DATE=5/26/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=CHINA TRADE NORMALIZATION VOTE
NUMBER=6-11840
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=


INTRO:  The vote by the U-S House of Representatives, 
to normalize trade relations with China, dominated the 
editorial columns of the U-S press for much of the 
week.  Most newspapers have come out in favor of the 
legislation, but a minority worried that normalizing 
trade gives away the last lever this country has to 
press China on human rights issues.

We get a sampling of views on the China trade issue 
from _______________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.


TEXT:  The U-S House of Representatives vote has been 
heralded in many dailies as the opening a new era of 
relations with Beijing.

Trade unions and many human rights activists bitterly 
opposed the measure.  The unions fear loss of U-S 
jobs, and the human rights activists fear China will 
now be free to act to suppress dissent without fear of 
economic sanctions. 

We begin our sampling in New York, where the Daily 
News calls the vote "a historic victory of principle 
over politics," and adding:

VOICE:  Too bad Congress can't behave like this more 
often. [And] As for human rights, free trade is not a 
reward for the Chinese government; it is a right of 
the Chinese people.  In the eleven years since the 
Tiananmen Square massacre, the freedoms of ordinary 
Chinese have grown tremendously as the intrusions of 
their government into everyday life have receded.  
Expanded trade and contact with the outside world will 
broaden the range of that freedom.  If the United 
States had refused to open the door, however, China 
would have been free to spurn the democracy of market 
principles and retreat into repressive old ideology.

TEXT:  On far western side of the country, the big, 
Pacific Island afternoon daily, the [Honolulu] Star-
Bulletin, applauds the move as a "benefit [for] U-S 
exports to China," [and as a means to strengthening] 
Washington's ability to influence Chinese policies."

VOICE:  ... the wisest policy for the United States is 
to engage China more deeply in trade and diplomatic 
relations, in the hope that such engagement may help 
to moderate China's objectionable behavior.

TEXT:  In heavily unionized Ohio, The [Akron] Beacon 
Journal is pleased the bill passed, but feels 
President Clinton's claims for the measure, and his 
support, was both hypocritical and somewhat 
exaggerated. 

VOICE:  ... [President] Clinton, in attempting to 
rally and prepare the country, has tended to oversell 
the impact of a single trade agreement.  The 
cumulative effect of wider trade is positive, the 
direction beneficial in the long run.  ...[However] 
... the Chinese can be expected to be vexing.  
Confrontations are likely to surface over human rights 
and saber-rattling toward Taiwan.  What is decisive is 
the Chinese willingness to join the World Trade 
Organization, to play by international rules that 
encourage openness and exchange.

TEXT:  The Beacon Journal chides Mr. Clinton for 
virtually ignoring fears that human rights in China 
will suffer from the bill's passage.

And in New Jersey's capital, The [Trenton] Times urges 
the Senate to follow the lead of the House, and 
approve the measure next month, as it headlines its 
lead editorial on the vote: "The right decision on 
China."

VOICE:  China has indeed been isolated for years, in 
an estrangement of its own making.  Now, however, it 
is asking to join the international community.  For 
the United States to reject that request would be a 
great mistake. 

TEXT:  Now, to a pair of Northern Pacific coast ports 
that figure to benefit substantially from increased 
trade with China.  First, to Washington State, where 
The Seattle Times suggests:

VOICE:  Organized labor was wrong from the beginning 
on the China trade bill that passed the House ...  
Trade is a powerful engine in the U-S economy, 
creating jobs for union labor and providing a host of 
affordable imports that stretch wages by helping keep 
inflation low. ... China receives low-tariff access to 
U-S markets.  U-S companies and workers get access to 
Chinese domestic markets of extraordinary potential.

TEXT:  Now, to the largest metropolitan area in the 
region, Portland, Oregon, where The Oregonian calls 
the vote, "the right choice" but says there are still 
important points to ponder.

VOICE:  The House's decision ... [still leaves] 
American political leaders with two difficult 
questions still on the table.  The first, of course, 
is that raised by Representative David Wu, Democrat of 
Oregon, and other opponents of the... agreement.  
Their argument, that annual review of China's trade 
status gave us some leverage over China's internal 
human rights behavior was not especially compelling, 
given that we have had both annual reviews and bad 
behavior by China's ruling regime for some years now.  
But their underlying point ... remains a good one.  
Our view, and the view of many in China, is that a 
more open economy will naturally lead to a less 
abusive political system.  ... The House decision on 
China underlines another obvious parallel in American 
economic relations with communist nations: Cuba.  
America's policy toward Cuba resembles our Cold War 
containment and isolation policy toward China, and has 
been about as effective.  Now two Northwesterners have 
proposed changing all that ...[co-sponsoring and 
introducing] the Cuba Trade Normalization Act of two- 
thousand, the same day the house was voting on China.  
It ... would lift the U-S trade embargo on Cuba.  ... 
If we believe the formula works in China, the biggest 
communist society on Earth, it follows that it should 
work in Cuba, one of the smallest.

TEXT:   Back to the Midwest now, where the Chicago 
Tribune is also pleased at the outcome, calling it 
"the only sensible path for the United States..." 
while The New York Times suggests worries about 
continued human rights abuses may diminish over time.

VOICE:  By approving [the] legislation ... the House 
opened the way ... for a more stable and productive 
relationship with that country. ... There is 
understandable skepticism about the position that 
simply trading with China and opening it up to foreign 
investment will produce a more open society.  But a 
striking number of experts on China, and many in the 
dissident community in China, have argued persuasively 
that creating wealth in the private economy, along 
with more avenues of communication, will strengthen 
those Chinese in a position to demand a pluralistic 
and democratic society.

TEXT:  With that, we conclude this sampling of comment 
on the U-S House of Representative vote this week, to 
permanently normalize trade with China.

NEB/ANG/   



26-May-2000 14:44 PM EDT (26-May-2000 1844 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.