 
      the way to open it up .If you open up 
      telecommunications in China -- and the president 
      made some points about the (growing) number of 
      Chinese that are getting on the Internet -- it's 
      going to grow just dramatically in the next few 
      years. If we can sell more of our American 
      agricultural products, and they have a better 
      standard of living, that'll be good for America 
      and it will be good for China. It will change 
      them irreversibly.

            /// END ACT /// 

But some leading Democrats reject the notion a freer 
society in China will necessarily flow from freer 
trade, and say Beijing would have less incentive to 
improve human rights, labor, and environmental 
standards if the United States were no longer 
reviewing its trade benefits year-by-year. Democratic 
Senator Paul Wellstone says supporters of the trade 
deal are putting profits ahead of all other 
considerations:

            /// WELLSTONE ACTUALITY ///

      Unless you have trade agreements that have some 
      respect for human rights and the right for 
      people to organize, to bargain collectively, 
      some respect for environmental standards, I'm 
      opposed to those agreements.  And I think its is 
      a huge mistake. I think it's gotten to the point 
      where the focus on the almighty dollar, you 
      know, and investment, has trumped (overshadowed) 
      all other concerns. I think the administration's 
      record on human rights is a very weak record. 


            /// END ACTUALITY ///

Pro-agreement forces are thought to have a comfortable 
advantage in the Senate. But the fate of the accord is 
unclear in the House where Republicans have just a 
six-seat majority and most Democrats are already on 
record opposing it. The administration is pressing for 
quick action, fearing that prospects for approval will 
diminish with the approach of the November elections. 
(Signed)

NEB/DAG/TVM/gm



08-Mar-2000 18:15 PM EDT (08-Mar-2000 2315 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.