The New York Times / By ERIK ECKHOLM
BEIJING, Thursday, May 25 -- The Chinese government said this morning that the House was "wise" to approve normal trade relations.
But it expressed "severe concern and dissatisfaction" about conditions attached to the bill, including a new annual review of human rights, calling these an unacceptable effort to "interfere in China's internal affairs and damage China's interests."
On Beijing streets this morning, news of the approval was generally greeted with joy, tempered by worries about the wrenching economic changes that are expected as China frees up its markets to outsiders.
"That's fantastic," said Zhang Linan, 24, an accountant, as he heard the news on the way to work. "I think it will be a boost for our economic development, and personally it means more choices for us."
Many Chinese have placed enormous hopes on the nation's ensuing membership in the World Trade Organization, with its rules for market opening, as a force for dismantling inefficient state industries and modernizing the country.
And since most people yearn for cooperation with the United States, defeat of the bill would have been seen as a stinging betrayal.
"It's so good that it passed," said Luo Hui, 36, a computer programmer. "If Congress hadn't passed this law, it would have been a shock, a setback, a big international incident. Now we can get on with business."
While the government felt obliged to object to intrusive conditions the House attached, including formation of a human rights commission and an inquiry into prison labor, the top leaders were undoubtedly pleased with the bill's passage. President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Zhu Rongji have staked their prestige on China's entry into the global trading group and on closer economic ties with the United States.
The official statement, attributed to a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, said "it was wise of the House of Representatives to pass" the bill. He said it promised the development of "bilateral trade on a basis of equality and reciprocity."
But the side conditions, the official statement said, are "unacceptable."
The news from Washington should speed what is already a remarkable revival in Chinese-American relations since the bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade last year, during the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia. Still, foreign policy experts warn of pitfalls ahead.
"Before the trade vote in Congress, two big problems threatened Chinese-American relations: trade relations and Taiwan," said Xiong Zhiyong, dean of the Foreign Affairs College here. "Now there's only one."
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