Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (9821)	9/19/2000 5:54:03 PM
From: CIMA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Tuesday September 19 4:40 PM ET Senate Backs China Pact in Historic Vote By Adam Entous WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a victory for big business that could transform Sino-U.S. relations, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a bitterly contested bill granting permanent normal trade relations to China despite stiff opposition from organized labor and human rights groups. One of President Clinton (news - web sites)'s top foreign policy objectives for his final year in office, the legislation ends the 20-year-old annual ritual of reviewing China's trade status and guarantees Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to the U.S. market as products from nearly every other nation. In exchange for the benefits, China has agreed to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications, under the terms of a landmark agreement setting the stage for Beijing to join the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) (WTO) this year. Senate passage, by an overwhelming 83 to 15 margin, marks a turning point in relations between the world's richest nation and its most populous. Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York called it one of the most important votes since World War II. The White House said it would benefit the U.S. economic and national security. ``There's much more at stake here than our economic self-interest,'' Clinton said of the trade bill. ``It's about building a world in which more human beings have more freedom, more control over their lives, more contact with others than ever before; a world in which countries are tied more closely together and the prospects for peace are strengthened.'' Beijing's critics countered that the legislation would strengthen a Communist regime that oppresses its people, threatens Taiwan and proliferates weapons of mass destruction. North Carolina Republican Sen. Jesse Helms accused senators of ''selling out.'' The final Senate vote comes four months after a bitterly divided House of Representatives approved the trade bill, and caps an unprecedented lobbying campaign by business groups eager to tap the vast Chinese market place, potentially the world's largest with 1.3 billion consumers. In the House, labor unions fought unsuccessfully to defeat the trade bill, warning that the pact could cost hundreds of thousands of American workers their jobs as Chinese goods flood the U.S. market and companies move their factories to China to take advantage of lower wages. Human rights groups also opposed the bill, arguing that annual reviews of China's trade status were needed to keep pressure on Beijing. Others warned that the bill would exacerbate an already huge U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit a record $68 billion last year. In the Senate, a small but determined band of China critics tried to scuttle permanent normal trade relations by bogging it down with amendments -- the most contentious of which would have imposed sanctions on Beijing for its alleged role in weapons proliferation. But all the amendments were defeated. West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd blasted his colleagues. ``The signal we send by granting PNTR (news - web sites) now is a signal of abject weakness. It is a signal of greed.'' Historic Vote The China bill is Clinton's biggest trade policy victory since the passage in 1993 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which tore down barriers between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Earlier this year, Clinton signed a sweeping trade pact with Vietnam and successfully pushed through legislation extending billions of dollars in trade benefits to Africa, the Caribbean and Central America. But U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said the China pact was by far the ``most significant and far-reaching'' of the administration's accomplishments, drawing comparisons to President Richard Nixon's milestone 1972 visit to China. White House officials said the trade bill would bolster national security, and put pressure on the Communist Party to undertake political reform. Business groups, which spent millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers, said it would boost exports and create high-paying jobs. The Farm Bureau predicted that it could double agricultural exports to China. ``This legislation means that we've overcome the rising forces of protectionism,'' said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. In addition to granting permanent trade benefits to Beijing, the bill will set up a special commission to monitor human rights in China. Based on its findings, the panel would have the power to recommend sanctions, such as a halt to U.S. Export-Import Bank and U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. support for Beijing. China has already protested what it sees as U.S. interference in its internal affairs. But U.S. lawmakers concede they will face an uphill fight in their efforts to influence Beijing. U.S. trade officials were also preparing for the worst. Once China joins the WTO, the administration plans to launch its biggest-ever trade enforcement drive in hope of ensuring that Beijing lives up to its market-opening obligations. ``We're going to be hard-nosed,'' Barshefsky told reporters. ``Frankly, as difficult as PNTR seemed to be, that was the easy part. The hard part is going to be implementation. That is where the rubber meets the road,'' said Max Baucus of Montana, the ranking Democrat on the Senate subcommittee on trade.