U.S. Officials Push Hard for PNTR with ChinaU.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged Congress Thursday to grant the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to China.In a speech to a local technology company in Massachusetts State, Albright said America has a profound economic interest in a China that opens its vast market and takes its place in a global trading system based on the rule of law. "We have an abiding security interest in seeing a China that contributes to the stability in the Asia Pacific and plays a constructive role in world affairs," she said. All of these interests will be served if Congress makes the right decision now on PNTR and all will be set back if PNTR is rejected, she said. She explained that the issue before Congress is whether America will share in the economic benefits, or leave those benefits entirely to U.S. competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. "For America to benefit under WTO rules, we must give China the same permanent normal trading status that we grant to the more than 130 other countries who belong to that organization," she said. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Stuart E. Eizenstat said the vote on PNTR is "perhaps the most important international economic issue facing this Congress". He made the remarks in a testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Subcommittee on International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion. "Passing PNTR merely ensures that we reap the full benefits of our bilateral agreements with China and its accession to the WTO," he said. Eizenstat said by granting PNTR to China, the U.S. would get unprecedented new access to China's market for exports of American goods and services, with benefits for American workers, farmers and companies. WTO accession provides a powerful impetus for China's economic reforms at a critical juncture, he said. "PNTR advances our broader national interests by promoting a more responsible and constructive role for the Chinese state, both at home and abroad," he added. |
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