Date: 2001-07-23
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. continuing under my reservation. I want to begin by thanking the gentleman from New Jersey for bringing this resolution to the floor and the help he has been in getting it here today. I think this is an important resolution. and it is an important message from the Congress of the United States addressing Chinas disgraceful record on child and forced labor. Many of us. along with the gentleman from New Jersey . have been raising this issue year after year as Congress has considered legislation granting special trade privileges to China. Mr. Speaker. 2 weeks ago nearly 3 million of our fellow citizens celebrated our Nations indepefidence on July 4. and millions of fireworks were set off in celebration of that great anniversary. Unknown to many Ameri.cans. millions of those fireworks may have been made by young Chinese children compelled to labor in dangerous factories to raise money for their schools. On March 6 of this year. 37 young Chinese school children were killed in an explosion that occurred while third and fourth graders were forced to manufacture fireworks at the Fanglin Elementary School. For years before the explosion. the parents of these children had pleaded with school administrators and government officials to end the practice of forced child labor. but their concerns were ignored. The conditions of the labor of these little children were hazardous. and the demands were unrealistic. The youngest children in the school were expected to mount at least 1.000 detonators and fuses into firecrackers per day. Children who were slightly older were each required to manufacture 10.000 firecrackers per day. It was only a matter of time before this kind -of tragedy occurred. And when it did on March 6. the first response of the Chinese government was to deny the facts and try to cover up the fact that the incident took place and try to fabricate a story. What we found out later. because of the bravery of these parents and because of some of the members of the press in China. the international journalists. we now know the truth about forced child labor in this school. A week after the Chinese government invented its story. the Chinese prime minister finally apologized for the incident and acknowledged that the firecrackers were manufactured in an elementary school. Prohibition on child labor is not only the standard for Western countries or developed countries. it is an internationally recognized labor standard that has been approved by the ILO of which the -United States and virtually every country of the world is a member. All children. no matter how rich or poor their country. deserve to spend their developing years learning in school. The children at the Fanglin Elementary School were denied that right. Unfortunately. nobody knows if the hundreds of thousands of firecrackers produced at the Fanglin Elementary School were eventually sold to stores and firecracker stands right here in the United States. However. if they did enter the United States market. it is a violation of U.S. laws which prohibit the importation of products made by forced labor. I have called upon the U.S. Customs Service and the Department of Labor to conduct an investigation to determine which products are produced under Chinese forced child labor. A few years ago. the Chinese government acknowledged that it was encouraging industries to move production into Chinese elementary and high schools. The government gave tax incentives to the businesses that set up their factories in the schools. While the -government claims that these school industries do not use child labor or forced labor. the case of the Fanglin Elementary School suggests otherwise. Over 700.000 Chinese elementary and high schools have industries manufacturing a host of products. and the U.S. Government must ensure that none of these child labor products are reaching U.S. consumers. I call upon the Secretary of Labor and the Commissioner of Customs to act on my inquiries and to ensure that the imports from China are free from forced child labor. Today the Members of the House can join in expressing condolences to the families of the children who died as a result of the exploitative labor conditions in Chinese schools and elsewhere in that country. Mr. Speaker. let us remember these children when we debate the issues on international trade in the future. Mr. Speaker. further reserving the right to object. I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio .