Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
May 21, 2000, Sunday 2 STAR EDITION
SECTION: OUTLOOK; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 820 words
HEADLINE:
Texas' high-tech future riding on freer China trade
BYLINE: MICHAEL D. CAPELLAS; Capellas is president and
chief executive officer of Compaq Computer Corp. here.
BODY:
THE upcoming vote in Congress on establishing
permanent normal trade relations with China is critical to U.S. economic
interests, to the U.S. high-tech industry and to Texas. Congress must vote
"yes."
A vote for permanent normal trade relations, or
PNTR, will stand upon a 20-year unbroken history of annual
congressional votes to give China the same tariff treatment that the United
States extends to nearly every other country in the world. The difference this
time is that the United States will receive unprecedented Chinese market-opening
benefits in return.
The China trade debate poses important questions:
How can we ensure that U.S. and Texas businesses will have
access to China's huge, growing market?
How would the U.S.
economy be affected by a vote against the bill?
How will
extending permanent normal trade relations help or hurt U.S. employment, human
rights in China and America's national security?
The answers all point
to a vote for PNTR. Normalizing trade with China will
significantly advance the economic interests of U.S. and Texas businesses -
including high-tech businesses and their hundreds of thousands of employees.
The continued success of U.S. businesses depends heavily on exports.
China represents one of the fastest growing markets for U.S. high-tech products
and services, which is significant since U.S. high-tech companies account for 30
percent of U.S. economic growth. With Texas second only to California in
high-tech employment, the stakes for Texas-based high-tech companies and their
employees are high.
China is expected to become the world's second
largest personal computer and telecommunications market by the end of this year,
and the third largest semiconductor market next year. China's Internet use is
growing dramatically - from 1 million users in 1998 to an estimated 20 million
in 2000. Normalizing trade with China will open doors for U.S. high-tech
manufacturers and service providers into this enormous market. If Congress
denies permanent normal trade relations, the U.S. risks losing both existing
business and the opportunities presented by an open Chinese market to European
and Asian competitors that will take our place and benefit from China's market
opening.
In an agreement reached last November to secure U.S. support
for its entry into the World Trade Organization, China made substantial,
unilateral concessions lowering trade barriers to U.S. businesses - from high
tech to automobiles to agriculture. Under this agreement, China will operate
under the same trade rules that the United States has operated under for
decades. China will eliminate tariffs on high-tech products. It will for the
first time permit U.S. high-tech companies to sell the products we manufacture
elsewhere directly to Chinese customers. China will allow U.S. high-tech
companies to offer services and invest in the Internet sector.
In short,
the agreement will free U.S. and Texas high-tech companies to compete openly and
vigorously in China's fast-growing market. But the agreement will mean nothing
to U.S. companies if Congress votes against PNTR, since China
would then be free under WTO rules to deny the benefits of its market-opening
commitments to U.S. companies.
Those opposed to the China trade bill
generally agree on the economic benefits it offers to U.S. companies and their
workers, but they criticize China's poor human rights record, its threats
against Taiwan and the history of past trade agreements. Their concerns are
valid, but voting against PNTR will do nothing to address them.
It will not free a single prisoner, make Taiwan any safer or force China to
comply with past trade agreements. Defeating the bill would reduce U.S.
political leverage over China. The newly elected president of Taiwan has called
upon Congress to grant PNTR. And the WTO is a strong mechanism
to enforce trade agreements.
A vote by Congress for permanent normal
trade relations will bring China into the world economy on the terms governing
the trade practices of the WTO's existing 134 member countries. Facilitating
China's entry into the WTO as its 135th member will strengthen the rule of law
in China and will subject China to the WTO's dispute settlement system - an
effective mechanism for enforcing trade commitments. Opening China's
information-technology market to vigorous competition will increase the flow and
exchange of information within China and between China and the rest of the
world.
Bringing China into the world community promises great economic
and other benefits. Opposing normal trade relations would thwart U.S. and Texas
economic interests and the promise of improving conditions in China. For U.S.
and Texas high-tech companies to tap the potential of the Chinese marketplace -
and for Chinese citizens to benefit from a more open society - Congress must
vote "yes" on permanent normal trade relations with China.
GRAPHIC: Drawing; Weiner Zeitung,
Vienna/Austria
TYPE: Editorial Opinion
LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2000 
