Rob Portman: “I have listened to the concerns expressed this afternoon and I share them. I have heard about human rights violations…”

“I have listened to the concerns expressed this afternoon and I share them. I have heard about human rights violations, heard about the inability of the Chinese to properly be concerned about Hong Kong's future and Taiwan, the access to the Chinese market. We have heard a lot about nuclear proliferation. We just heard about arms sales. So I have just a very practical question; how will revoking MFN address any of these concerns? How will it help? I think that a disengaged China is less likely to care about basic human rights, less likely to care about Hong Kong's economic liberties, less likely to care about living within accepted international norms. I think we only have to look back to the Cultural Revolution to see that. Instead we should be engaging. Among other things, they think we should be doing all we can, using what leverage and influence we have, to get China into the World Trade Organization, the successor organization to GATT. By that we force China to live by the international trading rules, to ensure that we have access to the Chinese market and improve the very conditions we all implore. That is the approach we ought to be taking as a Government, not revoking MFN status. I think voting against MFN may make people feel better, but that is not a good enough reason. It is not the right tool to use.”