DATE=5/25/2000
TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=U-S HOUSE APPROVES NORMALIZING CHINA TRADE
NUMBER=6-11838
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: The United States House of Representatives
passed a bill on Wednesday normalizing U-S trade with
China. Prior to the measure, the congress had to
debate renewing China's trading status each year, and
usually did so with an acrimonious display of rhetoric
pitting human rights against expanded trade.
The victory, by a surprisingly easy vote of 237 in
favor, to 197 against, was a major foreign policy
victory for President Clinton. The issue had been
bitterly debated in the House and in the U-S press for
weeks. It is scheduled to be voted on next month in
the Senate, where it is widely expected to pass
easily.
Wednesday's winning margin was achieved with active
support of the Republican majority in the House, but
with substantially less support from Democrats, who
worried about rewarding China despite its poor human
rights climate.
Because the vote was announced about 21:30 Universal
Time, (5:30 P-M Washington time) many international
newspapers had already published Thursday's or
Friday's editions and had no time to respond with
editorials. But some early reaction is available and
here is a sampling from ____________, with this week's
World Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: One of China's official newspapers, the China
Daily in Beijing, reported the news on its Internet
web site, noting:
VOICE: Supporters say the passage of the bill
[will] ... spur reform in China and benefit U-S
companies eager to enter the vast Chinese
market, while opponents argue that it would mean
fewer jobs for U-S workers.
TEXT: Computer users reading the Strait Times web
site from Singapore, saw extensive coverage shortly
after the vote. Beijing correspondent Mary Kwang
filed this from the Chinese capital, calling the vote
a "Boost for Jiang, and Zhu.
VOICE: ... passage of the trade bill has
boosted the positions of Chinese President Jiang
Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, who have promoted
very hard China's bid to enter the World Trade
Organization. ... The vote allows the Chinese
leadership to press on with economic reforms in
the country, in the face of resistance from
several quarters, which had opposed China's W-T-
O entry.
TEXT: Also on the Straits Times web page, there are
comments from the newspaper's Washington correspondent
Lee Siew Hua, who suggests:
VOICE: New paths in Washington-Beijing
relations are opening up with the normalization
of China's trade status, but the China debate in
the U-S will still be unresolved and
politicized.
TEXT: In a separate dispatch from the Chinese
capital, Ms. Kwang reports that at least one Chinese
think tank predicts higher growth for the huge nation
after it enters the World Trade Organization.
To Hong Kong now, where the press is significantly
freer than in the rest of China. The Hong Kong
Standard's reporter in Washington, Charles Snyder,
suggests some caution is required:
VOICE: ... as (U-S) supporters of mainland trade
prepared to savor the victory, new questions
arose in the Senate over differences between the
bills before the two chambers. ... The new
language was added [by the House Ways and Means
Committee] ... to assuage wavering members who
feared that [the bill] would strip away the
ability to pressure the mainland on human
rights, arms proliferation and other matters.
... If the Senate and House end up approving
bills with different wording, that would have to
be resolved in a joint conference, which [Senate
Majority leader Trent] ... Lott would like to
avoid. If both chambers cannot agree on
identical wording, the bill may be shelved until
next year.
TEXT: Moving on to Australia now, the Sydney Morning
Herald runs a dispatch in Friday's [5/26] edition from
Gay Alcorn in Washington and John Schauble in Beijing,
including these comments:
VOICE: China ...praised passage of the
legislation, but flatly rejected those
provisions setting up a human rights watchdog
and "any other irrelevant conditions." The
setting up by the U-S of a permanent commission
to scrutinize China's human rights performance
constituted direct interference in China's
internal affairs, said Ms. Zhang Qiyue, a
spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry. "This
is something we cannot accept," she said. "We
reserve the right to take further actions." ...
asked whether china's accession to the w-T-O
would lead to further political reforms, Ms.
Zhang said the process of opening up and reform
in China would continue "according to our own
national conditions" ...
TEXT: Here in North America, there was rapid reaction
from the Canadian daily, the Toronto globe and Mail,
which noted:
VOICE: This is a bilateral deal, but it is
enormously important for the rest of us. It
paves the way for China to join the world Trade
Organization. That would bring the world's most
populous nation under the umbrella of a rules-
based multilateral regime administering the
trading of goods and services. On balance, that
would be a positive development. /// OPT ///
Many of China's one-billion inhabitants do not
now participate to any great extent in the
global economy. But one day they will, and
sheer numbers will give them enormous power.
The prospect of an undemocratic China making up
its own rules to play commercial partners off
against one another is alarming. /// END OPT ///
TEXT: To Europe now, for first impressions in the
British Press, where London's Financial Times calls
the vote:
VOICE: A decisive foreign policy triumph for
President Clinton ... the resounding vote was a
bitter blow to organized labor, which had made
defeat of the China bill its top legislative
priority.
TEXT: And in Paris, Le Figaro Economie agrees:
VOICE: Bill Clinton has won a crucial victory
in Congress ... The president must share this
victory with the leaders of the narrow
Republican majority ... Paradoxically, the White
House and the Republican majority were on the
same side.
TEXT: Lastly, we go to Rome, where Italy's La
Repubblica writes:
VOICE: Thanks to an unusual cross majority ...
in which Bill Clinton sided with the Republicans
against the labor unions, some Democratic
representatives and Chinese dissidents, Congress
... [approved] the normalization of trade ...
with China... In practice, there will be no more
obstacles for China's entrance into the W-T-O
while "made in the U-S" products will be allowed
to enter the Chinese market with fewer
difficulties.
TEXT: With that comment from Italy's La Repubblica,
we conclude this sampling of early reaction to
Wednesday U-S House of Representatives' vote to
normalize trade with China.
NEB/ANG/JP
25-May-2000 16:12 PM EDT (25-May-2000 2012 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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