BEIJING, March 9 (Reuters) - China urged the U.S. Congress on Thursday to grant it permanent trading privileges in the U.S. market unconditionally and said failure to do so would hurt American businesses in the Chinese market.
"If this issue cannot be resolved, it will be detrimental to the interests of U.S. enterprises in China and harm their competitiveness against other WTO members," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters.
President Bill Clinton sent legislation to Congress on Wednesday that would grant China permanent normal trade relations (NTR).
China now gets that status only after an annual congressional review which casts an unflattering light on Beijing's record on human rights, weapons proliferation and its threats to the neighbouring island of Taiwan.
Permanent NTR legislation, as proposed by Clinton, would guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to U.S. markets as products from nearly every other nation.
Granting China's permanent NTR status would complete a U.S.-China deal reached last November on Beijing's application to join the World Trade Organisation.
Beijing must still wrap up talks with the European Union and other WTO members to enter the Geneva-based body, which sets global trading rules.
Most U.S. senators say they will vote for the permanent NTR legislation, but it faces stiff opposition in the House of Representatives from labor unions and their Democrat allies.
Some lawmakers have warned Beijing it has imperilled the legislation by issuing military threats against rival Taiwan ahead of presidential elections on the island due on March 18.
Clinton aides are pressing for passage by June, fearing further delay could bog the legislation down in politics before the U.S. presidential election in November.
The White House is pressing for a swift vote in the Senate, hoping to score an early victory that would put pressure on a bitterly divided House of Representatives.:
