US or EU for China

Henry C.K. Liu hliu at mindspring.com
Tue Apr 6 23:33:21 PDT 1999


Wednesday April 7 1999

Zhu In The US Premier set to play European card

WILLY WO-LAP LAM in Los Angeles

Premier Zhu Rongji is to play the "European

card" to try to persuade his American hosts to

accept Beijing's concessions in its bid for

World Trade Organisation (WTO)

membership.

The first mainland head of government to visit

the United States in 15 years will also try to

get President Bill Clinton to resume the

transfer of high technology to China.

Trade and technological co-operation seem the

only possible breakthroughs in the Premier's

visit. The chances of both sides agreeing on

the terms for Beijing's WTO accession are

considered low by both Chinese and American

officials.

Mr Zhu is also expected to take a tough stance

on Taiwan, the Theatre Missile Defence

(TMD) system and Washington-led air-strikes

in Yugoslavia.

Diplomatic sources said Mr Zhu and his top

advisers, including State Councillor Wu Yi ,

State Council Secretary-General Wang

Zhongyu and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan,

were still preparing strategies as their plane

flew over the Pacific yesterday.

"The Premier will tell Clinton that his

Government has already made the utmost in

concessions that it can make," an informed

source said.

"If a WTO deal is not struck now, some of the

concessions recently promised to the US may

go first to the European Union and other

supporters of China. But Zhu is still keen to

reach a deal on WTO, the European card is

just a strategy to achieve that."

In talks with American trade officials in the

past month, Mr Zhu and Ms Wu reportedly

pointed out Beijing was willing to give the US

a bit more because of the belief that an early

WTO agreement with America would speed

up Beijing's negotiations with other WTO

members.

But a diplomatic analyst said that the lack of a

trade breakthrough might prompt the Zhu team

to concentrate on wooing the Europeans first.

It is understood several Chinese trade

negotiators headed to Europe in the past week.

"Zhu is telling the White House that there is

very little left for him to give and, if there is no

deal, Beijing has to rethink its priorities," the

analyst said.

In internal meetings last week, Mr Zhu was

understood to have upbraided the Americans

for adding new demands - in areas such as

agriculture and financial markets - "at the last

minute".

Meanwhile, sources close to the Premier's

personal think-tanks said the Zhu team was

expected to hand its hosts an elaborate

"shopping list" of hi-tech products and

know-how.

The sources said the Premier would stress

there had not been any theft of nuclear-related

technology from the US and that the hi-tech

imports he was seeking would be used for

non-military purposes.

Moreover, Mr Zhu would point out Beijing

could take shipments of similar technologies

from the European Union.

Copyright ©1999 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.

All Rights Reserved.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list