US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has named a new deputy
specifically to oversee strategic talks with China and will further
establish a telephone hot line between himself and Vice Premier Wu Yi.
These announcements were made on Tuesday following US reports
that it had suffered a record trade deficit of US$232.5 billion
with China last year. The matching figure from the Chinese customs
was US$144.27 billion.
Alan Holmer, a pharmaceutical company executive and a former
trade official under President Ronald Reagan, was named Paulson's
deputy.
Beijing and Washington are set to hold the second round of their
strategic dialogue in May, following the first meeting held in
Beijing last December.
Paulson announced it was too early to predict the results of the
May meeting but that the US Congress was urgently anticipating
results. ?
Chinese experts see Washington's blame game with China over the
trade gap as unfair. According to customs statistics, China has
become the US' fastest growing export market. For example, China
now annually purchases a quarter of all US cotton exports and
one-third of its soybean exports. Another major coup came last year
when China further signed contracts for 80 Boeing aircraft, a deal
valued at US$6 billion.
In a positive sign of easing trade relations, US President
George W. Bush reportedly eased conditions for technology exports
from Honeywell International Inc and Boeing Co to China, certifying
that these "will not measurably improve the missile or space launch
capabilities of the People's Republic of China."
Earlier this week, certifications were issued for 20 Honeywell
model QA 750 accelerometers, set to update the Ministry of
Railways' track geometry measurement systems, and for equipment and
technology linked to the production and testing of composite
components for Boeing commercial aircraft.
Both companies were unavailable for comment although the move is
set to bolster US high-tech exports to China, widely considered a
major reason for the trade imbalance.
China, the fastest growing economy in the world, is in need of
high-tech products but faces obstructionist US export control
policies.
When compared to other global trade partners, from 2001 to 2005,
China's high-tech imports from the EU and Japan leapt 71 percent
and 151 percent respectively, while US imports lingered at only 38
percent.
(China Daily February 15, 2007)
