U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday that he had sent to Congress legislation that grants China permanent trade relations (PNTR).

Clinton made the announcement in a speech at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, saying: "Before coming here today, I submitted legislation to Congress."

The United States signed an agreement to bring China into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on term that both countries will open markets to other products and investments. And China is soon to conclude similar agreements with other countries. By then it will join the WTO.

Clinton said the United States should first grant China permanent normal trading status before it could benefit from China's entry into the WTO.

"For us to benefit from that, we must first grant it permanent normal trading status, the same arrangement we have given to other countries in the WTO," he said.

Clinton said support China's entry into the WTO serves U.S. national interests.

"Supporting China's entry into the WTO ... is about more than our economic interests; it is clearly in our larger national interest," he said. "It represents the most significant opportunity that we have had to create positive change in China since the 1970s, when President (Richard) Nixon went there, and later in the decade when President Carter normalized relations. I

am working as hard as I can to convince Congress and the American people to seize this opportunity."