Portland, OR
Current U.S. policy toward China is at a crossroads. The State Department's annual human rights report confirms the continued wholesale suppression of human rights in China. Dissent is not tolerated, the Laogai continues to grow, and Hong Kong will soon experience the full weight of the PRC's autocratic government.
On the economic front, the U.S. investment in China is soaring and the bilateral trade deficit reached a record $37 billion in 1996. This harmful economic relationship reflects an explicit Chinese policy of export-led growth, supported by an economic regime that is discriminatory and non-reciprocal, and a labor market that prohibits free and independent trade unions, and a political/military structure that oppresses its citizens on a huge scale. It is evident that years of accommodation have done nothing to encourage China to act in accordance with international trading norms or basic democratic principles.
The AFL-CIO believes that Congress should deny MFN trade treatment for China and enact legislation that would require congressional approval before the President supports admission of China into the WTO.