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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
U.S. President on Renewal of MFN Status for China
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Foreign Policy Bulletin, July/August 1991
Renewal of Most-Favored-Nation Trade Status for China. Remarks
by President Bush, May 27, 1991
</hdr>
<body>
<p>Remarks by President Bush at Yale University Commencement
Ceremony, May 27, 1991
(Excerpt)
</p>
<p> China easily can affect the stability of the Asian-Pacific
region and, therefore, affect the entire world's peace and
prosperity. The Chinese play a central role in working to
resolve the conflict in Cambodia and relax tensions on the
Korean Peninsula.
</p>
<p> China has a voice now in the multi-national organizations.
And its votes in the United Nations Security Council against
Iraq's brutal aggression helped us forge the broad coalition
that brought us victory in the Gulf. And so, when we find
opportunities to cooperate with China, we will explore them.
When problems arise with China's behavior, we will take
appropriate action.
</p>
<p> After the tragedy of Tiananmen, the United States was the
first nation to condemn the use of violence against the
peacefully demonstrating people of Beijing. We were the first
to guarantee the rights of Chinese students studying on campuses
across the country, including here at Yale. The United States
was the first nation to impose sanctions, and we are now the
last, alone among the Western democracies, to keep those
original sanctions in place. At every high-level meeting with
the Chinese Government, U.S. officials reiterate our position
on human rights violations.
</p>
<p> Unfair trade is also high on our agenda. Just last month, we
cited China under the trade rules of a special 301 for pirating
U.S. copyrights and patents. And for the sake of national
security, we will ban technologies and equipment to any Chinese
company found to violate rules outlawing transfer of missile
technologies.
</p>
<p> We will continue to advance our interests and ideals: for
free and fair trade, for broader democratization, for respect
for human rights throughout China. Let me be clear: As a member
of the United Nations, China is bound by the U.N. Declaration
of Human Rights. We will hold China to the obligations that it
has freely accepted.
</p>
<p> And finally, we continue urging China to exercise restraint
in its weapons exports. Our recent experience with Iraq proves
how dangerous the deadly trade can be. And very soon, I will
announce significant new steps that we can take to control arms
exports to the entire Middle East. Every nation must play a part
in this effort. That's why we urge the Chinese Government to
abide by the letter and spirit of international agreements on
missile technology controls, and to do what 141 other nations
have already done: sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
</p>
<p>MFN Trade Status for China
</p>
<p> And this is one way that the United States can be a catalyst
for positive change. This week, I will employ another by
proposing formally that MFN (most-favored-nation) trade status
continue for China. This policy has generated considerable
controversy. Some critics have said revoke MFN--or endanger
it with sweeping conditions--to censure China, cut our ties
and isolate it. We are told this is a principled policy, a moral
thing to do. This advice is not new. It's not wise. It is not
in the best interests of our country, the United States. And in
the end, in spite of noble and best intentions, it is not moral.
</p>
<p> First, MFN is [not] special. It is not a favor. It is the
ordinary basis of trade worldwide. Second, MFN is a means to
bring the influence of the outside world to bear on China.
Critics who attack MFN today act as if the point is to punish
China, as if hurting China's economy will somehow help the cause
of privatization and human rights.
</p>
<p> The real point is to pursue a policy that has the best chance
of changing Chinese behavior. If we withdrew MFN or imposed
conditions that would make trade impossible, we would punish
South China, in particular, Guangdong Province, the very region
where free market reform and the challenge to central authority
are the strongest. Right now, there's an estimated two million
Chinese who are working and proving that privatization can work--all in South China. Withdraw MFN and their jobs would be in
jeopardy. In addition, endangering MFN would deal a body blow to
Hong Kong, the bastion of freedom and free trade in the Far
East.
</p>
<p> But the most compelling reason to renew MFN and remain
engaged in China is not economic, it's not strategic, but moral.
It is right to export the ideals of freedom and democracy to
China. It is right to encourage Chinese students to come to the
United States and for talented American students to go to China.
It is wrong to isolate China if we hope to influence China.
</p>
<p>The Best Way to Promote Democracy in China
</p>
<p> For two decades after the Communists seized power in 1949,
the Western world followed a policy of isolation toward China.
This period proved to be among the most brutal episodes in
Chinese history, a nightmare of anguish and death and suffering
that will scar the soul of China for decades to come.
</p>
<p> So, it comes down to the strength of our belief in the power
of the democratic idea. If we pursue a policy that cultivates
contacts with the Chinese people, promotes commerce to our
benefit, we can help create a climate for democratic change.
</p>
<p> No nation on Earth has discovered a way to import the world's
goods and services while stopping foreign ideas at the border.
Just as the democratic idea has transformed nations on every
continent, so, too, change will inevitably come to China.
</p>
<p>(Text from Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents of June
3, 1991.)
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>