Speech #1020169060

I am introducing a bill which will disapprove the Presidents recommendation for an extension of the MFN trade status to the Peoples Republic of China for another year. The bills denial will send a strong signal in support of the respect for human rights and personal freedoms and will be more consistent with our Nations goals and principles. The JacksonVanik statute. section 402 of the Trade Act of 1974. specifies that MFN status is reserved for nations with free and open emigration practices and respect for human rights or whose policies are moving definitively in the free and open direction. Since 1980. administrations have granted MFN status to the Peoples Republic of China in hopes of encouraging the country to adopt emigration and human rights policies consistent with the JacksonVanik requirements. However. in retrospect. the Peoples Republic of Chinas severely restrictive emigration practices coupled with the atrocities it perpetrated at Tiananmen Square in 1989. provide sufficient evidence that the carrot approach does not work with the repressive Peoples Republic of China regime. Despite these conclusions the MFN status has continually been granted to this nation. When you review the promises made by the Government of the Peoples Republic of China last November. in regard to human rights issues. it demonstrates the Peoples Republic of