Hearing on “Evaluating China’s Past and Future Role in the World Trade Organization”
Opening Statement of Chairman Daniel M. Slane
June 9, 2010
Washington, DC
Good morning and welcome. My name is Dan Slane and I am the chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. This bi-partisan Commission was created by Congress in 2001 and was charged to examine, among other things, the national security implications of our nation’s trade and economic relationship with China. The key sponsors of the legislation that created the Commission were prompted to do so by statements that Sandy Berger, then the national security advisor to President Clinton, made during the debate on China’s admission to the WTO. He said it was in the national security interest of the United States to extend to China most favored nation status and to support China’s entry into the WTO.
Since 2001, this Commission has submitted seven reports to Congress, four of which were unanimously supported by the Commission and two of which were adopted by votes of 11 to 1. Both our 2008 and 2009 reports were adopted unanimously. In our reports, we have been calling for changes in how we conduct our economic and trade relations with China.
This is the sixth hearing of the Commission this year. Our next hearing will be held June 30 and will concern the Chinese government’s restrictions on information. Our final hearing of this reporting cycle will be held July 14 in Toledo, Ohio. In that hearing the Commission will examine our nation’s efforts to develop alternative and renewable energy, or green technology, as well as China’s efforts to become the leading developer and producer of such technologies.
We have an excellent line up of speakers today and I wish to thank them for the thought and the effort that has gone into their written testimony. The written testimony will become part of the public record and a transcript of today’s hearing will be posted on our website, at WWW.USCC.GOV. The written and oral testimony will also aid the Commission in its preparation of our Annual Report to Congress, which will be published in November and which will contain our recommendations to Congress for new policies and legislation to deal with our overall relationship with China.
Each of our panelists will be asked to limit their opening remarks to seven minutes. This will in some cases require them to summarize their written testimony. But this will allow for a longer question and answer session. As an aid to our panelists, we have three traffic lights. Please try to quickly wrap up your testimony when you see the red light.
In addition to our panelists, we will also be joined today by several members of Congress. At this time, of high unemployment in the United States, it is important to remember that our international trade policies can have a profound effect on job creation in this country. We expect that Members of Congress will be addressing the problems created for our nation by the massive trade imbalances with China which result, in part, from unfair trade practices such as China’s currency manipulation.
Now, I’d like to introduce my co-chair for this hearing, Patrick Mulloy.