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.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marginmike who wrote (26065)	4/5/1999 2:32:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

China Visit> China Tries to Close Gaps in WTO Talks Before Premier Zhu's Arrival to the U.S. Talks Will Cover Key Areas Such as Insurance, Agriculture By HELENE COOPER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WASHINGTON -- In a last-ditch effort to get his country into the World Trade Organization, China's vice minister of trade flew here over the weekend to try to close the remaining gaps between the U.S. and China before Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's arrival on Thursday. A flurry of concessions from China over the past six weeks has brought the two sides close to a deal for the first time in 13 years of negotiations. But they have been stuck for the past week, with Chinese officials maintaining that Beijing has done enough. Meanwhile, the Clinton administration, afraid of alienating Congress with a weak deal, wants more. Talks between Long Yongtu, Beijing's Vice Minister of Trade, and Robert Cassidy, America's chief China negotiator, were to begin Sunday night. If they prove fruitful, U.S. Trade Rep. Charlene Barshefsky would Monday join the negotiations. The two sides must still bridge gaps in several key areas, including insurance, agriculture and tariffs on chemical imports. Mr. Zhu arrives in Los Angeles on Tuesday to begin the first U.S. visit by a Chinese premier in 15 years; trade officials had hoped to reach a deal on China's accession to the WTO by his arrival in Washington on Thursday. Such an announcement would become the centerpiece of his U.S. trip. But his visit comes at a tense time in U.S.-Sino relations. China is furious with America and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for what Beijing sees as unwarranted foreign interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, Yugoslavia. China is especially sensitive to Kosovo because of the obvious parallels with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. Beijing leaders recently warned the U.S. to exclude Taiwan from any regional missile defense system. Beijing is also irked by U.S. plans to condemn China's human-rights record during the annual United Nations Human Rights Commission meetings in Geneva. Added to that is Capitol Hill's anger over Beijing's alleged theft of U.S. nuclear secrets. With such fertile ground for discord, trade is the only area where there is any chance of progress this week between President Clinton and Mr. Zhu. And already, U.S. industries are lining up to urge the Clinton administration to reach a deal. "I've been extremely impressed with the progress that's been made," said Rick Younts, Motorola Inc.'s senior adviser for Asian affairs. "We are at the point where we should try to resolve this during Zhu Rongji's visit." "What is the negative effect on the U.S. of allowing China into the WTO?" asks Henry Clements, chief executive of Clements Citrus Sales of Florida. Mr. Clements says congressional critics who say China should be kept out of the trade organization until it shapes up on human rights and nuclear proliferation are misguided. "You want to punish these people, but in the long run the U.S. will suffer," Mr. Clements said. But for President Clinton, it isn't just a matter of accepting what many companies consider a strong deal. To mute criticism in Congress, President Clinton's political advisers want to make sure the deal they get is rock solid and will attract across-the-board industry support. Trade analysts say that is a tall order since most trade negotiations involve some give and take. Ahead of Mr. Zhu's visit, Sunday's Los Angeles Times reported that former Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung told federal investigators that the chief of China's military intelligence secretly directed $300,000 from Beijing to help re-elect President Clinton in 1996. The paper cited sources familiar with Mr. Chung's grand-jury testimony. Government officials familiar with Mr. Chung's testimony confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been pursuing evidence that General Ji Shengde was the source of funds deposited into Mr. Chung's bank accounts, including a $300,000 transfer in August 1996. At least part of the transfer to Mr. Chung was handled by Liu Chaoying, who was Mr. Chung's business partner and a lieutenant colonel in the People's Liberation Army, officials said. A person familiar with Mr. Chung's testimony said that, rather than a Chinese government plan to curry favor with the Clinton administration through campaign donations, it was at least as likely that Gen. Ji and Ms. Liu were seeking private-business opportunities in Asia that might have benefited by their being able to claim a connection through Mr. Chung to President Clinton. "The evidence is far more consistent with Ji trying to do side deals behind the [Chinese] leadership's back, same with Liu" said this person. Many of Mr. Chung's assertions remain uncorroborated. Investigators are puzzled about why, if the $300,000 was intended to influence U.S. elections, only a small portion of it ultimately made it into Democratic Party coffers, for example. They also wonder why Chinese donors tried to cover up the source of the funds if the purpose was to curry favor with the Clinton administration. It is illegal for U.S. political parties or candidates to accept contributions from foreign sources. Mr. Chung, a Taiwan-born American citizen, pleaded guilty last year to election-law violations. He is cooperating with a Justice Department investigation of campaign-finance abuses, including a probe into improper foreign donations. Separately, a draft report by the Senate Intelligence Committee asserts that Mr. Chung and another donor, Ted Sioeng, were possible sources of Chinese government money, but the committee couldn't find evidence that other Democratic Party fund-raisers who made improper contributions were acting as conduits for Beijing. Mr. Sioeng has long denied funneling contributions from the Chinese. A spokesman for China's embassy in Washington denied any involvement in the 1996 elections. White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said the administration had no knowledge about the source of Mr. Chung's donations and declined to comment on "allegations regarding intelligence matters."