Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives One Hundred Twelfth Congress
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ASSESSING CHINA’S BEHAVIOR AND ITS IMPACT ON U.S. INTERESTS BRIEFING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JANUARY 19, 2011 Serial No. 112–2 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 64–008PDF WASHINGTON : 2011 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:33 Feb 24, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\FULL\011911\64008 HFA PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey HOWARD L. BERMAN, California DAN BURTON, Indiana GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ELTON GALLEGLY, California ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York RON PAUL, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York MIKE PENCE, Indiana RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri JOE WILSON, South Carolina ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CONNIE MACK, Florida GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas DENNIS CARDOZA, California TED POE, Texas BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida BRIAN HIGGINS, New York JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut BILL JOHNSON, Ohio FREDERICA WILSON, Florida DAVID RIVERA, Florida KAREN BASS, California MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania VACANT JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina VACANT YLEEM D.S. POBLETE, Staff Director RICHARD J. KESSLER, Democratic Staff Director (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:33 Feb 24, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\FULL\011911\64008 HFA PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page BRIEFERS Mr. Larry Wortzel, commissioner, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission ........................................................................................................... 7 Mr. Gordon Chang, author of ‘‘The Coming Collapse of China,’’ Forbes.com Columnist .............................................................................................................. 22 Yang Jianli, Ph.D., president, Initiatives for China and Harvard Fellow .......... 27 Mr. Robert G. Sutter, visiting professor, School of Foreign Service, George- town University .................................................................................................... 31 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE BRIEFING The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs: Prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 3 Mr. Larry Wortzel: Prepared statement ................................................................ 9 Mr. Gordon Chang: Prepared statement ............................................................... 24 Yang Jianli, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ................................................................ 29 Mr. Robert G. Sutter: Prepared statement ............................................................ 34 APPENDIX Briefing notice .......................................................................................................... 64 Briefing minutes ...................................................................................................... 65 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:33 Feb 24, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\FULL\011911\64008 HFA PsN: SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:33 Feb 24, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\FULL\011911\64008 HFA PsN: SHIRL ASSESSING CHINA’S BEHAVIOR AND ITS IMPACT ON U.S. INTERESTS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2011 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (chairman of the committee) presiding. Chairman ROS-LEHTINEN. The briefing will be called to order. Welcome to my fellow members of the committee, our distinguished panel of witnesses, honored champions of the struggle for human rights in China, who are joining us today, ladies and gentlemen. There is an old saying that the Chinese invoke when they wish to avoid political discourse with the central powers in Beijing; the mountains are high and the Emperor is far way. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this morning there are no mountains to shield us. And China’s newest Emperor has just landed in Wash- ington and is at the front lawn of the White House; yet the press- ing issues which separate our countries need to be urgently ad- dressed. Three of those many issues, which will be the focus of today’s briefing, include security concerns, human rights, and how our trade imbalance and the Chinese currency manipulation adversely impact our U.S. economy. When the Cold War ended over two decades ago, many in the West assumed that the threat from communism had been buried with the rubble of the Berlin Wall. However, while America slept, an authoritarian China was on the rise. China became one of our biggest mortgage companies, holding over $900 billion of our inter- national debt. And in these past two decades Western observers forgot that while freedom blossomed in Eastern Europe, reform in China failed. China was led by a cynical group of leaders who, sobered by the Tiananmen massacre and marked by the blood of its victims, were determined to go forward with economic but not political change. And the China that emerged has fallen far short of the benign China of which former Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick spoke in the coining of the phrase ‘‘responsible stakeholder.’’ Does a responsible stakeholder, as reported in the Western press, allow the transshipment of North Korean missile components to Iran via Beijing airport in open defiance of those U.N. sanctions, which as a Perm-5 Member State, it is duly bound to enforce? Does a responsible stakeholder declare that the South China Sea is one (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:33 Feb 24, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\011911\64008 HFA PsN: SHIRL 2 of its core interests, in open defiance of the navigational and terri- torial rights of its Southeast Asian neighbors? Does a responsible stakeholder admonish the U.S. Navy that it cannot operate in the Yellow Sea in the very waters where General Douglas MacArthur undertook the heroic landing which turned the tide of the Korean War? Would a responsible stakeholder refer to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee as a ‘‘bunch of clowns’’ for awarding an honor to a dis- tinguished Chinese human rights advocate? Would a responsible stakeholder arrest the wife of a Nobel Peace Prize winner as fur- ther retaliation for speaking the truth about the gross human rights violations in China? The United States took a big gamble when it voted for perma- nent normal trade relations for China over a decade ago in what some termed as the most important vote since World War II. The vote was based upon what I see as a sadly mistaken belief that eco- nomic openings and a free market reform would lead to democracy, respect for the rule of law, and a full array of political and human rights for the Chinese people. Yet today as we meet here, the Laogai Research Foundation esti- mates that there are close to 7 million people currently in Chinese labor camps. It is as if the entire population of Switzerland was being held behind barbed wire. Chinese authorities’ ruthless cam- paign against Falun Gong practitioners, a peaceful organization which promotes truth, compassion, and tolerance, has continued unabated for more than 11 years. I was proud to be the sponsor of a resolution in the last Congress which received overwhelming bipartisan support addressing the persecution of Falun Gong. The brutal denial of rights to the people of Tibet and the Uyghur people and the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees continue to draw the attention of concerned citizens throughout the world. And the American people have also borne the brunt of China’s mercantile trade policies which promote trade surpluses through cheap exports based upon an artificial depreciation of China’s cur- rency. Jobs and American dollars have flown across the Pacific to China for the past two decades as the American people have suf- fered high unemployment and a diminished standard of living. Last fall I was pleased to be able to vote in favor of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House 348 to 79. We are back with a new energy from our newly elected Members who are determined to take back America’s econ- omy and are committed to a foreign policy that stands with our al- lies and holds accountable those who threaten our Nation’s security interests. And now I am pleased to turn to my distinguished ranking mem- ber for this committee Mr. Berman for his remarks. [The prepared statement of Chairman Ros-Lehtinen follows:] VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:33 Feb 24, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\011911\64008