Premier Zhu Rongji said on March 15 that he is confident that the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status for China will be passed by the U.S. Congress.

     "PNTR status for China is the basis and prerequisite for the China-US Agreement concerning China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO)," Zhu said at a press conference following the closing of the 3rd Session of the 9th National People's Congress ( NPC) this afternoon.

     The bilateral win-win agreement was won through hard efforts after 13 years of negotiations, and was reached under the direct leadership of President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President Bill Clinton, he said.

     It is a solemn agreement between the two governments, which have the responsibility to win approval from the congresses of both countries and make it into law, Zhu said, adding that the Chinese Government has made its due efforts and there is now no problem for the NPC to pass it.

     Zhu said that President Clinton has promised and did make efforts to get it passed by the U.S. Congress. He quoted Clinton as saying that if the U.S. Congress does not pass the PNTR status for China now, it will spend the next 20 years regretting for it.

     The premier added one sentence to Clinton's remarks that if the U.S. Congress does not pass the PNTR status now, it will not only be regretting for the next 20 years, but even in hundreds and thousands of years later. The U.S. people will feel regretful when they look back into this period of history, Zhu said.

     "I am fully confident of the wisdom and sensibility of the U.S. Congressmen," he said. "The PNTR will be passed."