Extracts.
US Senate Passes Bill on PNTR with China
The US Senate on Tuesday afternoon passed a bill on permanent normal trade
relations (PNTR) with China by a vote of 83-15 after a heated debate.
Once the legislation is signed into law by President Bill Clinton, the
United States will terminate its practice of reviewing China's
"most-favored-nation (MFN)" status on an annual basis according to the
relevant articles of the 1974 Trade Act and establish permanent normal
trade relations with China after the latter joins the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
The establishment of permanent normal trade relations will help create a
long-term stable environment for the economic and trade cooperation between
China and the United States, serve the fundamental interests of their
people and is of great importance to the healthy development of China-US
relations.
On the other side, however, the Senate legislation kept the contents in the
House bill that harm China's interests and interfere in China's internal
affairs. The Chinese government has taken up the issue with the US
government and expressed strong opposition to these contents.
The US House of Representatives adopted the PNTR bill on May 24 by a vote
of 237-197. On September 5, the Senate began comprehensive debates on the
bill and voting on the relevant amendments.
During the debates, most senators held that granting PNTR status to China
conforms to the economic and security interests of the United States and
will help promote the smooth development of US-China relations.
A few senators, however, in order to block the bill from passage, proposed
more than 20 amendments trying to link trade with China with issues
unrelated to trade. After repeated votes, the Senate overwhelmingly
rejected these amendments.
When China and the United States established diplomatic ties in 1979, they
signed an agreement on bilateral trade relations, which would grant MFN
treatment to each other.But after the agreement went into effect in 1980,
the US side, in accordance with the relevant articles of the 1974 Trade
Act, insisted on reviewing annually whether or not to give MFN status to
China.
This discriminatory practice on the part of the US side has for long
constituted an impediment to the healthy and steady development of the
economic and trade relations between the two countries. The Chinese side
has always opposed this unilateral annual review and called for an early
solution to the issue of MFN treatment.
In July 1998, President Clinton signed a tax reform act, formally changing
the parlance of "MFN" into "normal trade relations". Last November, the two
countries signed an agreement on China's entry into the World Trade
Organization. In March this year, President Clinton submitted a legislation
proposal to Congress, urging it to grant PNTR status to China.
Since then, President Clinton and senior administration officials
repeatedly urged Congress to adopt the PNTR bill as early as possible.
While many national economic organizations, major businesses in the
industrial, commercial, financial and other sectors and far-sighted
personages in various walks of life in the United States actively urged
Congress to pass the bill, more and more Congressmen also gave clear-cut
support to permanent normal trade relations with China.
Establishing permanent normal trade relations with China has become the
mainstream aspiration in the United States.
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China Resolutely Opposes Anti-China Content in PNTR Bill The Chinese
government has expressed its resolute opposition to the US government
concerning some of the content in a US bill that harms China's interests
and interferes in China's internal affairs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi made the remarks Wednesday in
response to the passing of the bill on Permanent Normal Trade Relations
(PNTR) with China by the US Senate.
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Overseas Chinese Worldwide Forum 2000 Opens
The Overseas Chinese Worldwide Forum 2000, sponsored
by the Chinese government, opened Wednesday in the
coastal city Qingdao in eastern China.
Attending the forum are well-known social workers,
entrepreneurs and scientists from over 20 countries
and regions, new overseas Chinese representatives of
the new economy, and senior officials from the
world's largest corporations.
The theme of the forum will be "Prospects for the
Economy and Science in China".
The forum is expected to include discussion on the
prospects of China's development in the economy and
science and technology in the new century against the
advent of economic globalization.
Topics include, the development trend of the world
economy in the 21st century and its influence on the
Chinese economy, and the influence of China's
accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on
the Chinese economy and overseas Chinese economy.
State councilor Ismail Amat delivered a speech at the
opening ceremony, in which he said that he hoped that
overseas Chinese will expand economic cooperation
with the motherland and contribute to the
reunification cause.
The forum will end tomorrow.
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