Leader says U.S. Senate likely to OK China deal
(Adds House vote in paragraph 10)
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Trent Lott said on
Tuesday Congress was likely to back a landmark trade agreement with China this year, but
also said tensions between Beijing and Taiwan and other disputes could torpedo the deal.
''China is going to have to watch its conduct,'' Lott told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a group lobbying Congress to
approve a trade agreement that would open Chinese markets and clear the way for Beijing to join the World Trade
Organization (WTO), which sets global trading rules.
But the majority leader added, ''I think we're going to do it. I really think we're going to get it done this year.''
In exchange for China reducing barriers in everything from agriculture to telecommunications, the Republican-controlled
Congress must grant Beijing favorable access to U.S. markets, so-called permanent normal trade relations (NTR) status. China
currently benefits from NTR, which must be renewed each year.
If lawmakers balked at the trade agreement, Lott said Congress should extend China's trade privileges into 2001 and take up
permanent NTR once a new administration is in place.
U.S. President Bill Clinton, free-trade lawmakers and their allies in the business community have launched an all-out campaign
to convince Congress to approve permanent NTR, which would guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to U.S.
markets as products from nearly every other nation.
Lott said it would be a difficult fight in an election year. Lawmakers have lashed out at China over escalating tensions with
Taiwan. They are also critical of Beijing's human rights record and its crackdown on the banned Falun Gong spiritual
movement.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has threatened to invade the island if it declares independence. Tensions
have increased ahead of Taiwan's presidential election in March.
Rebuffing China, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to boost military ties with Taiwan.
''They (the Chinese) must be careful how they deal with what's going on in Taiwan,'' Lott said. ''They are very susceptible to
doing things that can cause this (trade agreement) to blow up.''
In a White House meeting, the Mississippi Republican urged Clinton to shore up Democratic support for the pact.
U.S. labor groups, traditionally allied with Clinton's Democratic party, have launched their own grass-roots campaign against
the trade pact that could put Vice President Al Gore in a political bind.
Gore, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, is counting on labor's support at the polls in the November
election.
Union leaders have demanded China improve labor standards before Congress grants it permanent NTR.
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