The United States is on the verge of yet another high-stakes standoff involving China. But this time, the Bush administration and China are on the same side. At issue now is not the fate of a downed aircraft, but more than US$100 billion a year in commerce.
President Bush notified Congress on June 1 of his decision to extend normal trading relations with China for another year, saying it would advance "the economic and security interests of the American people."
The move re-ignited a battle on Capitol Hill over America's economic ties with China. And in contrast to the delicate diplomatic dance that characterized the recent spy plane standoff, neither side is pulling linguistic punches.
"It makes no sense to reward the communist Chinese with an advantageous trade status after their increased belligerence towards the United States," Representative Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, said in a statement.
Rohrabacher called China "our worst potential enemy" and promised to introduce a resolution to overturn the yearlong extension when Congress returns from recess next Tuesday.
Experts say opponents of free trade with China have been emboldened by the confrontation that sprung from the midair collision between a US Navy EP-3 surveillance plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter jet in April.
PNTR REPLAY
This year's fight over trade with China will largely be a replay of one fought last year on the House and Senate floors. Then-President Clinton joined with House Republican leaders to push through permanent normal trading relations legislation - a landmark bill that will end Congress' annual review of the nation's trade status after China becomes a member of the World Trade Organization.
After a week of contentious debate, the House voted 237-197 to approve PNTR. The Senate vote that followed was a more lopsided 83-15.
Most Republicans are sympathetic to business interests that say increasing trade with China makes good economic sense and is sound foreign policy as well.
"Fair trade is essential not only to improving living standards for Americans but also for a strong and productive relationship with China," Bush said in his statement on Friday.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman welcomed the announcement, calling normal trading status "a reciprocal trade agreement ... not a favor granted by one country to another."
But a vocal minority in Congress vehemently disagrees and will mount an effort to reverse the extension.
Only a handful of Republicans oppose normalized relations with China. But they are joined by most House Democrats - political allies of organized labor - who claim lower trade tariffs on Chinese imports costs Americans jobs.
Because the PNTR agreement does not take effect until China is admitted into the WTO (it is expected to gain entry as soon as this year), opponents can force a vote on the yearlong extension - as they have every year for more than a decade.
US business interests say stemming trade with China would do far more harm than good.
"We're talking about the principal underpinning of the relationship of two major powers," added John Howard, director of international policy and programs for the US Chamber of Commerce. "As unfortunate as that incident was, it does not justify our taking such a draconian step."
The Bush administration agrees.
"American business, agriculture, workers and consumers would suffer if Congress were to disapprove normal trade relations this year," Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote in an editorial appearing in the Washington Post.
Even if the House and Senate were to pass what is known as a "resolution of disapproval" against the extension, Bush would likely veto the measure - a move that would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override.
Claude Barfield, author of Tiger By the Tail, a 1999 book about China's ongoing efforts to join the WTO, says the anti-free traders are still in the minority.
"There will be some people who mouth-off about it, but there doesn't seem to be a groundswell of opposition," he adds. "And there doesn't seem to have been any deterioration ... of support [for free trade with China]."
Indeed, a recent ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll found most Americans oppose punishing China.
Forty-eight percent said they favored free trade with China, while 45 percent were against it - roughly the same breakdown shown in polls taken before the spy plane standoff.
And special interests organizations that bankrolled multimillion-dollar lobbying and public relations campaigns for and against PNTR are not mobilizing for a major fight this time - an indication that neither side believes the outcome of the final vote is much in doubt.
(China Daily 06/04/2001)
