BEIJING - The
widening trade gap between China and the United
States does not reflect the reality of their
economic relationship, according to the white
paper "American Business in China".
China's trade surplus with the United
States widened to a record US$144 billion last
year, sparking concern in the US and triggering a
number of disputes between the two countries.
"The large and growing trade deficit with
China should not serve as the defining measure of
the US-China trade relationship," said
the
white paper, released this week by the American
Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) China and AmCham
Shanghai. It is the ninth edition published by the
organization.
It said that while the US
trade deficit with China is substantial, global
shifts in trade and investment are largely
responsible for this phenomenon and America's
overall trade deficit.
The white paper
noted that declining US imports from other East
Asian or Pacific countries have offset expanding
imports from China.
The share of Asian
countries apart from China in the overall US trade
deficit declined from 28% to 19% from 2002 to
2006, according to the US Census Bureau. China is
the second-largest source of US imports of
merchandise after Canada and now accounts for more
than 14% of US imports, up from 8% in 1999.
The white paper echoed the opinion of
Chinese officials and experts who have said
China's widening trade surplus with the US
resulted from the transformed global industrial
structure.
"We believe it is important for
China to maintain sustainable growth without a
significant trade surplus," said James M
Zimmerman, chairman of AmCham China.
At
the same time, the US trade deficit only takes
into account trade in goods, ignoring the fact
that China has also become one of the top 10
export markets for US services in a broad range of
areas such as finance, insurance, environmental
technology, law, accounting and consulting.
"Many people assume that China is the
major or sole cause for the loss of manufacturing
jobs in America. However, the general shift in
manufacturing to services employment in the United
States has been under way for several generations
and pre-dates the emergence of China as a platform
for manufacturing," the white paper said.
It suggested that the US administration
"maintain a constructive and responsible dialogue
on common issues", and that the Chinese government
"embrace the 'global stakeholder' mindset" and
deepen commitment to the World Trade
Organization's principles to continue improving
the quality of its economic growth.
The
white paper also said that certain items in the
proposed US export policy are likely to hurt not
only Chinese importers but also US businesses.
The US Department of Commerce published a
new policy on exports to China last July. A major
change is the license requirement for 47 "military
end-use" items (see Washington's schizophrenic China
policy, Asia Times Online, December 5,
2006).
"Some of the proposed changes in
the China draft rule would not effectively advance
US policy objectives and would instead have the
undesirable effect of needlessly penalizing US
businesses," said the report, released by AmCham.
AmCham submitted a cross-sector technology
report to the US administration last December,
detailing Chinese domestic and foreign
availability of items within many of the 47
categories contained in the proposed rule.
Items discussed in its report were "below
the current technical levels of the Chinese
military and, therefore, could not make a material
contribution to Chinese military capabilities".
AmCham suggested that the US government
increase exports to legitimate commercial
end-users. "The revised rule [should] eliminate
those categories where meaningful foreign
availability or domestic capability was
demonstrated," AmCham said.
The US
government controls exports of sensitive goods and
technology "reflecting national-security
imperatives". But the controls and complicated
procedures have hindered Sino-US trade in
technology and equipment as well as reduced US
competitiveness by driving away potential Chinese
buyers.
A number of experts and officials
in China called on Washington to facilitate
technology exports to China to address the trade
imbalance between the two countries.
The
US has begun the process of finalizing the
proposed rule, and the categories listed in the
final version are likely to be revised
substantially.
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