Published by: World Tibet Network News, Friday, June 28, 1996

June 28, 1996 Contact: Karen Davis

For Immediate Release (202) 785-1515

HOUSE FAILS TO BLOCK MFN TRADING STATUS FOR CHINA

On Thursday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a motion to deny Most Favored Nation (MFN) trading status to the People's Republic of China, thereby ensuring that China will continue to receive the preferential trade status for another year. The House defeated the MFN revocation motion, sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), by a wide margin of 286-141. 65 Republicans, 75 Democrats and 1 Independent voted for the motion to deny China MFN.

"While I am disappointed by the vote margin, I nevertheless believe that the MFN debate provides a very critical opportunity for us to highlight the Chinese government's outrageous and indefensible actions in Tibet. Until the Chinese government relents in its repressive control over Tibet, they should not be considered off the hook", said Lodi G. Gyari, President of the International Campaign for Tibet.

During the MFN debate, many Members included strong statements of concerns about Tibet in their remarks on the House floor. Members who raised Tibet include Rep. Ben Gilman (R-NY), Chairman of the International Relations Committee, Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Jim Bunning (R-KY), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA).

Because of yesterday's defeat of efforts to revoke MFN in the House, the Senate will not take up the motion introduced by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) to deny MFN for China. Both houses of Congress must pass motions to revoke MFN in order to overrule President Clinton's decision to grant unconditional renewal of China's MFN status. While Congress had 60 days to respond to the President's May 31st request for a MFN waiver, this vote, which occurred after only 27 days, effectively ended the debate this year.

After the MFN vote, the House approved an alternative resolution which calls on four Committees in the House to hold hearings on the Chinese government's record on issues such as human rights, trade disputes and nuclear technology proliferation. These Committees -- the International Relations Committee, the National Security Committee, the Ways and Means Committee and the Banking Committee -- are also called upon to report "appropriate" legislation that addresses these issues by September 30, 1996. The vote on this resolution was nearly unanimous, 411-7.

Significantly, Tibet was mentioned in many clauses of this resolution, which was sponsored by Reps. Christopher Cox and Gerald Solomon. For example, it says that "the People's Armed Police is responsible for the occupation and suppression of dissent in Tibet" and that "the Communist Chinese authorities in Tibet have launched a repressive campaign against religious practice and the Public Security Bureau and People's Liberation Army have been involved in the violent suppression of dissent in Tibet and Xinjiang, resulting in the death or imprisonment of over one thousand Tibetans and Uighurs this year".

Now that the MFN debate is over, the International Campaign for Tibet will be working with Members to draft new legislation that puts effective pressure on the Chinese government to stop its persecution of the Tibetan people. As we have done over the past few weeks, we will also testify at the upcoming hearings in Congress in order to keep attention focused on the current Cultural Revolution-style crackdown underway in Tibet.

In addition, we will continue to call on the Clinton Administration to revisit its China policy, which since the decision to de-link human rights and trade, has failed to bring relief to the Tibetan people. We will also continue urge the Administration to fully utilize its leverage with the Chinese government to press for negotiations between Chinese authorities and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.