Time: Tue May 06 03:31:04 1997
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Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 03:27:42 -0700
To: liberty-and-justice@pobox.com
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: Re: L&J: China News, 5/3/97 - Highlights
What are these machines, reconditioned 8088's?
/s/ Paul Mitchell
At 07:43 PM 5/3/97 -0400, you wrote:
>
>HIGHLIGHTS: 4/27-5/3/97
>
>China's leading personal computer maker announced a $110 million deal to
>export 105,000 brand name computers to North America over the next two
>years.
>
>Meanwhile, the Communications Workers of America issued a statement
>condemning the final report of a presidential panel on U.S.-Pacific trade
>policy as " 'a series of platitudes about the virtues of free trade' that
>fails to address the real problem" which the 3 CWA members on the
>presidential panel described as ignoring the impact of trade deficits and
>other policies while focusing on the concerns and objectives of investors.
>After reviewing the commission's findings in the areas of trade deficits,
>benefits and costs of direct investment in Asia and worker rights, human
>rights and environmental standards, the CWA members came to the following
>conclusions:
>
>- "More often than not, good-paying U.S. jobs are lost as imports to the
>United States increase and exports--of U.S. goods accepted by other
>countries--never reach the expected level."
>
>- Lower wage-lower benefit jobs generally replace manufacturing jobs lost
>to imports; "harder to quantify by still very real is the impact of
>threats made by employers to move overseas to force American workers to
>accept lower wages and benefits."
>
>- "...most goods produced in Asia through U.S. investment are meant for
>export back to the United States, not for local markets....Some countries
>require that a majority of goods produced by foreign investors be
>exported. Others, especially China, are aggressive in requiring
>'offsets,' a type of export sales agreement that requires a firm to do a
>certain percentage of work in the purchasing country. These agreements
>not only result in U.S. job loss, but often require companies to
>'transfer' technology to the purchasing company."
>
>- "Intellectual property rights and investor concerns are routinely
>included in core trade agreements; labor and human rights merit equal
>treatment...Rather than give in to political posturing that charges the
>United States with imposing its own values on other countries, the United
>States should promote a role for Asian non- governmental organizations in
>various trade groups, to make it clear that human rights policies reflect
>domestic constituencies in Asian countries."
>
>- "The commission asserts that the nations of Asia Pacific are steadily
>embracing free trade, but that progress has become stalled despite the
>openness of U.S. markets. The majority's solution, 'to offer even more
>trade concessions to nations that have not kept their promises in the
>past' is naive and simply not credible."
>
>The CWA panel members recommended that the U.S. identify its trade and
>investment goals and reassess existing trade laws and practices; apply
>more enforcement against unfair trade practices; make "real, enforceable
>labor and environmental standards in the World Trade Organization its
>number one priority," with workers' rights given the same status as
>investors; increase public investment in education, R&D and
>infrastructure; and continue opposing China's membership in the WTO until
>it complies with WTO standards. (All quotations taken from the CWA
>statement, issued 4/29 and carried on the PR Newswire.)
>
>But the creme de la creme of the big transnational corporations, a group
>of 20 major money managers and 20 pension plan sponsors known as the
>Russell 20-20, carrying a *BIG* stick in the way of investable assets of
>$1 trillion (that's right...$1 trillion) embarked on a two-week tour of
>Central China and Hong Kong. See separate posting for a list of Russell
>20-20 member organizations.
>
>Prodigy announced it has set up a joint venture in China that will include
>an online shopping facility and business information, with stock quotes
>from the Shanghai stock exchange. All other access will be strictly
>censored of any material found to be unacceptable to the Chinese
>government. See separate posting for the Prodigy CEO's comments in
>support of this censorship.
>
>More of a surprise was another union's stance on China issues. The
>Federation of Trade Unions, which is a powerful pro-Beijing union in Hong
>Kong, called for a ban on funding from China's ruling Communist Party to
>local political groups in the territory and called for the ban to be added
>to planned curbs on political rights in Hong Kong after it reverts to the
>mainland on July 1.
>
>In hard news, Chinese officials described the crackdown on Muslim
>nationalists in the province of Xinjiang in terms of fighting "terrorism"
>that were eerily similar to the attacks on "terrorism" and "hate speech"
>used by the Clinton administration in 1995 after the OKC bombing: "We
>have dealt a powerful blow to the national separatist forces and violent
>terrorist activities," Wang Lequan, the region's Communist Party boss, was
>quoted as saying, "and scored significant victories in our struggle
>against the enemy and for maintaining social stability. The hostile
>forces have resorted to terrorism to create ethnic contradictions and stir
>up ethnic hatred, seriously impeding the normal production order and
>everyday life of society and endangering the safety and lives of the
>masses."
>
>Wang's comments were published on 4/29, the day when Chinese authorities
>executed at least three Muslim minority members who took part in violent
>demonstrations against Chinese authorities in Xinjiang province although,
>as described in last week's China News, a spokesman for exiled Muslim
>separatists in neighboring Kazakstan said 7 people were executed on 4/22
>and 5 last month. In addition, the Chinese also fired on a mob that tried
>to rescue the doomed prisoners. All those executed or imprisoned as a
>result of the February riots are Muslim Uighurs.
>
>On the home front, Newt Gingrich said he favored legislation that would
>limit MFN status for China to between 3 and 6 months to see how China
>deals with Hong Kong after the takeover. White House spokesman Mike
>McCurry managed to avoid all reference to mainland China when he
>responded, "We do not support a short-term extension of most favored
>nation status. We share concerns of those in Congress that are expressing
>support for the continuation of the prosperity and freedoms that the
>people of Hong Kong have enjoyed, but you have to understand that
>short-term extensions of MFN are bad for the people of Hong Kong. They
>create uncertainty, they would damage confidence in Hong Kong at a time
>when Hong Kong's economy needs to prosper. That would in fact weaken Hong
>Kong at exactly the moment that we want it to be strong as the transition
>occurs, and that's why we believe that the residents of Hong Kong
>themselves have expressed overwhelming support for unconditional extension
>of MFN."
>
>If any residents of Hong Kong were actually interviewed about their views
>of Gingrich's proposal, that news didn't make it onto any of the major
>news or business wires as of 5/3/97.
>
>As reported in last week's China News, Wang Juntao, a newspaper editor
>imprisoned for advising the leaders of the Tiananmen Square student
>demonstrations, was released during the 1994 Congressional debate on
>China's MFN status. He and his wife fled to the U.S. and now live in
>Boston.
>
>Both China and the leading U.S. business trade organizations favor the
>U.S. granting China permanent MFN status.
>
>
>
>
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Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness
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