Chuck Schumer: “I am prepared to support PNTR for China, but I still have reservations about China's willingness to fulfill its previous…”

“I am prepared to support PNTR for China, but I still have reservations about China's willingness to fulfill its previous trade commitments particularly as it pertains to insurance. First, I want to express my appreciation to President Clinton and Ambassador Barshevsky who have been forceful advocates in ensuring that China keeps its end of the bargain and fully implements the 1999 bilateral agreement between our two nations. Last week, President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin held a frank and detailed discussion about China keeping its commitment to allow U.S. insurers to expand in China under the grandfathered right to operate through their current branch structure. In response, President Jiang pledged that China will "honor its commitments to further opening its domestic market" to grandfathered insurance companies. This is a positive, but still ambiguous statement which I hope the Chinese president will clarify. And in clarifying his position, I hope President Jiang understands that should U.S. insurers be denied the grandfathered rights to branch in China, it would result in a serious degradation of the "terms and conditions" for insurance that were negotiated by USTR last November.”