[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 127 (Monday, September 27, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            CHINA NEEDS TO JOIN THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 27, 1999

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, many of us were hoping that progress could 
be made on a United States-China agreement for China's accession to the 
World Trade Organization [WTO] at the recent mini-summit meeting 
between President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang in Auckland, New 
Zealand. With the new WTO round beginning in Seattle, Washington, at 
the end of November, the time left to reach an agreement, and for China 
to join the WTO at the Seattle ministerial meeting, has almost run out. 
China needs to be in the WTO. And, China's accession to the WTO is in 
the short and long term interests of the United States and all the 
developed countries who are members of the WTO. Accordingly, this 
Member recommends the following editorial from the Wednesday, September 
15, 1999, Journal of Commerce which comments on the Clinton-Jiang 
meeting and makes a strong case for China and Taiwan's accession to the 
WTO.

           [From the Journal of Commerce, September 15, 1999]



                         Clinton and Jiang Meet

       The rhetoric was typically overblown, but the idea that 
     Sino-American relations are moving back to what passes for 
     normal is a cause for some relief.
       A minisummit between Presidents Clinton and Jiang ``opened 
     up a new chapter for Sino-U.S. relations,'' enthused one 
     high-ranking U.S. official after their private session during 
     the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum gathering in New 
     Zealand last weekend. ``The summit is significant,'' 
     proclaimed Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who had her 
     own session with Chinese Vice Premier (and former foreign 
     minister) Qian Qichen along with Samuel Berger, Clinton's 
     national security adviser.
       Relations between the United States and China are 
     important, both for trade and economic reasons and for 
     military and strategic ones. They go through regular if 
     unhelpfully exaggerated turmoil over such things as Taiwan, 
     intellectual property and market access and were badly 
     bruised by the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
       Chinese outrage was fully understandable and its inherent 
     suspicion of ``mistakes'' fueled an age-old xenophobia. 
     Nobody benefits from that kind of inward-focused China.
       Many of the strains in Sino-American relations arise from 
     the sort of everyday differences that a more mature and 
     confident China would brush off (but keep around as a 
     bargaining chip at some future time, as all powers do). For a 
     country that claims the pioneering role in the art of 
     diplomacy thousands of years ago, its mandarins often seem 
     strangely given to flying off the handle.
       In one of the more important unresolved issues--China's 
     membership in the World Trade Organization--both sides are at 
     fault. The Clinton administration muffed a great opportunity 
     during the April visit to the United States of Premier Zhu 
     Rongji, who brought a surprisingly lengthy list of 
     concessions and agreements designed to break the logjam. He 
     was justifiably affronted by the rebuff.
       Similarly, China did itself no good by sulking for months 
     after the Belgrade bombing and then playing coy, suggesting 
     that while it would be nice to join the club China could 
     muddle through perfectly well on the outside.
       China patently needs the WTO, and the United States, 
     European Union and the rest of the trading world need it as a 
     member. The talks have dragged on for 13 years.
       Foreign investment, the spur to China's remarkable economic 
     growth in recent years, is declining. This is partly due to 
     the economic typhoon that swept Asia the past two years, but 
     also partly due to China's failure to cut red tape 
     sufficiently and to corral provincial and even municipal 
     bureaucracies fond of making their own rules. Investors have 
     plenty of good places to go and will go where they feel most 
     welcome.
       China has cut its tariff levels more deeply and widely than 
     any other big trading country, by as much as 50% in some 
     areas; the terms it offered were more generous than those of 
     many existing WTO members, such as India. Beijing still 
     dawdles for spurious reasons on opening financial services 
     fully--especially insurance--but must be given credit for 
     what it has done.
       The best way to get closer adherence to global rules is to 
     invite China into the game. The EU, previously also firm in 
     demanding more concessions before entry, long ago accepted 
     that enough was in place that the nitpicking should stop.
       Beyond the immediate issue lies that of Taiwan. By common 
     if misguided agreement, the dynamic little island won't be 
     allowed into the WTO until China gains entry. Never mind that 
     Taiwan has gone well beyond China and many other countries in 
     tidying up its trade behavior. Such is realpolitik, but 
     Taiwan deservedly gets a lot of good press.
       When Taiwan President Lee Ten-hui spoke of wanting 
     relations between the island and the mainland on a state-to-
     state basis, he may have been injudicious and he must have 
     known that Beijing would yelp. But the truth is that Taiwan 
     is the world's 14th-largest trading nation, has its third-
     largest hard currency reserves and few people outside China 
     swallow Beijing's fiction that Taiwan is a wayward province 
     subject for eternity to the risk of Chinese armed 
     intervention.
       The think tanks and professors are free to debate the 
     nuances of such things in their ivory towers for as long as 
     it amuses them. The real world needs China and Taiwan in the 
     WTO now. Clinton knows it, and he should make it happen.

     

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