Move Against China’s Trade Status Appears to Be Ebbing

WASHINGTON — On the eve of a crucial House vote, congressional support for cutting off normal trade relations with China showed signs of eroding Monday, although members on both sides of the divisive issue insisted that the outcome remains uncertain.

The vote, considered one of the most important foreign policy decisions facing Congress, is scheduled for today.

The most striking indicator of a loss of support for the bid to withdraw Beijing’s most-favored-nation trade status was a change of heart by Rep. John Edward Porter (R-Ill.), who has voted to end normal trade relations with China in each of the past seven years. Indeed, he had headed an informal caucus of GOP House members who favor the punitive step.

On Monday, however, he said he had become disenchanted by what has turned into an increasingly acrimonious annual referendum on Chinese political behavior. That debate, in his view, has tended to produce more heat than light.

“It goes nowhere. It does nothing,” he said. “It allows us to speak our minds and feel good, but it does nothing to bring changes in China.”

Instead, Porter on Monday joined with several other lawmakers--including Reps. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) and Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento)--to unveil a bill seeking to promote human rights and democratic reforms in China without revoking trade privileges.

The bill calls for increased funding for Radio Free Asia and Voice of America programming that would target Chinese and other Asian audiences; additional spending on projects promoting democracy through legal reform in China; creation of a register of political prisoners; and measures to deny U.S. visas to Chinese officials who commit human rights or weapons proliferation violations.

“Each of these initiatives will actually have a chance to bring changes in China,” Porter said. “None are sanctions, but all advance the values we believe in.”

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Until recent days, many observers believed that the House resolution to end China’s trading privileges stood a strong chance of passing, a step that would send the measure to the Senate and possibly on to the White House, where it would face a certain veto.

The bill pushed by Porter and the other House members will not be directly involved in today’s China debate--it is unlikely to hit the floor before Congress recesses for the summer in July. But the timing of its unveiling clearly was designed to influence the vote.

House members who support maintaining normal trade ties with China said they believe that at least some human rights proponents among their colleagues could abandon their opposition to an extension if they believe there is another vehicle to address their concerns.

“We want members on both sides of this issue to know there are positive ways to address the challenges,” Dreier said.

Backers of the effort to end China’s trading privileges, however, said some late defections of support more likely would be motivated by Clinton administration favors and high-pressure lobbying tactics by industries involved in the huge U.S. trade relationship with China.

“Over $30 million was spent to defeat [cutting off China’s MFN status] last year, and there’s tens of millions going out this year,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), an outspoken critic of China’s record on human rights. “It’s a massive campaign; they are panicked.”

China’s most-favored-nation status has been extended on a year-by-year basis by Congress since the Chinese government brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

This year’s debate has been especially bitter as organizations representing the religious right have for the first time joined the traditional anti-MFN coalition dominated by human rights supporters, labor unions and members of the archconservative right.

Allegations that the Chinese government made illegal contributions to the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign in an attempt to influence the election outcome have also generated anti-Chinese sentiment in Congress.