Zhu Arrives in Canada for Six Days to Strengthen Ties (Update1)
Zhu Arrives in Canada for Six Days to Strengthen Ties (Update1) (Updates with details of visit, adds
comments by government officials, Newbridge and trade statistics from 4th paragraph to end.)
Ottawa, April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji arrives in Canada tonight for discussions
on increased trade and opportunities for Canadian companies in the world's largest market.
Zhu, who is completing a U.S. tour, arrives in St. John's, Newfoundland, on the first leg of a six-day
trip that will take him 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) across the country, with stops in Ottawa,
Toronto, Calgary, Alberta, Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Friday morning, Zhu meets Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Ottawa to press for his country's entry
into the World Trade Organization. He then leaves for Toronto, where he addresses the Canada-China
Business Council, which has presided over a steady increase in Chinese imports in the past five years.
He ends his visit Tuesday in Vancouver. ''We would be very happy to see China enter the WTO,'' said
Leslie Swartman, spokeswoman for Trade Minister Sergio Marchi. They have significant commercial
interests that would be good to have under the obligations of the WTO.''
Zhu Confident
In comments last night to the Economic Club of New York, Zhu said the U.S. and China have almost
reached agreement for China to enter the WTO. ''Some observers think we're 95 percent there,'' Zhu
said. ''I think we're 99 percent there. We'll see the conclusion of an agreement.''
Canadian companies would benefit from even closer trading ties with China, including Brampton,
Ontario-based Northern Telecom Ltd. and Newbridge Networks Corp. of Ottawa, which are modernizing
the country's telecommunications industry. Last week, Sun Life Insurance Co. of Canada received
Beijing's approval to apply for a license to operate in the Chinese insurance market.
Earlier today, Newbridge Networks said it won a contract to supply telecommunications equipment to
the Guangdong Post and Telecommunications Administrative Bureau, one of 22 Chinese provincial
telcom authorities it already does business with. ''China is a very big market for us,'' said Newbridge
spokesman John Lawlor, adding that the world's most populous country has accounted for 8
percent-to-10 percent of Newbridge's annual revenue for the past four years. In the fiscal year
ending April 1998, Newbridge's revenue totaled C$1.62 billion.
Chinese Trade Surplus
Newbridge has helped foster telecommunications growth in China since it first entered that market 12
years ago and Lawlor said it expects continued growth in the years ahead.
China has been trying to secure its entry into the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade, since 1986. Membership would give more legitimacy to Zhu's economic
modernization plan, which he said is essential to foster sustained growth even though it involves
closing some state-owned plants and causes higher unemployment in the short term.
Since 1994, Canadian imports from China have doubled to C$7.650 billion, while Canadian exports to
that country have fallen to C$2.141 billion in 1998 from C$2.303 billion, Statistics Canada said.
Canada imports toys, footwear and clothing, while China buys Canadian shipments of minerals,
foodstuffs and industrial goods.
Separately, Chretien and Zhu will use a scheduled Friday meeting to discuss China's concern about U.S.
plans to develop an anti-missile defense shield that may include airspace over Taiwan. Canada wants
to express displeasure about aspects of China's human rights record and its detention of political
opponents. |
