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| Comments
on China's Accession To The World Trade Organization (WTO) |
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DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
Martin Lee, Chairman of the Democratic Party of
Hong Kong:
“The participation of China in the WTO would not only
have economic and political benefits, but would serve
to bolster those in China who understand that the country
must embrace the rule of law, which of course is a key
principle underlying active membership in global trade
organizations... For those of us who have long pressed
for vigorous adherence to the rule of law in China, it
is encouraging that so many Chinese officials support
the nation’s entry into groups such as the WTO." [Letter
to President Clinton, 11/14/99]
Ren Wanding, Leader of the 1978 Democracy Wall
Movement in China:
"Before the sky was black. Now there is a light -- This
can be a new beginning." [Washington
Post, 11/18/99]
Xu Youyu, Prominent Chinese Philosopher:
Xu said the decision to join the WTO marked "the first
time in a long time that there seems to be a real direction"
in China's government. "People always say China can never
go back, but over the last 20 years, and even during the
last year, we've taken a lot of detours. Now we have a
clear direction --.in the long run it will help." [Washington
Post, 11/18/99]
Li Ke, Former Chinese Editor of the Democratic
Journal Fangfa:
"For so many years of China's reform and opening, these
areas couldn't be opened up and remained state monopolies.
But if economic monopolies can be broken, controls in
other areas can have breakthroughs as well. These breakthroughs
won't necessarily happen soon. But in the final analysis,
in the minds of ordinary people, it will show that breakthroughs
that were impossible in the past are indeed possible."
China's upcoming entry into the WTO is "a New Year's gift
for China as it enters 2000. It's a gift we never, ever
thought we could get." [Washington
Post, 11/18/99]
Wang Shan, Chinese Liberal Political Scientist:
"Undoubtedly, [the China WTO agreement] will push political
reform." [The Boston
Globe, 11/28/99]
Randy Tate, Co-Chair of Working Families for Free
Trade, and Former Executive Director of the Christian
Coalition:
"An isolated China will resist change at home and be likely
to behave more aggressively towards its regional neighbors.
None of that serves American interests. Admitting China
into the WTO may not cause it to shed dictatorship for
democracy. But it's the right step toward realizing that
goal." [Washington
Times, 11/29/99]
FOREIGN POLICY COMMUNITY
Nicholas Lardy, Brookings
Institution: "The authoritarian basis of the [Chinese
Communist] regime is gradually eroding, and if successfully
implemented, this agreement will contribute to that."
[U.S.
News & World Report, 11/29/99]
Jacob Fisch, Council
on Foreign Relations:
"Bringing China into the WTO will encourage social and
political change in China and help promote reform of its
egregious human rights behavior. China's modernization
has, until now, been greatly inspired and facilitated
by interaction with the world community and will be greatly
enhanced by WTO membership". The impact of information
technology on society and the life of the Chinese individual
will become more pronounced…. The organizational capacity
of groups and the potential for clandestine exchanges
will expand, and the repressive controls of the government
will diminish." [Los
Angeles Times, 11/26/99]
David Lampton, Director of China Studies at Johns
Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies:
“The bottom line [is] that foreign involvement in China’s
economy inherently promotes better worker rights through
dispute resolution in the factory, through involving workers
more in management, through better working conditions,
and so on. And so just the mere fact that the world is
going to be more involved in the Chinese economy, I think,
promotes human rights in both the broad sense and the
specific sense." [National
Public Radio, 11/16/99] |
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