Dale Bumpers: “I, first of all, compliment my distinguished colleague from Delaware, Senator Biden, for what I thought was a very…”

“I, first of all, compliment my distinguished colleague from Delaware, Senator Biden, for what I thought was a very compelling analysis of what our relationship with China is and what it should be and what the President ought to be doing in China in the way of engagement to improve our relationship. I agree totally with everything he said. Right now, China, obviously, is not a democracy, though about 40 percent of her economy is private enterprise in the true sense of the word we cherish here. We have found in the past that when nations begin to permit economic freedom, usually the economic benefits that come from that become highly desirable to the people, and then they begin to seek more freedom, more democracy. On the other hand, you can argue that political democracy and social freedom should come first and everything else will follow. I would like to believe that, but I believe in the case of China, where unbelievable changes have occurred in the last 20 years, the ordinary citizen of this country cannot even begin to fathom the dramatic changes in the culture, even in the political system, and the economy of China. So I happen to come from the school of thought that believes that when people have economic freedom, political freedom is more likely to ensue than vice versa. I understand all the arguments on human rights. And nobody is going to stand up, who is in his right mind, and say that China does not violate human rights. Of course they do.…”