Date: 05/21/2000

Page: 1

Author: MENG YAN, Business Weekly staff

A vote granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to China should be "an economic and commercial decision" not a political one, said American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) China Executive Director Michael Furst last week.

He said it's much easier to look at the facts and make an economic decision.

"It is so much and so obviously in the interest of the United States to pass the bill," said Furst at a seminar held last week at Beijing University.

The opinion that granting China PNTR status will lead to increased unemployment in the United States, a major concern of trade unions opposing PNTR, does not hold water.

Economists generally agree that PNTR will be a job creator for both sides. Although some sectors of the US economy will lose jobs, other sectors will gain.

Critics point out that US trade unions have been making up "facts" to make PNTR look like a bad deal.

Trade unions have been trying to create a big problem which they tell workers they can help solve, and thus find reasons for their existence.

"But it is trade unions that are afraid of losing their jobs," a senior US economist commenting on US and China trade relations said at the seminar. But he declined to be named.

Furst said the United States is not doing China a favour by granting it PNTR status.

He said nothing new is being given to China because the country has obtained normal trade relations status each year anyway.

A positive vote will save the US Congress the trouble of debating this issue each year and nothing else, he added.

The American economist predicted that the bill will pass "if nothing bad happens to scare the people of the United States about China before the voting."

The House will open debate and vote on granting China PNTR status this week.

To prevail, the bill requires 218 votes in the 435-member House if all members vote.

Senate approval is expected if the House passes the bill because PNTR has broad support there.

The Clinton administration is working hard to get the bill passed. A US stateswoman said she has never seen the administration push so hard for anything else.

However, opposition to the bill is also very strong.

AmCham China Chairman Timothy Stratford said he is optimistic and aware that the battle is not over.

Furst called for the US Congress not to confuse China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its PNTR vote.

It's not a question of China's WTO membership that the US Congress is voting on, he said.

Once it settles agreements with all members, China will enter the WTO whether the US Congress agrees to give it PNTR status or not.

But denying China PNTR status will leave US firms vulnerable to possible Chinese discrimination. Under WTO rules, China will be allowed to single out American firms for discriminatory treatment.