BEIJING, March 9 (AFP) - China Thursday demanded the United States grant unconditional normal trade status, warning that attaching conditions would harm US companies' interests in China.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said any conditions to permanent normal trading relations (NTR) status would contravene the Beijing-Washington agreement struck in November on China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"The Chinese government is always of the view that permanent NTR should be passed completely and in a once and for all manner and no conditions should be attached to it," Zhu said at a regular press briefing.
"If this issue cannot be thoroughly resolved it will be detrimental to the interest of US enterprises in China," Zhu said, noting that the United States should "consider its own interests and swiftly grant" permanent NTR.
He was speaking after President Bill Clinton on Wednesday sent a bill, aiming to give China permanent NTR, to a US Congress split on the issue and ready for a bruising fight.
Clinton warned that failure to approve the bill "will cost America jobs as our competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere capture Chinese markets that we otherwise would have served."
Permanent NTR would replace an often acrimonious annual review in which Congress sharply criticizes Beijing on human rights and security matters before cutting tariffs on Chinese goods to the same low level enjoyed by all but a few US trade partners.
Under an accord forged in November, China agreed to sweeping tariff cuts and other measures to make its huge domestic market more accessible to US goods and in return, the United States agreed to back China's WTO entry.
The November accord "would be meaningless without the US granting permanent NTR to China," Zhu said.
Permanent NTR faces vigorous opposition from US organized labor, a crucial Democratic constituency which sees low-wage Chinese workers as a threat to US jobs and has demanded labor and environment side agreements as the price of their support.
A key US Republican senator last week said he was considering introducing legislation to give China permanent NTR, but said he wanted to add amendments to boost US efforts to curb weapons proliferation by China.
"We can't amend the bilateral treaty with China, but we can amend the permanent NTR legislation in ways that have nothing to do with trade," Senator Fred Thompson said.
He said the amendments could include an annual review mechanism, and a new multilateral export control regime. They would also incorporate parts of a Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (already passed by the House of Representatives) and passing legislation to bring greater transparency to foreign companies using US capital markets.
The Chinese spokesman Thursday said the NTR issue would be on the table during the upcoming visits of US Secretary of Commerce William Daley and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to China.
Zhu noted that in the past the United States had attached preconditions to its annual renewal of China's normal trading status and that had "seriously affected bilateral trade relations."
While China crossed its biggest hurdle to WTO entry by signing the November accord with the United States, it has yet to sign similar pacts with 12 more countries or trading blocs. The European Union remains a prominent trading partner yet to reach agreement.
Intense trade talks with the European Union broke up without agreement last month.
EU Foreign Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy will visit Beijing on March 27 to settle final political details on the issue, a commission spokesman said in Brussels Thursday.:
