Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi is in Washington DC co-chairing the 17th
meeting of the Sino-US Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade with
US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Trade Representative Rob
Portman.
The bargaining process may be difficult for officials of both
countries on such touchy issues as trade imbalance, market access
and intellectual property rights.
Expectations are high that the meeting might produce a joint
declaration promoting US exports to China, and a framework
agreement on IPR protection.
Those, along with the multibillion-dollar deals Vice-Premier
Wu's 200-strong team has inked on their way to Washington DC, would
be practical moves to narrow the trade imbalance, and to defuse the
ticking timebomb of protectionism irrationalities.
The real imperative in our trade relations, however, is a dose
of reason.
That is exactly what the ongoing session of the joint committee
should try to deliver.
Besides immediate remedies for the rising tensions, trade
negotiators should avail themselves of the precious opportunity of
face-to-face communication to share each other's concerns and
perspectives, and clear the way for the healthy progress of
bilateral trade.
A worrisome new dimension of Sino-US trade ties has been their
increasing vulnerability to politicization. The posturing of
ill-informed US politicians on Capitol Hill is not only misleading
to the American public, but also threatens to lead bilateral trade
talks astray.
There has been enough finger-pointing in our dialogue over
trade; a significant, if not the most important, aspect of our
relationship. The exchange of blame does little more than reinforce
political prejudices and blind us further to the true hurdles that
set us apart.
Politicians may lack access to, or the will to find out, the
truth about Sino-US trade and our trade officials who monitor and
manage our two-way commercial transactions should not surrender to
politicizing.
Instead, they need to demonstrate a capacity to rise above the
ignorance and biases in dealing with our trade disputes. After all,
they are in a privileged position to foresee the lose-lose scenario
if the world's two largest foreign traders are at loggerheads.
For that reason alone, the joint committee should at least try
to create and maintain an atmosphere conducive to sensible
discourse.
(China Daily April 12, 2006)
