Senate Hearing on MFN for China.
This morning (May 22, 1997) the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is
holding a hearing on "Is China MFN an Effective Foreign Policy Tool?"
The panelists who will testify are:
Congressman Dough Bereuter, chairman, subcommittee on Asia Pacific, House
International Relations Committee
Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick
Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal, Michigan University
Dr. Nicholas Lardy, Brookings Institution
Mr. James Przystup, Heritage Foundation
Mr. Robert Kagan, American University
Panelists at a Senate Hearing on May 22, 1997 opined that the annual
extension of MFN was not an effective foreign policy tool.
At the Senate sub-commitee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs hearing,
Congressman Dough Bereuter, chairman, subcommittee on Asia Pacific, House
International Relations Committee, called the annual exercise of voting MFN
extension a "wastage". He said he was introducing a proposal in the House
in which instead of MFN, the President could impose higher tariffs when
countries did not fulfill conditions.
Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick said she was against both who supported as
well as opposed MFN. She felt MFN was a misnomer and suggested an
alternative measure whereby the United States could take specific actions
on specific cases against countries. MFN has "gone stale and irrelevant",
the Ambassador said.
Other speakers came out with similar views.
Presently, the following countries are denied MFN by the United States:
Cuba, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia,
Azerbaijan. There is one more country, I forget the name just now.
Bhuchung
Bob Palais, concerning US congressional voting pattern I need to look
through the files.
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