BEIJING -
China and the United States should work together
to ease the rising protectionist sentiment in the
latter, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
said on Wednesday while on an official visit to Beijing.
He made
the remarks after a six-month delay was announced
in a Senate vote on proposed sanctions against
Chinese imports
linked to the value of the
yuan. The vote had been scheduled for this Friday.
Gutierrez, in a speech to US business
people, appealed to Chinese leaders to help fight
efforts to restrict trade. "The voices in the
United States calling for protectionist policies
are very real. There is a real protectionist and
isolationist sentiment creeping up in our
country," he said. "That is not good for trading
relationships."
Gutierrez said an erosion
of trade between the two countries would have a
negative impact on the US economy and have even
greater consequences for progress in China,
noting: "Think what [it] would do to China's
economy if China's No 1 customer all of a sudden
decided to be protectionist ... and frankly not
buy as much as it does today ... [this] would be
devastating to China's economy."
The
comments were seen by some as indicating a shift
in emphasis of US trade policy on China, which has
been focused on the yuan-dollar exchange rate.
Since the exchange-rate issue has been put on the
back burner after the delay this week of the
proposed Schumer-Graham tariff bill, Gutierrez'
focus on the benefits to China of freer trade and
more strict enforcement of laws protecting
intellectual property has been taken as a likely
indicator of where the emphasis of US trade policy
will lie in the coming months.
Admitting
that the United States derives significant
benefits from commerce with China, the secretary
quoted the latest American Chamber of Commerce
survey as saying that about two-thirds of US
companies had expanded the range of products and
services they offer in China. Protectionism is the
worst thing that can happen, he said, adding that
the two sides should seek to revolve disputes with
candid dialogue.
Gutierrez called on China
to open its market further and promote the
enforcement of intellectual-property protection.
The secretary noted that Chinese efforts to
subsidize local industries, promote home-grown
security standards for wireless computer networks,
and restrict multinationals' access to government
purchasing programs were straining trade ties.
"Our companies still don't have the access that
they were promised under the terms of China's WTO
entry," he said.
On Tuesday, Gutierrez met
with his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai and Vice
Premier Wu Yi to "ensure the two countries use the
China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade
[JCCT] to achieve results". This year's session of
the JCCT, a top-level commercial dialogue
mechanism, is scheduled for next month on the eve
of talks between President Hu Jintao and US
President George W Bush in the United States.
Gutierrez' talks with Bo covered numerous
issues, ranging from market access and
intellectual-property rights to the trade deficit
with China, according to a statement published
Wednesday on the website of the Ministry of
Commerce. Bo told Gutierrez that China was
improving the transparency of its trade policies
and further opening its market according to
commitments made to the World Trade Organization
(WTO).
The sponsors of the US sanctions
bill, Senators Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and
Charles Schumer, a Democrat, said on Tuesday that
they would postpone a vote on the measure until
September, saying they had seen signs of currency
reform during a trip to China last week (see Schumer-Graham 'nuke'
holstered).
Many US manufacturers and
politicians claim the yuan is undervalued by up to
40%, giving Chinese exporters an unfair trade
advantage and contributing to the US trade deficit
with China. The proposed sanctions measure would
have slapped 27.5% tariffs on Chinese exports to
the United States if the yuan were not revalued.
But the US senators should drop the vote,
not just postpone it, said Mei Xinyu, a trade
expert with the Chinese Academy of International
Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think-tank of
the Ministry of Commerce.
While in
Beijing, Gutierrez also met Tian Lipu,
commissioner of the Intellectual Property Office,
to discuss China's protection of intellectual
property. "The US is willing to offer partnership
and cooperation in intellectual-property
protection," Gutierrez said.
The secretary
stressed that fighting piracy is crucial to
Sino-US relations, and, unusually, noted that a
decline in illegal software sales would also
benefit China. "If China simply cuts [the]
software piracy rate from 90% down to 80%, it
would generate US$6.5 billion in tax revenue and
create 2.6 million jobs in China," he said.
