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 | Wednesday, May 03, 2000, updated at 14:43(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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U.S. Government to Intensify Efforts to Win PNTR for ChinaThe White House will intensify its efforts to win the congressional approval of the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status for China in the coming weeks to pave the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel Berger said in New York Tuesday.Addressing a gathering at the East Asian Institute of Columbia University, Berger said he was optimistic about the congressional vote in late May despite the fact that some labor unions were lobbying hard against the normal trade status for China. The White House needs to win 218 votes to pass the PNTR through the 435-member House of Representatives, which is scheduled to begin debates over the issue on May 22. The bill's passage in the Senate is almost secure. Berger, who carries much weight on U.S. security and foreign policy, said that meetings were planned between the White House and Congressmen in the coming three weeks and that the government would try its utmost to persuade the undecided lawmakers to take the right side. The United States and China signed a landmark trade agreement in Beijing last November, under which the U.S. must give China the PNTR status, a trade status Washington grants to almost all of its trading partners. China has been given the normal trade status, but on the basis of annual renewal. President Bill Clinton and his cabinet members have tried hard in the past few months to honor the commitment to making China's normal trade status permanent so as to clear the ground for its accession to the WTO. But some labor unions openly opposed the deal for fears that many Americans will lose their jobs in the face of inexpensive Chinese commodities. Apparently in a bid to ease their concerns, Berger said, "We will have much better access to a market of over a billion people; that will mean more American exports, growth and jobs." "What the Congress must decide is whether America will enjoy the benefits of the agreement we negotiated, or whether we will forfeit those benefits to our competitors in Europe and Japan," he added. Berger warned that if China's PNTR is blocked, not only the U.S.economic interest but also its national security would be hurt.
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