( Letter from President Clinton to Senator Trent Lott )

Dear Mr. Leader:

I want to commend you for commencing debate on H.R. 4444, which would extend Permanent Normal Trade Relations to the People's Republic of China. This crucial legislation will help ensure our economic prosperity, reinforce our work on human rights, and enhance our national security.

Normalizing our trade relationship with China will allow American workers, farmers, and businesspeople to benefit from increased access to the Chinese market. It will also give us added tools to promote increased openness and change in Chinese society, and increase our ability to work with China across the broad range of our mutual interests.

I want to address two specific areas that I understand may be the subject of debate in the Senate. One is Taiwan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). There should be no question that my Administration is firmly committed to Taiwan's accession to the WTO, a point I reiterated in my September 8 meeting with President Jiang Zemin. Based on our New York discussions with the Chinese, I am confident we have a common understanding that both China and Taiwan will be invited to accede to the WTO at the same WTO General Council session, and that Taiwan will join the WTO under the language agreed to in 1992, namely as the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (referred to as "Chinese Taipei"). The United States will not accept any other outcome.

The other area is nonproliferation, specifically the proposals embodied in an amendment offered by Senator Fred Thompson. Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them is a key goal of my Administration. However, I believe this amendment is unfair and unnecessary, and would hurt our nonproliferation efforts.

Nonproliferation has been a priority in our dealings with China. We have pressed China successfully to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and to cease cooperation with Iran's nuclear program. Today, we are seeking further restraints, but these efforts would be subverted -- and existing progress could be reversed -- by this mandatory sanctions bill which would single out companies based on an unreasonably low standard of suspicion, instead of proof. It would apply a different standard for some countries than others, undermining our global leadership on non-proliferation. Automatic sanctions, such as cutting off dual-use exports to China, would hurt American workers and companies. Other sanctions, such as restricting access to U.S. capital markets, could harm our economy by undermining confidence in our markets. I believe this legislation would do more harm than good.

The American people are counting on the Congress to pass H.R. 4444. I urge you and your colleagues to complete action on the bill as soon as possible.

                                                                                         Sincerely,

                                                                                         Bill Clinton

The Honorable Trent Lott

Majority Leader

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510