By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Over Beijing's objections, a permanent U.S. commission will keep watch on China's human rights record under an historic trade bill headed for final passage.
Approved by the House of Representatives when it voted this week to grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China, there is little doubt the watchdog commission will win Senate backing in a vote expected next month.
"It's got to survive," Commerce Secretary William Daley, the administration's point-man in the China trade fight, told Reuters.
Supporters say the commission would keep pressure on China to improve human rights, labor standards and religious freedom, by monitoring alleged abuses and by issuing reports. It could also recommend sanctions against Beijing, so long as they were consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
The commission was demanded by many of the House Democrats and some of the Republicans who voted in favor of PNTR, which would end the annual ritual of reviewing China's trade status and permanently guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to U.S. markets as products from nearly every other nation.
Without the commission, Daley said, PNTR was doomed to fail.
Critics, led by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, have denounced the monitoring plan as "toothless," and have accused its chief architect, Michigan Democratic Rep. Sander Levin, of selling out to big business.
Predictably, Beijing has also lashed out at the proposed panel, calling it a pointless measure that only serves to interfere in China's internal affairs and "unacceptable to the Chinese government."
But trade sources said Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi has already tentatively accepted the human rights commission. The only question is when the Senate will vote on PNTR, and what other amendments may be offered.
"Ultimately, I don't see any obstacles to its passage," said John Czwartacki, Lott's spokesman. "It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when."
A Senate vote on PNTR is still expected in June, but aides said that could slip into July because of procedural hurdles posed by some lawmakers.
How It Will Work
The watchdog commission will operate year-round with a permanent staff and office.
It will be composed of nine members from the House and nine from the Senate, and include five presidential appointees, one each from the departments of State, Labor, and Commerce as well as two at-large members.
The commission will compile lists of victims of human rights abuses in China and submit an annual report to Congress and the president.
Under the legislation, the House International Relations Committee would be required to hold hearings on the report and could approve legislation based on the commission's recommendations.
Any sanctions proposed by the commission must be consistent with World Trade Organization rules.
These could include a cessation of U.S. Export-Import Bank and U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. support to China. Congress could also direct the president to oppose new loans to China from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Levin said he modeled the China panel after the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was set up by Congress in 1976 to keep pressure on the then-Soviet bloc.
White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said the proposed human rights commission for China would have "more influence" than the current system of year-by-year reviews of Beijing's trade status, which he called "nothing more than a ritual.":
