U.S.-China Relations Under Examination In Senate
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 9) -- U.S. relations with China are under examination in the Senate Thursday on two fronts: trade and missile technology exports.
The Senate Finance Committee is hearing arguments Thursday on extending most-favored-nations (MFN) trade status to China for another year, and the Senate Armed Services Committee continued a round of hearings on whether to return jurisdiction over missile exports to the State Department. Jurisdiction over licensing the exports was under the State Department until President Bill Clinton moved it to the Commerce Department in 1996.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appeared before the Finance Committee Thursday morning to argue the extension, describing MFN status as merely normal trading relations. She argued U.S. trade barriers would hamper China's market reforms and its position in the Asian economy, as well as making goods more expensive to U.S. consumers.
"Obviously continuing MFN does not mean we see eye to eye with the
Chinese government on every issue," Albright said.
"The question we have is how to deal with these issues in the way to most likely promote progress," Albright added. "The administration believes the answer is to engage directly and frankly with the Chinese making clear our values and motives, pressing our views vigorously but with respect for the Chinese nation."
Albright's statements were backed by those of U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and committee chairman Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.).
Barshefsky said that MFN status was in fact normal trade relations, since almost all nations trading with the U.S. enjoy the status. "Normal trade relations are a fundamental part of engagement," she said.
Roth concurred, pegging trade relations as the key to a future constructive relationship with China.
Opponents of the extension complained, though, about continued resistance to American goods, China's assistance to Pakistan's nuclear program and continued human rights abuses.
Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan (D-N.Y.) cited barriers to American fiber-optics products and China's nuclear involvement as reasons for restricting trade. "The Chinese worked intimately with Pakistan in its development of nuclear weapons," Moynihan said.
Despite China's practice of screening out some American goods, the country is America's fourth-largest trade partner. A 1974 law makes it necessary for the president to renew yearly MFN to "nonmarket economy" countries. Last month, Clinton approved the waiver and Congress had 30 days from that time to respond to the president's request.
Satellite licensing system debated
In another part of the Senate, the future of the satellite licensing system is still undecided.
Stephen Bryen, the former director of the Defense Technology Security Administration during the Reagan administration, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that China has obtained technology that could increase Chinese military capabilities under the current system of technology transfers.
"The export-control system is falling apart," Bryen told the committee. He said that the export of supercomputers, machine tools, jet engines and high-tech furnaces under the jurisdiction of the Commerce Department have all could potentially boost China's weapons development.
"China has been able to get technology that was forbidden to the Soviet Union," Byren said.
Bryen predicted that supercomputers in China could affect the balance of power in the Pacific by aiding China in breaking military codes of other nations and in developing nuclear weapons of its own.
The hearing was a part of the ongoing investigation into the Clinton Administration's missile licensing system. Several House and Senate committees are investigating the technology transfers in an attempt to determine whether national security was endangered in any of the exchanges. Some of the committees are also investigating what role, if any, campaign contributions played in the licensing decisions.
Bryen's testimony was in contrast to that of officials from the Commerce, State and Defense departments Wednesday before the Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee. The officials told the subcommittee the current system of licensing satellite exports should be retained, despite the recent controversy over a possible security breach in a February 1996 failed launch of a U.S. satellite atop a Chinese rocket.
The licensing system is more stringent now than before 1996, the government agency officials argued.
"I believe procedures now in place are adequate to protect our national security," said Frank W. Miller, deputy assistant defense secretary. "I believe we have the safeguards."
The pentagon followed up Wednesday's testimony with a statement saying that the agency doubted China had stolen a circuit board containing encryption equipment that was missing from the 1996 satellite crash. "It is highly unlikely that the devices survived the crash because of the crash impact and high temperatures produced by the burning rocket propellants," the statement said.
Chinese officials allegedly kept U.S. authorities away from the crash site for several hours, and several Defense Department officials had suggested that Chinese officials may have taken that time to steal the package.
The Defense Department can now review all export licenses, and a Pentagon monitor is present at every launch of U.S. satellites using Chinese rockets. Before 1996, at least three U.S. satellites were launched in China without Pentagon officials being present.
|
News
Clinton