U.S. Trade Curbs Would Hurt Ties, China Says

Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said Wednesday that China hopes for improved ties with the United States but is worried that Washington may set back relations by imposing new trade barriers.

As for ties with Moscow, Qian said, Beijing sees “a good prospect” for further development of relations. The two sides expect to sign agreements on economic cooperation and reduction of troops along their common border when Premier Li Peng visits Moscow in late April, he said.

Qian made his remarks at a press conference in the Great Hall of the People, during which he sought to project a friendly international stance while insisting that China will not yield to anything it views as interference in its internal affairs.

“We have always attached importance to the development of Sino-U.S. relations, and we want very much to bring the relations back to the normal track,” Qian said.

But ties will be seriously damaged, he added, if the Bush Administration or Congress chooses to end most-favored-nation trade status for China, under which tariffs are equal to the lowest rates applicable to other nations.

“Now some people in the U.S. Congress are trying to stop the granting of most-favored-nation status to China,” Qian said. “If they succeed, this will undoubtedly greatly impair the trade relations between our two countries, thus forcing great retrogression in our relations. This is something the Chinese side would not like to see.”

Most-favored-nation trade status is reviewed annually by the White House in a report for Congress. The review deadline this year occurs June 3, exactly one year after Chinese troops were ordered to shoot their way into central Beijing to suppress last spring’s pro-democracy demonstrations.

Even if President Bush decides in favor of continuing China’s decade-old favorable trade status, it is possible that Congress could overturn the decision.

Addressing another obstacle in U.S.-China relations, Qian reiterated Beijing’s position that the United States is entirely to blame in the standoff over dissident Fang Lizhi, a prominent astrophysicist and pro-democracy activist, who with his wife took refuge inside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing shortly after last June’s military crackdown. He did not completely rule out, however, the possibility of some sort of solution.

“With regard to this matter, the U.S. side must take the initiative,” Qian said. “As for people like Fang Lizhi, the only way out is to mend their ways and admit their guilt.”

Some observers in Beijing believe that China is seeking a deal under which Fang and his wife first would leave the U.S. Embassy and admit guilt, then be allowed--in return for the reduction or end of Western economic sanctions--to leave the country rather than face imprisonment.

Qian said that Premier Li’s visit to Moscow is in response to an invitation issued by Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev during his visit to Beijing last May, which ended three decades of animosity.

“We hope that his visit will further promote our bilateral relations after the normalization of our relations, and we hope to agree on a number of issues, such as matters concerning economic relations, the reduction of bilateral military presence along the border and other cooperation projects,” Qian said.