China PNTR. This bill, H.R. 4444, would grant Communist China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), and thereby abolish the annual review process of Chinese NTR. It would also pave the way for Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization. The bill would all but guarantee that the tyrannical Chinese government will continue to receive billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer-subsidized trade annually through export subsidy programs such as the Export-Import Bank and multilateral organs such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. Although many of those promoting PNTR for China have claimed to be doing so on the basis of "free trade," just five days earlier the Senate had voted down — by voice vote — an amendment by Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) that would have allowed PNTR but abolished U.S. export subsidies to China.
The Senate passed H.R. 4444 on September 19, 2000 by a vote of 83-15 (Roll Call 251). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
