Johns Hopkins Gazette: May 5, 1997

Mr. Speaker!

House Speaker Newt Gingrich chose the occasion of a foreign policy address at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies on April 30 to announce that the United States should renew China's trade privileges for less than a full year in order to judge how China treats Hong Kong after it takes over the colony July 1.

He said that in this year of Hong Kong's reversion to China, "an appropriate signal would be to extend Most Favored Nation status to China for a period of time less than the customary 12 months."

Gingrich spoke to an audience that included Johns Hopkins President William R. Brody, SAIS Dean Paul Wolfowitz, students, faculty, staff and the press, as well as Asian diplomats based in Washington.

"If Beijing manages the transition well, it will substantially brighten the future of U.S. relations with China, as well as China's international standing in every national capital in the world. We are all watching intently," he said.

"If China fails this test, the simple truth is that its relations with every country on the planet will suffer," he added.


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