U.S. Dept. of State - IIP: The United States and China

Transcript: Agriculture Secretary Briefing in Shanghai
(Glickman, Congressional delegation discuss China PNTR)

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Daniel Glickman held a press briefing in Shanghai April 27 with members of a congressional delegation he is leading around China to get a firsthand look at issues related to the upcoming congressional vote on granting China permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status.

Members of the congressional delegation that have just traveled from Beijing to Shanghai with Glickman include: Representatives Norm Dicks from Washington State, Greg Walden from Oregon, Gregory Meeks from New York, and Rub¡¦ Hinojosa from Texas. Governor Edward Schafer from North Dakota is also traveling with the group.

When asked by a reporter if anything they have seen during their trip so far had persuaded them to endorse PNTR for China, both Meeks and Hinojosa replied in the negative. They added, however, that they were still gathering information, and would not reach any decisions until after they had returned to the United States and met with their constituents.

While in Shanghai, the delegation is scheduled to meet members of the American Chamber of Commerce, have lunch with a group of Chinese employees, and visit a soybean crushing plant.

Glickman said the trip will also include talks with Chinese religious leaders and a meeting with Wang Daohan, chief of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

Transcript of Sec Glickman/Codel Arrival Shanghai Statement

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Daniel Glickman and Congressional

Delegation's Arrival Statement in Shanghai, China

April 27, 2000

CONSUL GENERAL HENRY LEVINE (U.S. Consulate General, Shanghai): Well, first on behalf of the American Consulate General in Shanghai, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Secretary Glickman and members of his delegation. You all can quote me on that by the way -- not a problem.

I think we all know that this is a critical time in U.S.-China relations, and personally, I am delighted that this delegation is here to take a look and see the situation on the ground here in Shanghai on a firsthand basis.

I would also, of course, extend a warm welcome to our friends in the press, and I have the sneaking suspicion that you have not come today to listen to me. So let me, without further ado, pass the microphone to Secretary Glickman and the other members of the delegation.

SECRETARY GLICKMAN: OK, well thank you very much, Hank, for your introduction. Some of you we saw in Beijing, but for the benefit of those who weren't with us, I want to introduce who else is with me. First is Congressman Norm Dicks from Washington State, Congressman Greg Walden from Oregon, Congressman Gregory Meeks from New York, Governor Ed Schafer from the State of North Dakota, and Congressman Rub¡¦ Hinojosa from the State of Texas.

We started this trip in Beijing. This is a trip being done at the request of the President of the United States to come to China to take a firsthand look at issues relating to Permanent Normal Trade Relations and with us are Members who are both for this, as well as Members who are undecided. We had the opportunity of visiting Beijing where we met with leadership of the country as well as workers from the Motorola Company. We had the opportunity of basically talking to a lot of folks, including some academics and some intellectuals, about issues relating to the Permanent Normal Trade Relationship. I believe, as does the President, that this is an extremely important issue for this country and it's an opportunity that we cannot let get away from us in terms of establishing this relationship.

But we are here to better understand relations with China and to understand China itself, its society, its people. We hope to come away with a greater appreciation for all that China and the United States can achieve together through goodwill and cooperation.

In Shanghai, which is of course an economic trend setter, one of the world's leading commercial centers, and a city that I visited in 1981 as a Member of the House Science and Technology Committee, we are here to have a variety of discussions -- with the American Chamber of Commerce members, with a group of Chinese employees that we will have lunch with right after we have this meeting. We will see U.S.-China commercial cooperation in action. We will visit a soybean crushing plant that uses American soybeans to make feed for Chinese livestock and oils for Chinese consumers. We will go to a market where American farm goods are being displayed thanks to the implementation of the U.S.-China Agriculture Cooperation Agreement, and as I said before, we look forward to talking to Chinese workers about their experiences working for American companies.

But this trip is more than just about bilateral trade issues. We intend to explore the entire U.S.-China relationship. So we will also talk to religious leaders and hold a meeting with Wang Daohan about China's relationship with Taiwan as well.

And of course we are going to go on to Hong Kong after this particular stay and have further discussions. I think this trip can be an informative and educational experience for the Members of Congress as well as myself and the other members of the Administration team who are with us. And I hope that it will reinforce the notion that Permanent Normal Trade Relations will help advance Chinese social, political and economic reform as well as the economic, foreign policy and national security interests of the United States as well.

So that basically is an opening statement from me. I wonder if my colleagues would have any opening statement or whether we should go for the questions.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: I would like to direct my question to Congressman Meeks, and Congressman Hinojosa from Texas. As you are undecided about PNTR, I was wondering if anything you've seen thus far in this trip persuaded you to endorse PNTR.

REPRESENTATIVE GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): No, it has not. As the Secretary has indicated, I'm utilizing this as an educational tool so that I can continue my deliberations. Thus far, I've met with a number of American corporations and listened to their points of view and also getting a feel of Chinese culture and talking to some of the Chinese governmental officials. I look forward today, for example, to leaving my colleagues behind and getting away from the regular routine and getting into the local Chinese community and talking to the local Chinese people to get a better feel of the people -- not the businessmen and women of the United States who are doing business here, not their employees either. And so, it is an educational tool. When I get back home -- I called my office, in fact, before I left -- and I know and I promised a number of labor unions that I would meet with them upon my return. And I will and I'll hear their points of view and so I'm sure that I'm still a little ways away from making a decision. I'm still information gathering.

REPRESENTATIVE RUB¡¦ HINOJOSA (D-TX): My response to your question is that I also am taking advantage of this opportunity to speak to not only the representatives of the American Chamber here in China, but also to employees -- the Chinese employees as we will be having lunch with them today. At every opportunity that is presented, I take advantage of asking them how they feel about those who will be negatively impacted by this decision that we are going to be making in about four weeks.

The statement that I made yesterday and the day before is still the same -- that we know that when we make bi-national agreements, there are usually a lot of people who can be helped, and there are some who are negatively impacted. It's interesting that our farmers and ranchers in the United States are in large percentages supporting PNTR. Yet in the region that I represent in South Texas, -- the vegetable growers, the citrus farmers, -- those are the ones that were impacted negatively by a previous agreement that the United States signed with Canada and Mexico. Garment workers are another group that were negatively impacted. And I want to know if the Chinese employees have stopped to think about those who are negatively impacted and if so how they are going to be making the transition.

Will the government, will businesses, will American Chamber members participate in helping in this area? Those are some of the questions that I've been asking. And certainly I do not expect to make any announcement at the end of the week because I plan to go back and visit and have town hall meetings in the district that I represent where 800,000 people are waiting to hear exactly what I learned in my first trip to China. So again, I appreciate the courtesies that been have extended to our Congressional delegation and look forward to the dialogue that is going to continue today and tomorrow and the next day.

SECRETARY GLICKMAN: I don't have any announcements to make on any specific purchases but we and our team have had several good discussions with Chinese government officials as well as private sector people, largely through our cooperators. And USTR was here negotiating on a variety of issues including fertilizer issues and they remain in Beijing and we discussed those issues with the Vice Premier specifically.

GOVERNOR EDWARD SCHAFER (ND): I think yesterday we had the advantage of talking to some young professionals from several multi-national companies who talked about the old days and the new days. What I came away from that with was they are comfortable with the pace of change here. The United States of America is kind of a rapid response -- get it done yesterday -- let's get it accomplished tomorrow what should be done several years from now. And what I think the virtue of China is -- with a 2,000-year-old culture -- is patience. It seems to me people are comfortable as they move along and if you look in their perspective, the change has been very rapid. What's happened in the last 20 years -- what's happened in the last three years -- as far as changes and opportunities for women, for instance, in business here, women's education issues, young people getting a chance to go through leadership training, education programs, getting involved in these multi-national companies where they make more money, have better lives for themselves -- those changes are occurring rapidly.

Also, I see that economics and market forces are starting to drive the economy here in China. One of the interesting factors when we talked to some business people last night was that they believe firmly that activity will be followed by policy. And they're willing to go out and to try to do things to work the new issues, to push their businesses, assuming now that the government will move along in that direction and policy will actually follow the forging ahead in economic activity. That is being done in a much more rapid pace. We talked to some entrepreneurs that started businesses five years ago, three years ago, then it gets clear that these markets are opening up. Technology is changing rapidly and the business community especially is making future changes.

SECRETARY GLICKMAN: Well, I would say that we intend to talk about the issues and the bilateral relationship and to get a better understanding of what the position of this government is -- the Chinese government -- as it relates to Taiwan. Taiwan is an issue which very deeply concerns a lot of Americans. And we have an interest in preserving peace in these waters as part of the Asian geographical area and I hope we have a full and frank sharing of views on these particular issues. I wouldn't want to prejudge what we will or won't say other than that the issues regarding Taiwan are very important to people in the United States.

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