Max Baucus: “Mr. President I rise to offer some thoughts on our relations with China, and in particular the prospects of China's WTO…”

“Mr. President I rise to offer some thoughts on our relations with China, and in particular the prospects of China's WTO membership, as the visit of Premier Zhu Rongji to the United States next month approaches. Let me begin, however, with some context. During this decade, the Senate and the country as a whole has had an intense debate on China policy. Participants in this debate have taken radically different views on the prospects of our relationship, and on the trade, security and human rights policies we should adopt in it. But virtually all participants have held one basic assumption: that is, that economic growth in China will inevitably continue at a very rapid rate for many years to come, and that consequently, China is a 'rising' regional power which is likely to become a superpower economy and military power on a par with ourselves. For some time I have been skeptical of this assumption. In the past year, as the Asian financial crisis has affected China more and more deeply, another possibility has become quite clear: China's immediate future may be one of protracted economic difficulties and social instability rather than unbroken ascendance.”