[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1285-E1286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

FREEDOM FOR ALL

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HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

of illinois

in the house of representatives

Friday, June 20, 1997

Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, there is an alarming trend that has occurred
the past several months, led by some social conservative organizations
in Washington who have called for the revocation of China's most-
favored-nation [MFN] status. They argue we should revoke this status,
which is simply normal trade relations between countries, to retaliate
against the Chinese Government for interfering with the practice of
religion.
I, too, am very concerned about the persecution of anyone who
practices religion in China. It is for this very reason that I have the
firm conviction that MFN must be renewed. In fact, missionaries in
China, who are closest to the issue, say that MFN is essential for
maintaining the positive work they do. As a conservative, as a
Christian, and as the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on
Trade I am absolutely convinced that by bringing the influence of the
outside world into China, free trade will create opportunities for
freedom of religion to take root.
Trade has helped to expose millions of the Chinese people to values
such as human rights and religious freedom by opening a door to the
People's Republic of China. In the June 11, 1997, edition of the Wall
Street Journal, Rev. Robert A. Sirico addressed many of these concerns
and concluded that ``Just as religious freedom offers the best hope for
Christian social influence, economic freedom is the best hope for
spreading that influence around the world.'' I applaud his thinking and
submit his article into the Record. I urge my colleagues to consider
the points he raises here and to vote to renew China's MFN status.

[From the Wall Street Journal, June 11, 1997]

China and the Trade Warriors

(By Robert A. Sirico)

Despite occasional tensions between social conservatives
and economic conservatives, most social and cultural goals
have an economic dimension about which the two camps are
generally in agreement. But now a leader of the socially
conservative camp has proposed that there is an issue that
pits morality and prosperity irreconcilably against one
another--U.S. trade with China, a nation known for human-
rights violations, and particularly for religious
persecution.
Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council is demanding that
the U.S. government wage economic war against China with
sanctions, boycotts and embargoes. In his campaign for trade
restrictions with China, Mr. Bauer and a few other
conservative leaders are working hand in glove with labor
unions and other left-liberal protectionists, normally die-
hard opponents of the religious right.

Barricades Have Collapsed

The usual political barricades have collapsed as Mr.
Bauer's comrades join forces to oppose congressional attempts
to continue normal trading relations with China. In a recent
letter, Mr. Bauer compares the urgency of imposing sanctions
to issues such as ending slavery and defeating Hitler.
How restricting trade with China will help strengthen
American families, faith and morality is unclear. What is
clear is that Mr. Bauer finds China's treatment of Christians
morally objectionable. I do, too. And he is to be commended
for his efforts at raising the public's awareness of Chinese
persecution. Christians are threatened, jailed, expelled and
even killed in China. Whether this occurs more or less today
than in decades past is in dispute. But one human-rights
violation is one too many.
That's why I, along with many others, signed an open letter
from the Family Research Council to Vice President Al Gore
that appeared in major newspapers. It objected to Mr.
Gore's failure to emphasize China's poor human-rights
record during his March visit. The letter particularly
highlighted China's vicious suppression of rights of Roman
Catholics to worship in freedom. The letter said nothing
about a broader trade agenda.
I would have signed a similar letter about the appalling
treatment of Christians in Egypt (which receives U.S. aid),
Saudi Arabia (which the U.S. has defended militarily) and
Iraq (where a Kurdish convert to Christianity, Mansour
Hussein Sifer, was recently martyred). Friends of freedom
should oppose restrictions on worship and religious speech
anywhere they may appear, including the U.S.
When I signed the letter on China, however, I did not know
that it was a prologue to a full-blown political campaign
that would seek to curtail commercial ties between China and
the rest of the world. Mr. Bauer's position has evolved from
a strong moral stand in favor of religious freedom to waging
total trade war.
A charge often leveled against the Christian right is that
it is not sensitive to the difference between urging certain
moral ends and using government coercion to bring them about.
It's usually a canard: In the case of the arts, for example,
the religious right seeks not censorship but an end to
taxpayer subsidies for blasphemy and obscenity. I regret
having to say that this time, however, the Family Research
Council has lived up to the stereotype. It is attempting to
enlist government power, at the expense of everyone who
benefits from U.S.-Chinese commercial relations, thus
choosing an inappropriate means to achieve a moral end.
What's more, trade sanctions would be counterproductive.
Sanctions won't bring freedom for religious expression in
China. They won't end China's cruel policies limiting family
size. They won't stop the horrific policy of forced
abortions. They won't bring

[[Page E1286]]

democracy. They can only further isolate China and close off
avenues for greater Western influence.
The growth of Western businesses in China, however, would
dilute the power of China's communist rulers. As commercial
networks develop, Chinese businesspeople are able to travel
more freely, and Chinese believers have more disposable
income with which to support evangelistic endeavors.
No one understands this better than evangelical
missionaries currently working in China. Mr. Bauer's
passionate campaign has elicited pleas from many of them for
Congress not to cut off trade. Such an action would endanger
their status there, and possibly lead China to revoke their
visas. It would severely limit opportunities to bring in
Bibles and other religious materials. These missionaries
understand that commercial relations are a wonderfully
liberating force that allow not only mutually beneficial
trade but also cultural and religious ex- changes. Why
doesn't Mr. Bauer listen to those who know far more about
China than Washington think tanks and labor unions do?
``They may be too close to the situation,'' he answers,
somewhat flippantly.
Until recently, trade warriors have cited the case of the
U.S. Catholic bishops, who have opposed renewing normal trade
status with China. At the same time, however, Hong Kong's
official Catholic newspaper, the Sunday Examiner, reports new
contacts between Beijing and Hong Kong's Catholic hierarchy.
These contacts are a major step toward an official
recognition of the Catholic Church on the mainland.

To the Good

This would all be to the good. Diplomacy and international
trade strengthen people's loyalties to each other and weaken
government power. Beijing has shown itself to be supremely
interested in fostering prosperity at home. Christians must
take advantage of this impulse, rather than recklessly
treating China as a monster that must be slain.
This need not be an issue that divides social conservatives
from economic conservatives. Economic prosperity through free
trade is the most effective distributor of wealth and power,
and trade with China is the surest way to break the gap of
centralized political power. Religious conservatives should
broaden their focus beyond purely social and cultural issues.
Mr. Bauer and his supporters are right to decry the immoral
treatment of believers in China. But allowing themselves to
be used by protectionist and labor lobbies is an imprudent
approach. Just as religious freedom offers the best hope for
Christian social influence, economic freedom is the best hope
for spreading that influence around the world.

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