"....From the jus' so's ya know Department....":
U.S. Commerce Chief Says China Committed to WTO Pact
BEIJING, Apr 7, 2000 -- (Reuters) U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley said on Friday the sweeping market-opening pledges China made to join the WTO would foster changes that would eventually answer the concerns of opponents of the trade deal.
Daley, on the first of two visits to the Communist state this month to campaign for key U.S. trade legislation supporting Beijing's entry to the World Trade Organization, touted China's commitment to broad change under the pact.
"The commitments made under the WTO agreement are rather substantial," Daley told reporters after discussions with Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng.
"We strongly believe that continuing opening and change will help not only the economic relationship, but the other relationships and political issues like human rights that are important to us," he said.
China's accession to the WTO will require dramatic legal reforms and diminish government control over the economy - developments that would over time buttress civil and political liberties, proponents of the trade deal say.
Daley, who met China's top leaders this week and held trade consultations with Shi, was set to return to Beijing next week with at least 15 U.S. lawmakers who are undecided ahead of a House of Representatives vote on China's trade status.
The vote on Permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status, scheduled for the week of May 22-26, is expected to be close, with Democrats siding with labor unions that oppose the bill based on Beijing's record on human rights and labor rights.
Human rights, "is an issue that I'm sure members of Congress will raise when they are here and will raise in the debate", Daley said.
He said he would take the congressional delegation to meet Chinese business leaders, especially those involved in the Internet and other new economy undertakings, as well as foreign executives and experts on China.
LEADERS BRIEFED ON OPPOSITION
Daley said he told President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji on Thursday he was confident Congress would vote to grant China permanent NTR status.
Congress cannot block China's WTO entry, but without granting Beijing permanent NTR the United States would not benefit from lower Chinese tariffs and other trade and investment concessions Beijing agreed to under a landmark trade deal in November.
Daley said he advised Jiang and Zhu about how sensitive the issue had become in Congress and the two leaders showed a sophisticated understanding of the politics.
"This vote is about the overall relationship, not just the economic relationship with China," Daley said.
He told reporters on Thursday he told Chinese leaders to expect "lots of comments made over the next few months - charges, allegations, hysteria going on as this heats up".
Foreign Trade Minister Shi reiterated on Friday China's demand for unconditional permanent NTR status to help China complete its WTO accession.
He said China had not received word from the European Union on when China-EU bilateral WTO talks would resume.
The two sides failed to reach an agreement on China's accession terms last week, which would remove one of the last remaining hurdles to Chinese entry into the world trade body.
UNFINISHED CDMA BUSINESS
Daley cited the stalled rollout of CDMA mobile phone technology in China as an item of unfinished business.
"Once again Premier Zhu Rongji mentioned, as did Minister Shi, his strong belief that CDMA is a technology that should be available in China," he said.
China agreed last year to roll out networks using the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) cellular standard, pioneered by U.S. company Qualcomm Inc.
But the plans were held up by regulators in Beijing just days after Qualcomm reached a patent licensing agreement with Chinese negotiators.
Last month, Zhu blamed the holdup on bureaucratic snags, saying the main phone company with plans to use CDMA had failed to coordinate with the Ministry of Information Industry before it began accepting contract bids by foreign equipment vendors.
"Zhu promised that he would encourage the ministry to move forward," Daley told reporters on Thursday.
Qualcomm would earn licensing royalties from a CDMA rollout, while North American telecoms manufactures such as Motorola Corp, Lucent Technologies Inc and Nortel Networks Corp could win meaty contracts. |
