OPENING STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN C

OPENING STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN ROGER W. ROBINSON, JR.

U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission

Hearing on SARS in China: Implications for Media Control and the Economy

June 5, 2003

124 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Welcome to the first of what we expect will be a full slate of hearings of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission during the 108^th Congress. I am pleased to be joined by the Vice Chairman of the Commission, who is also co-chair of this hearing, Dick D’Amato, and my fellow Commissioners. I want to especially welcome and recognize Ambassador Robert Ellsworth, one of two new members of the Commission. The other, Carolyn Bartholemew, is with us in spirit even though, regrettably, she is out of the country today.

We are particularly pleased that Senators Bill Nelson, Conrad Burns, and Jon Kyl and Representative Chris Cox are able to join us this morning as we examine a timely and interesting set of questions that have been brought into focus by the recent SARS crisis in China. Senators Nelson and Burns had the unique opportunity to meet with the Chinese leadership in April just at the time they were acknowledging the severity of the SARS outbreak. Senator Kyl and Representative Cox are long-time champions of media freedom as demonstrated by their sponsorship of the Global Internet Freedom Act. Representative Cox will be joining us around 11:00 during our first panel.

For the world, SARS is fundamentally a global public health challenge, one that we must confront and overcome together. But for China, effectively fighting the spread of SARS has become more than a question of protecting the health of its population. The spread of SARS has placed heavy stress on a political system unaccustomed to being held to account, secretive about its internal information flows and uncomfortable with open questioning, debate and criticism of its policies.

I should note that Congress established the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission in October of 2000 for the purpose of monitoring and investigating issues related to the national security dimensions of the bilateral economic trade and financial relationship between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China.

We are charged with providing an annual report to Congress with our findings and recommendations, for legislative or administrative action. We made our first such report to the Congress in July of last year. Since then — despite our nation’s continuing focus on the global war against terror, and the problem of weapons of mass destruction — developments in the world have not, in my view, diminished in any way the importance of the subjects we are charged to evaluate. China -- with its continued rapid growth, unmatched level of inward investment and further embedded in the web of global commerce and finance -- is a country to be reckoned with economically. Moreover, China’s economic growth and technological progress are closely linked to its military modernization and political influence in the region. China’s proliferation policy and practices — a perennial cause for concern — remain in sharp focus partly due to the burgeoning nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. A big question is: will China be part of the proliferation problem or the proliferation solution in the months ahead? Thus it is fair to say that the events in China matter greatly to the United States economy and national security today, and we as a country need to continue to monitor closely the dynamics of these implications.

In February of this year, the Congress provided us further guidance for our work. Our new legislative mandate reiterates the need for us to focus on such key issues as China’s compliance with WTO obligations, its proliferation policies and practices, the connection between China’s economic reforms and US economic transfers to China, China’s role in the world energy sector, China’s access to US capital markets, and the nature and scope of US investment in China.

Specific to today’s hearing, our revised charter also tasks the Commission with evaluating Chinese government efforts to influence and control perceptions of the United States and its policies through the Internet, the Chinese print and electronic media, and internal propaganda. We are also directed to assess China’s fiscal strength to address potential future challenges to internal stability and the likelihood of externalization of such problems, and to assess China’s economic impact on the region, including economic and security relations across the Taiwan Strait. The unfolding SARS situation has brought into greater focus, I think, traits of the Chinese system in all three areas: media control, fiscal strength, and regional economic impact.

In a moment we will begin by hearing some perspectives on these issues from Senator Nelson, Senator Burns, and Senator Kyl. Later we will be hearing expert commentary from three groups of panelists who are intimately involved in tracking China’s media, its economy and the information control efforts of the Chinese Government. Representative Chris Cox will be joining us around 11:00.

For more on the specifics of how our day will unfold, let me turn the microphone over to my esteemed hearing co-chair, the Commission’s Vice Chairman, Dick D’Amato.