|
Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Church says it's neutral on China trade bill
Deseret News 24May00 N1
By Lee Davidson: Deseret News Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC -- An LDS General Authority expressing strongly-held
personal views apparently led some journalists to wonder if the LDS Church had
taken a position on the Chinese free trade bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday. Elder Donald L. Staheli of the Seventy met
with some members of Congress prior to the vote on the measure and
expressed his personal opinion of the leglislation. But at least one of the members of Congress that he spoke to said that Elder Staheli made it clear that
the Church wasn't taking a position.
But because of the publicity, the LDS Church issued a statement
yesterday indicating that it had no position on the legislation. "The
church has taken no position on the PNTR legislation pending before Congress, and the First Presidency has expressed no opinion and made no requests with respect to it. In this matter, as in all others, the church expects that all
lawmakers will vote their consciences and their views of the best interest of their country," the statement said.
A subsequent statement to the Deseret News clarified the situation,
"Donald L. Staheli has long-established relationships with China going back over 20 years, including serving as former chairman of the U.S.-China
Business Council. His communications reflected strongly held personal views on
the importance of trade in improving international relationships, human
rights, and religious freedoms." Staheli, second counselor in the
Central North America Area Presidency, once headed a large grain company. Grain
companies tended to favor the legislation because it opened foreign markets to
their products.
Meanwhile, LDS members of the House generally voted for the measure,
with the exception of Utah representative Merrill Cook. Cook has
historically voted against liberalizing trade with China because of human rights concerns. In addition to Utah's other Republican congressmen, Chris
Cannon and Jim Hansen, other LDS congressmen voting for the measure
included California Republicans McKeon and Packard and Oklahoma
Republican Ernest Istook. Among non-LDS Mormons, both of the Udalls, Mark
Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico, both Democrats, voted against the bill.
The vote comes less than a month following the recommendation of the
U.S. Commission on International Relations that the U.S. delay giving
China permanent normal trade relations status. Commission vice chairman
Michael Young, an LDS Church member and Dean of the Georgetown University
School of Law in Washington DC, said at the time, "We have not said China
should not be granted PNTR. We have said that it should make substantial
improvements in religious freedom before Congress votes to do so or before PNTR
takes effect."
See also:
LDS Commissioner Calls China Peril To Religion
and
First Presidency Reaffirms Policy on Pending Legislation
LDS Church Press Release 23May00 N1
and
China Trade Relations Working Group
|
