U.S. Willing to Help China Modernize, Wants Barriers Removed, Baker Says

Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III told Chinese leaders Thursday the United States is prepared to help China modernize, but he implied that Peking must first remove obstacles to American investment.

“We are eager to help China move forward to modernize and develop its economy in whatever way is mutually acceptable,” Baker said in a banquet toast to his Chinese host, Finance Minister Wang Bingqian.

But in talks earlier in the day with Wang, President Li Xiannian and Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian, Baker stressed that much more effort was required “to fully realize the potential” of U.S.-China economic ties, the official New China News Agency reported.

About 140 American firms are engaged in joint ventures in China. U.S. investment in China has grown to almost $1.4 billion in recent years. Sino-American trade totaled $8.1 billion in 1985, according to U.S. statistics.

Baker hopes to persuade China’s Communist leadership to further lift barriers to foreign trade and investment, Western diplomats here said.

Of immediate concern to the Reagan Administration is resolution of disputes preventing conclusion of a bilateral investment treaty, which diplomats said is at an impasse despite three years of negotiations.

The treaty would guarantee U.S. firms equal or better treatment than that afforded Chinese companies, wider access to markets in the country of 1 billion people and the legal “stability and predictability” required to do business in China.

Chinese officials are seeking a further relaxation of restrictions on the export of American high technology to China and were expected to raise concerns over proposed U.S. protectionist textile laws.

Baker, heading a 32-member delegation of senior U.S. officials, presided over the opening Thursday morning of a three-day session of the Sino-U.S. Joint Economic Committee.