By ANNE GEARAN Associated Press Writer
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - As part of a lobbying effort to convince Congress to pass a trade deal opposed by organized labor, President Clinton said Wednesday his administration will take members of Congress to China for a firsthand look at business opportunities there.
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and Commerce Secretary Bill Daley will escort skeptical House members on separate trips next month. The delegations will meet with Chinese government officials, business executives and religious leaders, Clinton said.
"It's very interesting to me that the more people go to China and spend time there, no matter what they do for a living or what their perspective is, the more likely they are to favor our bringing China into the world system of rule-based trade," Clinton said.
There was no immediate word on which lawmakers might travel.
The White House, which negotiated the trade deal last year, argues that China is offering a good deal in return for U.S. support for Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization, the global trade regulating body.
The White House wants Congress to grant permanent normal trading status to China, which would end the yearly fights over Chinese trade, human rights and other policies, and would be a step toward bringing China into the WTO.
Many of trade deal's strongest opponents are Clinton's fellow Democrats, and the White House has acknowledged it has a fight on its hands to win a vote in the coming months. Organized labor and many environmental groups claim China may abuse workers and the environment, or siphon jobs from American workers. Other opponents say smoothing trade with China amounts to a reward for repression and a poor human rights record.
Clinton noted some of those concerns during his speech to about 1,000 young, casually dressed computer workers at the cavernous new offices of UUNet, an Internet services firm on Washington's suburban high technology frontier.
"We have differences," Clinton said. "But think of this. You know how much the Internet has changed America, and we were already an open society."
Clinton said the upcoming vote is one of the most important Congress will make this year, and a "no-brainer" for high technology businesses eager to sell to China's 1.3 billion people.
"Let's look at what happens if we didn't do it. Today we've got a huge advantage in high-tech trade internationally. What would happen if we didn't take advantage of this? China will grow anyway and someone else - not you - will reap the benefits," Clinton said.
The president made the same argument later in a private meeting with several high tech executives from suburban northern Virginia, White House spokesman Jake Siewert said.
Siewert said several of the executives told Clinton they face steep regulatory and logistical barriers to trade in China now, and noted that European companies may end up with most of the Chinese business if there is no U.S.-China trade deal.
Clinton also asked for the executives' help lobbying Congress, Siewert said.
China is the world's fastest-growing telecommunications market. Some analysts predict China will become the world's second largest personal computer market by the end of this year, and the third largest semiconductor market by 2001.:
