Asa Hutchinson: “I rise in opposition to extending most-favored-nation status to China. I was deeply, deeply dismayed at the recent…”

“I rise in opposition to extending most-favored-nation status to China. I was deeply, deeply dismayed at the recent revelation that a State Department report on religious persecution in China and human rights conditions in China, originally scheduled for release back in January, was postponed, originally until June, and then it was announced that it would again be delayed and postponed until after the vote on most-favored-nation status, that vote that would take place now in the House next week. I think it is unconscionable, when we consider the seriousness and the import of this vote, for a report from the State Department that has relevant and pertinent information regarding what is going on in China today in regard to human rights and in regard to religious persecution, that that report should not be made available to the American public and to Members of the House of Representatives and to the U.S. Senate prior to our vote on MFN. Yesterday, I wrote the President and Secretary of State Albright, asking them for an immediate release of that State Department report so that Members of the House who are yet undecided on how they are going to vote on MFN will have that very important report at their disposal.”