06 April 2000
Transcript: Secretary Daley's April 5 Arrival Remarks in Beijing
(Prelude to visit by Congress members undecided on PNTR) (1730) The U.S. Secretary of Commerce is meeting with Chinese officials as a prelude to a congressional visit that he hopes will convince U.S. Congressmen of the necessity of passing the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) agreement with China. William Daley arrived in Beijing April 5 for meetings with China's President Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji and other senior governmental officials as well as business people in both the Chinese and American communities. He will be discussing China's ongoing reforms and ways to enhance China's transition to a rules-based global trading system. Daley will also co-chair the Thirteenth Session of the U.S.-China Commission on Commerce and Trade. The focus of this meeting will be steps that China is taking to reform its legal and commercial systems in order to become a member of the World Trade Organizations (WTO). Daley will return to China later this month with a delegation of members of the United States House of Representatives who have not decided their positions on PNTR. He said it is important for undecided U.S. congressmen to meet Chinese business people and government officials and see first hand the changes taking place in as a result of China's commitment to join the WTO. "Within the next few days and over the next few weeks," Daley said, "I will be working vigorously to strengthen our ties, to secure passage of NTR, and help China become a member of the rules-based international global trading community." Following is a transcript of the press conference: (begin transcript) Secretary Daley's Arrival Remarks in Beijing PRESS CONFERENCE William Daley U.S. Secretary of Commerce April 5, 2000 Upon Arrival in Beijing, China Good evening and I am very happy to once again to be back in Beijing. This is my fourth visit in three years and it comes at a most important time for the U.S. and China's relationship. I am here for two very important reasons. As many of you know, since my last visit the President has asked me to help lead an effort to secure passage of permanent normal trade relations by our United States Congress. We expect this vote to take place by the last week of May, which is a mere eight weeks away. It is one of the most critical votes that this Congress will take in regard to the future of U.S.-China relations, both political and economically. Q: (APTN) Does China's human rights record pull voters away from the way you would like to see them go? Daley: It is definitely an issue of great concern to the members, not only the members of Congress but to the American people. We have on every occasion that we have met with leaders of China, from our President on down to mere Secretary of Commerce, spoken on this issue. As you know, Secretary Albright was in Geneva two weeks ago to speak on behalf of her resolution, not only about China but a number of other countries. So this is an important issue to us and it does not help, obviously, in gathering votes for those members who consider human rights and difficulties of human rights in China as paramount to them. On the other hand, that is why I think it is very important that members of Congress come to China and speak with people and find out exactly what is going on, on the ground, and not hear second or third or fourth-hand about the realities and difficulties in a country such as this with a billion two hundred million people. Q: (Bloomberg) I was wondering if the failure of the EU and China to reach an agreement on WTO will make it more difficult to pass PNTR in the U.S. Congress? Daley: I think it does make it more difficult. I think it was disappointing. I spoke with Pascal Lamy and he was disappointed. We would hope that they would be able to get back together at some point and see a resolution of their issues. Both sides have publicly stated that the differences are not that great, number-wise, in the issues that have to be resolved. They are important, obviously, to both countries. The EU can be a major trading partner and it should be an important relationship for China. And we would like to see that brought to resolution. And if it is, I think that would give great impetus to the positive attitude about passing PNTR in Washington. So I would hope very much that it would be completed sometime by mid-May. And if it is, it would be a real positive for us, and for China obviously. Q: (Kyoto) I was wondering if you might be able to paint a picture for us of the road ahead in the event that Congress does not pass PNTR? What are you going to talk to the Chinese about, are they going to ask you this question? Daley: Well I am trying to be more optimistic and positive, forward-leaning. The Chinese have stated that they would not give the U.S. the benefits under the WTO that we would get if we grant them PNTR, which would be a disadvantage for U.S. companies in attempting to do business. And I would assume if that happened, you would see the EU come to a conclusion rather rapidly with the Chinese and their disagreements. So I think it would have a serious negative impact on the U.S. commercial relationship. And I would imagine it would impact politically our relationship. I think there would be great disappointment. China went a very long way in their commitments in our agreement, and we know the depth of need for change that has to occur to live up to those commitments, and China has repeatedly stated their strong desire and intent to implement and to follow the commitments that were reached. So it would be a difficult period, obviously, economically and commercially, for U.S. business interests in China if it were to fail. That is one of the issues we were pointing out to the members of Congress, obviously, that this is really a [serious] situation. Our market, -- and we have said this repeatedly, and you can look at the trade deficit that we have with the world, -- is and has been for fifty years primarily an open market. China's has not been. China is in the process of going towards a very open market; and that should be good for U.S. companies, because they have proven around the world that where there is an open market they can be very competitive. Q: (AP) What are the biggest things that your are looking for to come out of this meeting of the JCCT? And do you think any of the work that you will do on this visit to China will have any influence on Congress' decision? Daley: First of all, I would hope that it would. I would have hoped that this sort of regular meeting that we been having not just over the last couple of years, but the fact that this is the thirteenth meeting, and this commission was started under a Republican President, Republican administration.... I think that the length of these relationships is important within our ministries, MOFTEC and the Department of Commerce. And we have a number of other agencies that join us. We have the Agricultural Department and the Small Business Administration on this visit. I think that is good for long-term relationships. Specifically, what we want to do is get -- other than some issues like CDMA and other issues that we are going to talk to different ministries about -- as far as the actual JCCT, we are going to spend a lot of time talking about many of the commitments and changes that have to happen to meet the commitments under the WTO. Not just the commitments made to the United States but the commitments made to the global trading partners who are members of the WTO. A lot of this JCCT will be about that, because there is a concern about the ability to implement the commitments. The breadth of commitments are rather broad and deep and real. And China again has repeatedly stated very emphatically, and they are moving forward to have to change their laws and implement change in order to fulfill those commitments which have been made. Obviously, China does not want to make a bunch of commitments and then not be involved in hundreds of disputes - in the dispute settlement process in the WTO which has proven to be fairly effective in many cases, when people go to the WTO. So one of the very positive things for the U.S. that we look at in China's entry into the WTO is getting China into a multilateral dispute settlement process. Q: (Public Radio International): A slightly prickly question on the degree to which China and the legal structure here are not able to implement the agreements that they have made. Can you give a rough estimate of how many years or how long, how far China has to go before they are able to actually implement these agreements? Daley: It a hard question, obviously, to answer. I think they are going to find out that once they get in, obviously, there are some transitions, [such as] lowering of tariffs, [that] there are periods in which those are done. So the commitment isn't just "Day One, all of the commitments." But I am sure [that] not just the U.S., but lots of other trading partners will be watching, and wanting to file dispute settlement cases if those commitments are not lived up to, and in some ways it maybe easier to make the changes and to implement them and get some dispute settlement process going with some form of legal system, than to find themselves being battered about in a multilateral process day in and day out in Geneva. Again thanks very much and I assume will see each other somewhat often over the next two days and then next week when we are back. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)
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