As China continues to threaten an invasion of neighboring Taiwan and refuses to rule out helping Russia in its war with Ukraine, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said, in effect, "enough is enough."
In a surprise move, Smith recently co-sponsored legislation to revoke Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China. The chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) specifically cited Beijing's increasingly egregious human rights abuses as reasons for rending PNTR.
The New Jerseyan specifically pointed to former President Bill Clinton, who delinked trade with China from human rights in 1994. Since then, Smith charged, "The Chinese Communist Party has been growing into an economic power, stealing American jobs and intellectual property while getting an absolute pass for its heinous human rights abuses."
By returning to a linkage between trade and human rights, Smith said, Congress would "correct President Clinton's horrific mistake and return to the pre-Clinton norm — annual renewal of normal trade relations contingent on concrete progress on human rights."
Smith also promised that linking trade and human rights in the U.S. policy toward China would be a top priority of the China Commission.
So far, Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., is the only co-sponsor of Smith's measure. But other lawmakers of both parties are expected to soon join them.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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