Alan Simpson: “I wish to speak for a few moments on the issue of extending most favored nation trade status, or MFN, to China. Mr.…”

“I wish to speak for a few moments on the issue of extending most favored nation trade status, or MFN, to China. Mr. President, I have been very pleased indeed during these last few days to hear a welling chorus of reasoned, sound arguments as to why MFN status should be extended for China. I find myself in whole-hearted agreement with the growing consensus that our values and our influence can be best advanced in China only through continuing trade and exchange. The quotations have been thus. ``We must not isolate China,'' it is said. Surely we can find other ways to promote the human rights agenda. It makes no sense at all, surely, to simply pull back and leave China to be influenced by other nations solely. Other nations have more sense than to take such a spiteful and self-defeating action. Let me read from one of the best summations of that argument: The President has made clear to the Chinese that their respect for internationally-recognized human rights is insufficient. . . We want to elicit a faster pace and a broader scope for human rights improvements in China. Withdrawal of MFN would achieve neither of these objectives. . . [We should] maintain it in order vigorously to protect American interests while we promote positive change in China.”