DATE=5/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA TRADE / HIGH TECH REACT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262820
BYLINE=MAX RUSTON
DATELINE=SAN FRANCISCO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Leaders of the top high-technology companies
in the United States are welcoming the U-S House of
Representatives' vote in favor of permanent normal
trade ties with China. As we hear from V-O-A's Max
Ruston in San Francisco, the U-S high-technology
sector is expected to be one of the biggest
beneficiaries of increased trade with Beijing.
TEXT: U-S high technology firms, particular
telecommunications and computer software and hardware
companies, are among the strongest supporters of
improved trade ties with China. They say China is
growing at an extraordinary speed as a market for U-S
products in almost every technology sector, as it
pursues modernization.
Tim Bennet is vice president of the American
Electronics Association, the largest high-technology
association in the country, with more than 34-hundred
member companies.
/// BENNET ACT ///
The market potential there is large,
particularly for high-tech products, and U-S
industry is very anxious to have the opportunity
to participate in that market, especially in
light of the fact that we anticipate China's
successful accession into the W-T-O [World Trade
Organization] later this year, and our European
and Asian and Latin American competitors
certainly do intend to compete in that market,
and we believe we should be there also.
/// END ACT ///
As examples of China's importance as a market for
technology purchases, Mr. Bennet says that by the end
of the year 2002, China will be the world's second-
largest market for mobile telephones. By 2003 it will
be the third-largest market for semiconductor chips.
Next year it will be the second-largest market for
computers. And every year it is installing the
equivalent of one U-S regional telephone system.
Mr. Bennet has been trying to win over opponents of
normalized trade with China, who charge that
Washington is exchanging its conscience for trade
dollars. He says leaders in the U-S high technology
industry agree that China has serious shortcomings in
areas such as labor rights, environmental protection
and religious and political freedoms. But he says
they disagree over how to achieve change in the
world's most populous country.
/// OPT 2ND BENNET ACT ///
We do not disagree with the concerns. We
acknowledge those as legitimate and serious. We
disagree on the best way to address it. We feel
that just complaining on this side of the ocean
does not do anything to foster the type of
change that we would all like to see.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Technology-industry executive Tim Bennet says he
believes the best way to change conditions in China is
to ensure that it is fully engaged with the United
States and the rest of the world. He says that
eventually will speed up the process of establishing
higher standards in China for all types of rights and
freedoms.
Those sentiments are echoed by another technology-
sector executive, who says it will be hard to maintain
a totalitarian regime when people are constantly being
given new and better tools for communications with the
rest of the world. (Signed)
NEB/MPR/WTW
25-May-2000 17:00 PM EDT (25-May-2000 2100 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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