TRANSCRIPT: COMMERCE SECRETARY 3/30 BEIJING PRESS CONFERENCE
(U.S. supports commercially viable China WTO accession)Beijing -- The United States strongly supports China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on commercially viable terms, according to Secretary of Commerce William Daley.
"This president is committed, if we get that commercially viable deal, and it is good for the United States and good for China and good for the World Trading Organization, we will move forward," Daley said in March 30 remarks in Beijing.
According to Daley, the United States supports China's membership in the WTO because the organization is "a rule-based system."
"Everyone is playing according to the same rules; there are dispute settlement processes; and there are well-known and clear and transparent processes in which people can settle their disputes," he said.
Daley stressed the importance of China's willingness to open its markets to foreign companies.
"Open markets are ... the key to economic growth and economic expansion," he said.
In response to reporters' questions, Daley called allegations of Chinese nuclear espionage "serious" and "troubling," but added that so far the allegations do not seem to have affected the economic relationship between the United States and China.
"There has been plenty of speculation and comments by legislatures and others that they would introduce legislation to impede the economic growth of this relationship. But as of this point, none of that has occurred yet," he said.
Following is the transcript of Daley's remarks:
(begin transcript)
Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley
Press Conference
Great Wall Sheraton Hotel, Beijing
Tuesday, March 30, 1999SECRETARY DALEY: Good afternoon. Let me make a few remarks and then we will open up to questions.
I'm very happy to report that my third visit to Beijing as Commerce Secretary has been most productive. On this trip, as you know, I brought a delegation of 18 business leaders and officials from the Departments of Energy, Housing, and Transportation, as well as officials from the Export-Import Bank. We've called this an infrastructure development mission, and I'm happy to report that several contracts and memorandums of understanding were signed. They include work to improve air quality in 20 cities across China, the development of a natural gas pipeline, and contracts that will bring some of the latest medical diagnostic technologies to this country.
We also had a very open and frank discussion with State Councilor Wu Yi and Premier Zhu Rongji, and our message was simple and was clear. Open markets are obviously the key to economic growth and economic expansion. The business that had been done on this trip is a mere fraction of what could be done with a more open market. Both governments are working very hard to resolve critical differences in our trade relationship, and we look forward to our visits to Shanghai and Guangzhou, where we will meet local Chinese government officials and also business leaders. Several additional agreements will be signed, and we will be breaking ground at two exciting new projects.
All in all, we anticipate the balance of our trip will, hopefully, be as fruitful as our time here in Beijing. So at this point, let me thank our hosts who did so much -- Bill McCahill and the Embassy staff for the fine work which they did during our visit here to Beijing -- and let me also thank the Chinese Government officials that we met with and had meetings with over the last two days. So I thank you very much and open up to questions.
Q: I would like to ask you if this time you visit China and you have some new project that will prepare for Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to the United States and to sign, for instance, maybe China will have a new nuclear power station in China and will ask American companies to undertake this project. Thank you.
SECRETARY DALEY: Well, as you know the President announced last year when he was here that American companies would move forward on civil nuclear plants, and we are optimistic and hopeful that American companies -- and one of them is with us, Westinghouse - would see agreements reached -- that they could move forward and supply some of the equipment on some of these civilian power projects.
Q: Are you hearing anything since we spoke this morning about WTO? Are we on the verge? And secondly, in previous meetings, when Mrs. Barshefsky's been here, she said that if the WTO agreement couldn't be reached, that with the deficit so large, the U.S. would start to take bilateral steps to address the issue. If China doesn't get into WTO this time around and is put off for some time, when does the administration start dealing with the issues on a more bilateral basis?
SECRETARY DALEY: I would imagine that if China does not enter the WTO shortly -- and again this is consensus by all the members of the WTO -- that the trade deficit not only our relationship, the U.S. and China, I would imagine the Europeans would be of a similar mind, they would begin to address bilaterally a number of these difficulties. How soon after, who knows, but my sense is that we would begin serious discussions. But there is no question that China's continuing growth and economic expansion would go on, and the reforms that would have occurred here because they have been good for the Chinese economy and good for the Chinese people would continue. But I think some of the trade problems no doubt would have to be addressed soon thereafter, in a cooperative manner, not in a confrontational, not in a other than the normal sort of difficulties that trade disputes cause, but the more business we do -- and right now we are doing a substantial amount of business with China, not as much as we would like in our exports, but surely in the amount of exports from China to the United States -- there will be difficulties, there will be challenges. Furthermore, we have a number of issues with Europe, in whom we have many similarities in our systems; we have many trade disputes with them. They are handled in a cooperative manner, and they are done in a way that's positive. That is one of the reasons, strong reasons, why we would like to see China in the WTO, because it is a rule-based system. Everyone is playing according to the same rules; there are dispute settlement processes; and there are well-known and clear and transparent processes in which people can settle their disputes. If that does not happen though, we would have to begin to do some serious discussions with the Chinese about some of our disputes that we may have and that they may have with us.
Let me just -- your first part of that question -- I apologize. You asked if anything was new since we talked this morning? No.
Q: Here in China we have been hearing and reading so much about so-called nuclear espionage issue that has transpired in the United States, and I'm wondering if you have detected any sign that the trade or economic relations between China and the United States have been affected in any way by that new development in your discussion with your Chinese counterparts?
SECRETARY DALEY: In the couple of weeks since this story has been out in the public realm, I would say that there hasn't been noticed an economic impact yet. No question the allegations and the news that there were actions taken, that we are very, very concerned about, has caused a great concern amongst members of Congress, and many of the American people about this issue. It's long-term impact? We've got to make sure that we look at our relationship with China, which is very broad and many different pieces to it, we look at it in an overall basis. But in no way am I implying that this is not considered very serious. It is serious, it is troubling to us, and troubling to the American people. But to answer your question, in the last couple of weeks, I have not seen an impact on the economic relationship. There has been plenty of speculation and comments by legislatures and others that they would introduce legislation to impede the economic growth of this relationship. But as of this point, none of that has occurred yet.
Q: On the war in Yugoslavia, China is taking a very pro-Serbian point of view. The official media has been very, very critical of the NATO operations by watching every night on Chinese television the reports from Belgrade, the people in the shelters, interviews with local people. Has this become an issue between you, and could this affect the WTO agreement?
SECRETARY DALEY: Well, I think it's one of those issues in a broader sense that we have serious dispute with China over. The actions that have been going on in the last couple of days alone, in Kosovo, are rather frightening -- to think that here we come to the end of this century, when so many times we have seen over this century and before, people committing acts upon other human beings that are rather unbelievable -- that we would still see this in the modern world to the degree that we are, is rather difficult to understand much less fathom. We believe strongly as do our allies in NATO that this was the step that had to be taken, after a very long time of discussions, negotiations calling for the sort of actions against human beings that has been going on again, not just for the last couple of days since the military action took place, but had been going on for many, many months if not years. This is not something that was sort of a knee-jerk reaction just over the last week. This has been a very serious concern to us and to NATO and as a matter of fact, there were many people in the media and other parts of the world calling for the U.S. and other allies in Europe to move quite a long time ago on this. But we tried to give negotiations, we tried to give Mr. Milosevich the opportunity, to stop the sort of actions, and they weren't stopped, and it was in the interest of humankind that this action is taking place. No one likes to see this, and no one likes to see someone getting to the point of having to take this sort of military action. But we believe strongly that it is the right thing to do, but no one would like to see it ended quicker than we would. And it can end by virtue of Mr. Milosevich.
Q: (inaudible)
SECRETARY DALEY: Well I think it is obviously affecting an overall relationship. We have a strong disagreement on this issue, but again we continue the engagement, very much so, and we look forward to the Premier's visit next week, which should be well received, but it is a serious disagreement obviously.
Q: (inaudible)
SECRETARY DALEY: Well to be honest with you, Ambassador Barshefsky is probably holed up somewhere in a ministry negotiating and I wouldn't want to get into what the details are. They have been pretty well reported over the last number of days, what issues. Can it be done? I've always believed that it is very difficult. As I said Sunday when I got here I think the expectation that all of these issues could be completed by the visit was a high expectation and a high bar to jump over. There has been tremendous progress made -- no question about it. But I still think that the idea of having this sort of deadline, and somehow and some people saying, well if it doesn't happen now it will never happen, that is untrue. Or that somehow if it doesn't happen, that means something horrendous to the economic relationship and the trading relationship with China, that is not true. So we are hopeful. We have been very firm about the desire to see China into the WTO, and the years of negotiations, the years of movement both sides, indicate that honesty. But it is not an easy task. There is no question about it. There are serious differences in systems, in governments, and serious differences in how we view some of these issues, and it not just us, it is other parts of the world also who have the same sort of concerns. Europe and the United States have stayed in very close consultation and discussions on these issues over the last number of years, and we have been working together to try to see China come into the WTO and we will continue to do -- that whether that is this week and completed, or next week and completed, or weeks after that.
Q: To what extent if an agreement were reached on WTO this week, today, in time for Zhu's visit, what are the chances of it getting approved by Congress in the current climate, the anti-China climate, that prevails there now? And is that driving the negotiations any way at all? I have a second question as well, which is completely different -- slightly different subject. What is the administration's attitude to admitting Taiwan to WTO membership without China, and if by the end of the year there were no Chinese membership, would Taiwan be admitted without China?
SECRETARY DALEY: I think if it's the right deal it will pass Congress. We were all very encouraged last week when there was an attempt to put a rider on a Senate supplemental appropriations bill -- that would have required China's WTO entry to be approved prior by the Congress -- that failed, failed rather substantially. And so I think that was an indication by the U.S. Senate that we would view as a positive. I do believe that the right deal will get approval by Congress. I'm not being unrealistic about the difficulties right now. This president is committed, if we get that commercially viable deal, and it is good for the United States and good for China and good for the World Trading Organization, we will move forward. We will plow on and take the case to the American people and to the Congress that this is good for our economy. We have a $58 billion trade deficit. Much of that is the result of a market that has historically been closed. The way we can open that market is to get the right market access issues addressed in these negotiations. That will open this market and have a dispute settlement process -- if there are disputes -- that would be clearer and transparent and helpful to the entire system.
On the second issue -- no question that negotiations have continued with Taiwan by all the parties. Again, entry into the WTO is by consensus. We'd have to see whether there was a consensus, if and when a deal was finalized, that would allow Taiwan to come in before China. But that's an issue that's a little down the road, and I would at this point probably punt on that one. Any other questions?
Q: You mention that so far, given the climate in Washington, that there hasn't been any impact on the economic relationship here. But given the political sensitivities of dealing with China right now, especially the military implications and the national security implications, did that cause you to cancel your participation in a contract signing later this week on CDMA technology, which involved a business with ties with the Chinese military?
SECRETARY DALEY: First of all that contract signing has not been canceled. A final decision on exactly what we're doing on Thursday in Guangzhou, as far as what signings may be finalized and witnessed, has not been determined. So that is not the case, yet. There is no question that the Chinese military, as has been indicated by the government, is getting out of the business of business, so that issue should diminish over time, and as I stated in my speech that causes problems with many people in the United States in certain sectors. But as of right now, that issue has not been ... and it's still somewhat unclear as to exactly who the parties are to the agreement, and exactly whether or not we would participate in that signing, not merely because of somebody's concern about a so-called military involvement in a piece of it.
Q: Yesterday, you said that China was moving on allowing more foreign investment in the telecom sector. I was wondering about some other sectors, such as financial services. Would you expect China to grant an insurance license?
SECRETARY DALEY: Every indication we have is that there will be additional licenses granted. And that is a positive step again, not just for the companies that may get them but their ability to bring not only their products but additional capital into China is most important to the Chinese economic expansion that is going on and desired. So we would expect that there will be additional licenses granted, and I think what everyone wants to see -- and this is part of why it's important that WTO get done -- is a more formal sort of system of, instead of licenses given out around summits and major events when heads of state come, that there'd be a more regular sort of process by which companies could apply and get licenses to bring opportunity to the companies, but also to the benefits of the Chinese people, and to the overall economy by a number of financial service companies from around the world. and the financial service sector.
Q: Do you expect a license before Zhu's visit to the U.S.?
SECRETARY DALEY: I don't know if it will be actually announced before his visit, or while he's there, but I would imagine that there would be some announcement shortly.
Thank you.
(end transcript)
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