Thurman backs China trade measure

By JIM ROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 18, 2000

U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman announced Wednesday that she is supporting the move to normalize trade relations with China.

The House Ways and Means Committee, on which Thurman sits, discussed the bill Wednesday and then passed it on a 34-4 vote.

Thurman voted in favor of the bill, but only because it called for the creation of a commission that would monitor China's human rights performance and tie that performance to trade privileges, and because it included a provision that would allow the International Trade Commission to investigate specific complaints that Chinese imports were damaging domestic producers.

"I think we lose an opportunity for this country if in fact we don't do this now," Thurman said during a telephone interview Wednesday morning. "I think this is our best chance."

A vote on the House floor is expected May 24. Thurman said she would vote no if the final version of the measure does not include those protections.

Thurman, a Democrat from Dunnellon, represents the 5th Congressional District, which includes Citrus and Hernando counties, west Pasco, and all or part of four other counties. Voters first elected her in 1992, and she has served in Congress ever since.

Thurman was among the House members who were still contemplating their position on the complex China question. The White House, business interests and the Senate generally support it; organized labor has opposed it.

Supporters of the plan have argued that a pact would increase sales of American goods to China and, by extension, help Florida workers. Citrus producers and high-tech firms especially are backing the plan.

But opponents have voiced strong opinions against the measure. Last week, about 40 demonstrators attended a labor-organized rally outside Thurman's office in Inverness. Labor representatives have said normalization of trade relations would take away U.S. jobs and send the wrong signal to Beijing, where human rights abuses remain a problem.

Thurman said she considered all those factors, as well as the direct pleas from labor organizers.

"The measure will not only open up Chinese markets to U.S. products, but it will also help the United States gain influence in China to promote important democratic reforms," Thurman said in prepared remarks after the committee vote Wednesday.

Those labor organizers were happy when Thurman voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades. Though she doesn't expect everyone to applaud her decision, Thurman noted that she studied this issue in the same way that she studied the others.

"I have done that same process," she said.

-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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