US sets in motion damage control on anti-China Bills

WASHINGTON, Nov 8: The Clinton administration has urged the Senate not to approve an amendment Bill passed by the House of Representative t...

WASHINGTON, Nov 8: The Clinton administration has urged the Senate not to approve an amendment Bill passed by the House of Representative to delay nuclear exports to China, a senior us official has said.

Barely after few days of United States’ lifting of ban on nuclear sales to China, the House of Representatives passed the amendment to delay any US nuclear exports to Beijing, citing country’s nuclear and missile proliferation activities in Pakistan.

“US officials share a lot of concerns that members of Congress have about proliferation, about human rights, about trade,” Susan Shirk, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific said yesterday.

Describing the legislation as “counter-productive” to US goals, Shirk said “we hope and believe that Senate will not act on these Bills and that they will not become law.”

By a massive 394 votes to 29, the House passed the amendment moved by Republican Congressman Benjamin Gilman, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and Democrat Edward Markey, co-chairman of the bipartisan task force on non-proliferation, to extend the Congressional review period for licensing of nuclear exports to China from 30 days to 120 days.

Congressman Frank Pallone, founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus for India and Indian Americans, said the Clinton administration was not giving sufficient consideration to China’s recent transfer of nuclear technology to unregulated nuclear facilities in Pakistan and Iran.

The amendment, Pallone, Gilman, Markey and others noted, will simply give Congress a chance to examine the administration’s agreement and allow for a vote on a joint resolution of disapproval.