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 | Thursday, April 13, 2000, updated at 14:57(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Clinton: National Security at Stake in China PNTRU.S. President Bill Clinton has stressed that China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and U.S. decision on Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) will promote America's prosperity and security in the future.President Clinton, in a statement released Tuesday, said that the economic reasons for PNTR are "clear cut" since the move will further open China's market for American workers, farmers and businesses, bringing more jobs and growing exports for Americans. "China will join the WTO regardless of what we decided to do. The decision before Congress is whether the United States will receive the same trade benefits from China as will do our trade competitors," he said. Clinton said that China's entry into the WTO also has national security implications for the United States. "Bringing China into the WTO will entwine China in the global economy, increasing its interdependence with the rest of the world, "and "it will strengthen China's reforms and the reformers behind them," he said. Clinton expressed his concern about the "extremely harmful consequences" a vote against PNTR would do to the national security of the United States. "Because the economic case for PNTR is so strong, the Chinese will see a rejection as a strategic decision by the United States to turn from cooperation to confrontation, to deal with China as an adversary," he said. "We will spare no effort in the coming days and weeks to make sure that the Congress and the American people understand what the stakes are. And I am confident that when the debate is over and the votes are cast, the Congress will do what is right -- both for our prosperity and our security," he said.
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