mr. speaker , i rise in strong support of the resolution authored by the gentleman from california concerning the bid by cnooc ltd .  to purchase unocal corp .  mr. speaker , i remain fully committed to free and fair trade .  however , i do n't believe that this offer constitutes free and fair trade .  the offer also could threaten our national security .  this resolution would encourage immediate review of a merger agreement , which is authorized by the statute already , rather than waiting for bureaucratic processes to kick in .  acting quickly is important because national security reviews of proposed merger transactions often take months and can last over a year .  mr. speaker , a review of any unocal merger agreement with cnooc would be done by the committee on foreign investment in the united states , known as cfius , which was created pursuant to language inserted into the defense production act ( dpa ) nearly two decades ago .  it is chaired by the department of the treasury and includes commerce , homeland security , defense , state , the u.s. trade representative and other parts of the government .  the dpa is solely in the jurisdiction of the committee on financial services because it seeks to identify , stop or mitigate negative effects on the economy from our efforts to protect the nation 's security .  as chairman of the committee of jurisdiction , i believe it is critically important that the administration act quickly to review any merger agreement so that shareholders who would need to review potentially competing bids would have all relevant information at their disposal .  mr. speaker , the national security implications of a proposed merger between cnooc and unocal are unmistakable .  china 's appetite for energy is enormous .  i agree with the gentleman from ohio , mr. ney , that national security includes economic security here .  it is important for cfius to review the possibility that the chinese might divert from the united states all of unocal 's energy production to china to feed its energy appetites if a merger with unocal were to be completed .  i think we please consider the following facts : china 's consumption of crude oil is expected to double within the next two decades .  world production of oil exceeds capacity by the smallest margin in decades .  china 's need for energy is so great that electricity has been rationed to some factories , and the chinese are reported to be investing in technology to `` cook '' low-quality coal into gasoline .  this is costly , inefficient and has environmental problems .  china is the world 's largest economy without a meaningful strategic petroleum reserve .  the u.s.-china commission 's 2004 report to congress indicated that china 's strategy for securing oil supplies `` is still focused on owning the import oil at the production point ... ..  the chinese policy is to own the barrel that they import ... ..  to gain control of the oil at the source .  geopolitically , this could soon bring the united states and chinese energy interests into conflict. ' `` the united states , in contrast , has a free market strategy `` based on global market supply and pricing. '' the same report indicates that china `` plans to expand its strategic reserve to fifty to fifty-five days worth of oil imports by 2005 and sixty-eight to seventy days by 2010. '' so , as today 's washington post points out , it makes perfect sense that a majority-owned chinese oil company seeks to acquire control of oil and gas production and reserves .  make no mistake about it , mr. speaker , this offer comes from the chinese government .  cnooc is 70 percent owned by the chinese government .  one quarter of the funding for its cash offer comes at no or minimal interest rates .  if that is not a subsidy , mr. chairman , i do not know what a subsidy is .  news reports indicate that more than $ 5 billion of the unocal offer is available at no interest -- more than $ 2 billion of the bid -- or at 3.5 percent interest .  these are not market rates .  i absolutely agree with a spokesman for china 's foreign ministry , who is quoted in the post article as saying : `` we think that these commercial activities should not be interfered in or disturbed by political elements. '' by that i mean : without a chinese government subsidy .  mr. speaker , i would like to add that i doubt whether the cnooc proposal will result in a deal which would trigger cfius review .  the chevron offer will go to unocal shareholders august 10 .  the chevron offer now has all of the appropriate regulatory approval .  the cnooc offer comes late in the process and has not received any regulatory approvals to date .  it is far from clear , even with the chinese government subsidies , that the cnooc bid would be competitive with the chevron bid .  .  .  but that is a decision for unocal shareholders to make , not us .  mr. speaker , i urge immediate approval of this resolution and immediate review of any accepted cnooc offer for unocal .  as well , mr. speaker , i urge swift convening of a conference committee on a comprehensive energy bill for the united states , an adoption of the president 's comprehensive energy program for the u.s. and swift adoption of the conference report .  