Premier defends China trade
NEW YORK -- China's Premier Wen Jiabao warned the Bush administration yesterday against imposing further trade barriers on Chinese products and urged Washington to find ways of increasing exports to China as a way of lowering its ballooning trade deficit.
Wen, visiting New York before heading to Washington for talks with President Bush, sought to defuse trade tensions and defend China's trade policies.
"I have come to this country to seek friendship and cooperation, not to fight a trade war," he told American business executives during a luncheon sponsored by the American Bankers Association.
"Reducing Chinese exports to the United States is not a good answer" because it would not bring jobs back to the United States, the premier said.
He urged the United States to play by global trade rules set by the World Trade Organization, which China joined two years ago.
Bush is under pressure from American workers and businessmen to stop the flood of cheap Chinese goods, which they contend is taking away American jobs.
The US trade deficit with China stood at $103 billion last year and is headed for $120 billion or higher this year, the largest imbalance ever recorded between the United States and any country.
The US administration put quotas on certain Chinese textiles and apparel last month and is threatening to levy duties on Chinese television sets.
For its part, China has been busy shopping for American products to ease the trade imbalance.
Wen urged the Bush administration to drop trade barriers against the export of high-tech products such as nuclear power and satellite technologies.
Earlier yesterday, Wen rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. He also met separately with New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In a move likely to be welcomed by China, the Bush administration warned Taiwan yesterday against any steps that could move the island toward independence.
US officials were far more explicit on Taiwan than they have been in the past, dropping a longtime policy of deliberate ambiguity in its "one China" policy.
On Sunday, Wen accused Taiwan's leaders of attempting to use democratic practices like the upcoming referendum as "a cover" to achieve independence, warning that "the separatist forces within the Taiwan authorities attempt to use democracy only as a cover to split Taiwan away from China, and this is what we will never tolerate."
