Clinton Pushes for China Pact Approval

February 25, 2000

President Clinton took two opportunities Thursday to push for congressional approval of the U.S.-China trade agreement and normal trade relations with China. If NTR isn’t approved, "we’ll still be kicking ourselves in the seat of the pants" in 20 years, he said.

In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, Clinton noted China is the largest market in the world, and "only about 5% of it is open to us now." He added, "We make no new concessions in our markets to get massive access to Chinese markets (in the agreement), in return for putting them into the World Trade Organization. It is economically a good deal; it is also very much in the national interest."

China "still does things we don’t agree with, but everything I’ve learned ... about human nature ... indicates that if we give them a chance to be a part of the global community, and they have decided to take the risk of enterprise and lack of control and creativity, all of which runs counter to a top-down, totally controlled society, that we ought to give them a chance to make it."

The United States can’t control what China does, said Clinton, "and I’m not going to stand here and tell you that they’re going to turn out as we would hope. But I’ll tell you this: we can control what we do."

Twenty years from now "we’ll look back and wonder why we ever even debated it (normal trade relations)" if NTR is granted by Congress. But if NTR is not granted, the United States will regret "turning away from an enormous opportunity to give our children a safer world."

In remarks to the Democratic National Committee, Clinton returned to the China issue. "I believe China should be taken into the WTO, because it’s great economics for America in the short run, but I’m convinced it’s the only way to really assure a stable, peaceful Asia and a stable transformation within China over the long run."

The outlook for Congressional approval of China’s NTR status has become more cloudy in recent days, as the Chinese government made confrontational statements over the issue of Taiwan.