Copyright 1999 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York, NY)
November 16, 1999, Tuesday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: VIEWPOINTS; Page A48
LENGTH: 367 words
HEADLINE:
EDITORIAL / CHINA TRADE / BY CLINCHING THE ONCE-STYMIED U.S.-CHINA TRADE DEAL,
BOTH NATIONS STAND TO WIN.
BODY:
The trade
agreement that U.S. negotiators signed with China yesterday will be good for
American business in a multitude of ways, lowering Beijing's barriers to goods
from this country and spurring investment in China by U.S. firms. But that's
just a beginning.
In exchange, Washington will give its approval to
China's membership in the World Trade Organization, the body that oversees
global trade. WTO membership in turn will bind China more closely to other
nations and compel it to further liberalize its economy. That's something its
leaders know they must do to overcome inefficiencies that hamper economic
growth, but which could lead finally to greater political freedom , too.
Good stuff. But there's more to be done. A country can't be a WTO member
unless it has permanent "normal trade relations" status with it
trading partners. As U.S. law stands now, Congress s must approve China's NTR
status annually. That must be changed.
The Clinton administration
negotiated a similar trade pact with China last spring, but pulled it back in
the face of domestic political opposition from both the right-wary of dealing
with a Communist regime-and the left, concerned about China's poor record on
labor standards and human rights. Then U.S. war planes, attacking Serbian
installations in the war over Kosovo, mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy in
Belgrade, freezing progress on talks and giving free-trade opponents in China an
opening.
Now that the Chinese have overcome that opposition, the White
House must marshal its resources to overcome opposition here.
Both
Beijing and Washington hoped to get the new pact in place before the Nov.
30 high-level meeting of trade officials in Seattle, which is intended
to kick off a new round of global trade talks. The idea is to include China in
the forthcoming negotiations.
Beijing is unlikely to win admission to
the WTO by Nov. 30, because it still must work out similar trade pacts with
other leading trade nations. But at least the U.S. agreement gives China-and
officials working up the agenda for the Seattle meeting-some new and welcome
momentum. It is, as Chinese trade minister Shi Guangsheng said, a "win-win
deal."
LOAD-DATE: November 16, 1999
