NLOT: China and NTR, WTO prospects in Congress (what our thread has already been saying):
Tuesday May 25, 6:10 pm Eastern Time
China spy report may stiffen Congress' trade stand
By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - The White House is likely to face a tougher congressional battle over renewing China's trade privileges after a report said Beijing stole nuclear weapons secrets from U.S. research facilities, analysts said on Tuesday.
But administration officials said they did not expect the report, released on Tuesday by a House of Representatives special committee headed by Rep. Christopher Cox, to affect trade negotiations with China.
''We do not envision the release of the report as necessarily impacting the negotiations,'' U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Jay Ziegler said.
The report had long been anticipated, and many of its conclusions about China's alleged efforts to obtain U.S. technology and to spy on U.S. research facilities had already been known because of leaks to the media.
U.S. negotiations with China over its request to join the World Trade Organization have been put on hold since NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade on May 7. The bombing, which NATO said was a mistake, sparked angry protests in Beijing against Americans.
Cox suggested at a news conference that the special committee's report should not be used to stop China's entry into the WTO.
''I personally think it is a very useful thing for the People's Republic of China to be admitted to the WTO on commercially acceptable terms,'' the California Republican said. ''I personally believe they have not met that standard thus far. I would separate that set of issues from security issues.''
Some analysts have suggested that passions may have to cool on both sides before a trade agreement can be reached and before U.S. lawmakers vote on renewing China's trade privileges for another year or vote on the issue of making trade relations permanent as part of the WTO trade deal.
Beijing, which has demanded a full explanation of the Belgrade bombing, has yet to give U.S. trade negotiators the green light to resume WTO trade talks. Willard Workman, international policy expert at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that signal may not come until late summer.
In the meantime, President Bill Clinton has to inform Congress by June 3 whether he intends to grant China another year of what used to be called most-favored-nation status and now is called normal trade relations. That status gives China to same low-tariff access to U.S. markets as nearly every other country.
Congress was expected to vote on the annual renewal issue by the end of July, when lawmakers are due to recess for summer vacation. But technically they do not have to vote on normal trade relations until early September. One administration official suggested that given the uproar over the China spying allegations, congressional leaders might decide to delay the vote until then.
Opponents of NTR say their hand may have been strengthened, given the atmosphere created by the report.
''There are a lot of different factors that are putting everything in flux,'' said Peggy Taylor, legislative director of the AFL-CIO, which opposes NTR for China. ''I don't think you can predict the outcome of this vote, which means there is an opportunity that has not been there in previous years.''
Greg Mastel, a trade analyst with the Economic Strategy Institute, said Congress was likely to go along with extending NTR for another year but the findings of the Cox report could make it much more difficult for China to get Congress to make such a status permanent when a WTO deal is reached.
''I think the permanent MFN for China is always going to be a tough vote,'' Mastel said. ''Congress likes to have the annual chance to make their views known on China. I don't think they are of a mind to impose dramatic sanctions against China, which would happen if you cut off MFN. On the other hand, I am not sure they are of a mind to throw China what will be seen as a big bouquet.''
Russell Smith, an international trade attorney with Willkie Farr & Gallagher, agreed that the report would make it harder to get Congress to approve permanent NTR for China as part of the WTO deal.
''It is definitely going to cast a cloud over the whole WTO issue,'' he said. |
