RENEGOTIATING THE U.S.-CHINA BILATERAL MULTIFIBER ARRANGEMENT. IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE MULTILATERAL NATURE OF CHINA SANCTIONS, THE DISCUSSION DRAFT ALSO DIRECTS THE PRESIDENT TO CALL AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF OUR ALLIES TO AGREE UPON A COMMON SET OF SANCTIONS AGAINST CHINA AS WELL AS COMMON CONDITIONS FOR LIFTING THESE SANCTIONS. SOME PROVISIONS OF THIS DISCUSSION DRAFT CLEARLY FALL WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF OTHER COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE. FOR INSTANCE, WE MUST WORK CLOSELY WITH THE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE ON MOST-FAVORED-NATION STATUS, THE BANKING COMMITTEE ON MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS AND THE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE ON U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT. CONGRESS MUST REALIZE THAT THERE IS NOT A SILVER BULLET. THE SANCTIONS PASSED BY THE HOUSE, AND THOSE ANNOUNCED BY THE PRESIDENT, I I LOOK FORWARD TO TODAY'S TESTIMONY FROM THE ADMINISTRATION. HOPE THAT THESE DISCUSSIONS WILL HELP MAINTAIN THE BI-PARTISAN SPIRIT OF COOPERATION WHICH HAS THUS FAR GUIDED THE RESPONSE TO THE REPRESSION IN CHINA. Mr. SOLARZ. Thank you. Mr. Leach. Mr. LEACH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, no country and no citizen can fail to be impressed by the overwhelmingly unified reaction of the people and government of the United States to the vast grinding and relentless suppression of fundamental freedoms now under way in the People's Republic of China. In this context, not only the rigid and insecure leaders of the Chinese Communist Party but, most importantly, the courageous and resolute Chinese people must continue to be made aware that Americans are unanimously concerned for the fate of their great country, unanimously supportive of the movement for democracy, for emancipation, and for human freedom in the world's largest country. As the world stood transfixed watching the brief flowering of the pro-democracy movement, we were all reminded again of the wisdom of the late theologian, Rynald Nieber, who observed that "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination for injustice makes democracy necessary." This Congress has made it abundantly clear it is greatly distressed by the butchery in Beijing and the cold-blooded reimposition of Stalinist totalitarian controls. But I would stress that Congress as an institution needs to exercise a prudential caution against the kind of excessive hubris which ignores the very real limitations on American power to exercise decisive influence on events in Beijing. In this regard, Congress as a co-equal branch of government, but as an unequal partner in the crafting of foreign policy, ought to pay heed to Walter Lippman's chagrined observation that in Washington the art of diplomacy suffers too much from the fascination it exercises upon those non-professional diplomatists who feel that the United States ought to announce publicly what our government will and will not do in all circumstances and all quarters of the globe. No one can doubt that a great uncertainty hangs over the political life in the People's Republic of China. The President has wisely reserved substantial freedom of action to respond to new exigencies in China as they occur. I would urge the Congress to remain supportive of the President's policy, and to remember that there are limits to our power. Self-restraint, after all, is generally conducive to prudential conduct in the affairs of state. Thank you. Mr. SOLARZ. Would anyone else care to be heard? Mr. ROTH. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a short statement. Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Roth. Mr. ROTH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have never been a particular friend of sanctions. They never seem to work or produce their intended results, but there must be some option that we as a nation and as a people can exercise when flagrant violations of human rights take place, i.e., Tiananmen Square. We were all encouraged over the last number of years on the progress that was made, especially economic progress in China, but I think it could be argued that Chinese leadership in 48 hours set back progress of 20 years. It is clear as a bell that there is a real upheaval going on in China. How the U.S. Congress and America as a nation should respond is a very important question. I am interested in hearing from our witnesses on how we should proceed from here, not only with recent Chinese history in mind, but with the tremendous welter of change going on in the world. Are we seeing what took place in China as a forerunner to what may take place in Hungary or Poland or even the USSR? Maybe our witnesses are not clairvoyant, but I think they have a unique perspective on world events, and maybe they can shed some light on the nub of the modern problem, and that is, as I see it, the march of democracy, to democracy in the socialist and Communist communities and what we, as a country, should do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. SOLARZ. Thank you, Mr. Roth. Mr. Bereuter. Mr. BEREUTER. I yield to the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Miller. Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Miller. Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman, I will submit a lengthier statement, with your permission, for the record.1 Just a few brief comments. I think some things are very clear to the committee, and some are less clear. I think it is very clear that we must continue to speak out forcefully on behalf of those whose rights have been denied in China, and that is particularly true since their ability to speak out has been silenced. I think it is also clear that we should try to act in as bipartisan a way as possible with maximum cooperation between Congress and the administration in order to achieve the greatest effect. What is less clear when we get to the subject of sanctions is how much, to what degree, and to what extent they should be multilateral. I think the multilateral issue is one of great importance, not only because sanctions are rarely effective unless they are multilateral, but also because unless sanctions are multilateral they will merely open markets to our allies. Also, in this case, one nation may have more of an effect than ours. Britain probably in some respects has as much of a stake, or maybe even more leverage, than we do in this situation. The agreement Britain has with China on Hong Kong, which guarantees human rights, gives them that leverage. Thus, I think it behooves us to look at working with Britain and other countries as much as possible. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the hearing and to the distinguished witnesses that have come to give us advice. Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Bereuter. Mr. BEREUTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As ranking minority member of the Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee and a member of the International Economic Policy and Trade Subcommittee, I want to commend our three chairmen of the subcommittees for sponsoring the hearing. 1 See Appendix 1. Mr. SOLARZ. Thank you. Mr. Leach. Mr. LEACH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, no country and no citizen can fail to be impressed by the overwhelmingly unified reaction of the people and government of the United States to the vast grinding and relentless pression of fundamental freedoms now under way in the People's Republic of China. sup In this context, not only the rigid and insecure leaders of the Chinese Communist Party but, most importantly, the courageous and resolute Chinese people must continue to be made aware that Americans are unanimously concerned for the fate of their great country, unanimously supportive of the movement for democracy, for emancipation, and for human freedom in the world's largest country. As the world stood transfixed watching the brief flowering of the pro-democracy movement, we were all reminded again of the wisdom of the late theologian, Rynald Nieber, who observed that "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination for injustice makes democracy necessary." This Congress has made it abundantly clear it is greatly distressed by the butchery in Beijing and the cold-blooded reimposition of Stalinist totalitarian controls. But I would stress that Congress as an institution needs to exercise a prudential caution against the kind of excessive hubris which ignores the very real limitations on American power to exercise decisive influence on events in Beijing. In this regard, Congress as a co-equal branch of government, but as an unequal partner in the crafting of foreign policy, ought to pay heed to Walter Lippman's chagrined observation that in Washington the art of diplomacy suffers too much from the fascination it exercises upon those non-professional diplomatists who feel that the United States ought to announce publicly what our government will and will not do in all circumstances and all quarters of the globe. No one can doubt that a great uncertainty hangs over the political life in the People's Republic of China. The President has wisely reserved substantial freedom of action to respond to new exigencies in China as they occur. I would urge the Congress to remain supportive of the President's policy, and to remember that there are limits to our power. Self-restraint, after all, is generally conducive to prudential conduct in the affairs of state. Thank you. Mr. SOLARZ. Would anyone else care to be heard? Mr. ROTH. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a short statement. Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Roth. Mr. ROTH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have never been a particular friend of sanctions. They never seem to work or produce their intended results, but there must be some option that we as a nation and as a people can exercise when flagrant violations of human rights take place, i.e., Tiananmen Square. We were all encouraged over the last number of years on the progress that was made, especially economic progress in China, but I think it could be argued that Chinese leadership in 48 hours set back progress of 20 years. It is clear as a bell that there is a real upheaval going on in China. How the U.S. Congress and America as a nation should respond is a very important question. I am interested in hearing from our witnesses on how we should proceed from here, not only with recent Chinese history in mind, but with the tremendous welter of change going on in the world. Are we seeing what took place in China as a forerunner to what may take place in Hungary or Poland or even the USSR? Maybe our witnesses are not clairvoyant, but I think they have a unique perspective on world events, and maybe they can shed some light on the nub of the modern problem, and that is, as I see it, the march of democracy, to democracy in the socialist and Communist communities and what we, as a country, should do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. SOLARZ. Thank you, Mr. Roth. Mr. Bereuter. Mr. BEREUTER. I yield to the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Miller. Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Miller. Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman, I will submit a lengthier statement, with your permission, for the record.1 Just few brief comments. I think some things are very clear to the committee, and some are less clear. I think it is very clear that we must continue to speak out forcefully on behalf of those whose rights have been denied in China, and that is particularly true since their ability to speak out has been silenced. I think it is also clear that we should try to act in as bipartisan a way as possible with maximum cooperation between Congress and the administration in order to achieve the greatest effect. What is less clear when we get to the subject of sanctions is how much, to what degree, and to what extent they should be multilateral. I think the multilateral issue is one of great importance, not only because sanctions are rarely effective unless they are multilateral, but also because unless sanctions are multilateral they will merely open markets to our allies. Also, in this case, one nation may have more of an effect than ours. Britain probably in some respects has as much of a stake, or maybe even more leverage, than we do in this situation. The agreement Britain has with China on Hong Kong, which guarantees human rights, gives them that leverage. Thus, I think it behooves us to look at working with Britain and other countries as much as possible. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the hearing and to the distinguished witnesses that have come to give us advice. Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Bereuter. Mr. BEREUTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As ranking minority member of the Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee and a member of the International Economic Policy and Trade Subcommittee, I want to commend our three chairmen of the subcommittees for sponsoring the hearing. 1 See Appendix 1. |