“Extending normal trade relations status to China impacts more than our economy,” Jones said on the House floor.  “It takes away our economic leverage with a communist country and it stands to effect the security of each and every American citizen.  Until China can prove to the people of America that it can be trusted, we should not pass PNTR for China.”

 H.R. 4444 would authorize the President to permanently extend normal trade relations treatment to the People’s Republic of China provided it meet the terms and conditions for accession to the World Trade Organization agreed upon last November.  China would be required to reduce or eliminate barriers to trade in U.S. agriculture, industrial products, and services. In previous years, Congress has voted annually to extend most-favored-nation status to China.  This marks the first year the House has voted to extend the trade status on a permanent basis.

 “The United States has tried for more than three decades to build a relationship with China and to foster democratic values in the communist nation,” Jones said on the House floor.  “In 1995, we extended most-favored-nation status to China if it would agree to stop its abusive human rights practices and stop exporting nuclear technology.  The very next year, the CIA reported that China was the greatest supplier of weapons of mass destruction related goods and technology to foreign countries.”

 “Years of maintaining a lax policy of constructive engagement with China has proven dangerous.  As the Rumsfeld Commission found in 1998, China’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction threaten the security of the United States.  When China steals technology and sells it to our enemies, steals our national secrets, and tries to influence our election’s process, how can we grant PNTR for China?” Jones said.