Cord Byrd: “I believe that the Senate is about to make a grave mistake. It is hard for me to believe that after a year which has…”

“I believe that the Senate is about to make a grave mistake. It is hard for me to believe that after a year which has seen the Chinese Government rattling sabers at Taiwan, continuing to brutally repress religion, and, generally, behaving like the ``Bobby Knight'' of the international community--after a year like that--the Senate is still determined to hand the Chinese a huge early Christmas present called permanent normal trade relations. We are running a $70 billion deficit with China. China's string of broken promises on trade and nonproliferation matters is longer than the Great Wall of China. Yet, a majority in this Senate has agreed to put all of its eggs into one basket and rush to pass PNTR. ``Don't worry. Be happy,'' says the administration. We have the bilateral trade and investment pact to protect us. The bilateral trade and investment pact negotiated between the U.S. Trade Representative and China is one of a series of agreements which China is negotiating with members of WTO in order to join the body. The agreement has been used to assuage the many concerns of some Members of this body about granting PNTR to China. But I believe that PNTR and the new U.S.-China trade pact, that panacea of all good things, will encourage mainly one phenomenon--one phenomenon; namely, more U.S. corporations will move operations to China to capitalize on low-wage production for export back here to the United States.”