By ASHLEY BAKER
WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- Acknowledging that trade alone was not likely to deter government-sponsored human rights abuses within China, Commerce Secretary William Daley told lawmakers on Tuesday that including Beijing in the world trading system would nevertheless create a better, more stable and safer world.
"Of course, the trade agreement with China will not, by itself, resolve serious human rights issues in China," Daley said. "(But) encouraging China to join the rules-based world trading system gives it a greater stake in the stability and prosperity of its regional neighbors and the rest of the world. It will create a better, more stable, safer world."
Daley also emphasized the importance of expanded trade with China for U.S. companies, saying it would provide "unprecedented access to a largely untapped market of over one billion consumers."
Daley's remarks before the Senate Commerce Committee mirrored closely the public statements of other White House officials that have been called to testify before lawmakers in recent weeks. At issue is whether Congress will permanently cede its power to raise tariffs imposed on Chinese imports above those leveled against other major U.S. trading partners. According to an agreement negotiated between U.S. and Chinese officials last November, China will lower barriers to U.S. goods and investment if the Washington agrees to keep tariffs at their current levels.
One expert who appeared before lawmakers on Tuesday, however, echoed a sentiment frequently articulated by House Democrats that approving the trade deal would exacerbate human rights abuses in China.
"As the Chinese Communist Party grows richer and stronger from this deal, part of its new wealth will go to upgrading its instruments of authority: the police and the military," said Harry Wu, current executive director of the Laogai Research Foundation and a onetime political prisoner in China. "Foreign investment will help them crackdown on the Falungong more efficiently, it will help them harvest organs from prisoners with better technology."
The normally pro-trade Senate is expected to support the deal, but its fate is less certain in the House of Representatives, which will vote on the measure sometime during the week of May 22.
A spokesman for Rep. Calvin Dooley, D-Calif., said pro-trade lawmakers are urging business leaders to step up their grassroots efforts by getting their rank-and-file employees to write letters to their representatives and senators urging support of the China trade deal.
Testifying last week before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce Justice, State, Judiciary and Related Agencies, the White House's point person for trade, Charlene Barshefsky, said that failure to approve the deal would allow other nations fill the gap by expanding their trade with China, leaving U.S. companies "frozen out."
"If Congress were to refuse to grant permanent normal trade relations with China, our Asian, Latin, Canadian and European competitors will reap these benefits but American Farmers, businesses and workers would be left behind," said Barshefsky, current U.S. Trade Representative.
Labor-intensive industries, such as garment manufacturing, would be among those hardest hit by expanded trade with China. The American Textile Manufacturers Association estimates the November pact would cost roughly 150,000 U.S. jobs.
"In labor intensive industries like textiles, the Chinese do have an advantage, so there would be a transfer of production, but that's been happening for a long time," said Dan Griswold, associate director for the Cato Institutes Center for Trade Policy Studies. "Our specialty is in the more technology and capital intensive industries. This is why trade works: we both do what we are best at, and in the end both countries are better off."
The trade-relations debate in Congress also comes as China is seeking membership in the World Trade Organization. China has forged tariff-lowering agreements with all but a handful of the 135 WTO member countries. Although China can technically gain WTO membership if two-thirds of the body's member states approve, such action is not likely without U.S. and European Union approval.
Once in the WTO, proponents of the trade package say, China could retaliate by freezing out U.S. imports while opening their market to other countries.
Last year, the value of goods imported from China - mainly electrical machinery, toys, shoes and apparel - topped $81.7 billion. In the same period, U.S. exports to China, consisting mostly of power generating equipment, airplanes and spacecraft, electrical machinery and fertilizer topped $13.1 billion.
Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.:
