WASHINGTON-National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Larry Irving called the first U.S.-China telecommunications summit “a resounding success,” an appraisal that belies the Clinton administration’s growing frustration with Chinese trade barriers and one that could reinforce the view that high-tech commerce is driving U.S. foreign policy at the expense of other policies.
“In addition to learning more about China’s policy initiatives and reform efforts, we also learned first-hand the magnitude and efforts underway to meet the challenge,” said Irving.
The summit, held Oct. 5-12 in Dalian, China, brought U.S. and Chinese telecom regulators and American telecom (some wireless) industry representatives together.
Commerce Secretary William Daley and Chinese Minister of Post and Telecommunications Wu Jichuan kicked off the event, with Daley calling for both countries “to address the disparity in levels of access to technology” and to “create a global telecommunications infrastructure that leaves no one behind.”
Despite Irving’s glowing review of the China trip, the consumer press characterized the trade mission as a failure because Daley did not return with a $2 billion Boeing aircraft sale or any other major deals.
China represents a huge potential wireless market for U.S. companies, with billions of dollars up for grabs in telecom contracts in the near future.
Another region with emerging wireless markets is Latin America, which President Clinton visited last week.
China has 11 million mobile phone users, the third largest total in the world. The subscriber base increases by 500,000 each month and could grow exponentially in coming years as wireless technology is adopted as a more flexible and economical alternative to landline communications.
So far, the U.S. wireless industry has been able only to break into China’s telecom equipment market. Motorola Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc. have made substantive strides on this front.
The telecom services sector is a different story. Ameritech Corp. recently pulled out of China after two years of trying-and failing-to get government approval to build cellular systems in the world’s most populous nation.
Ameritech’s experience and that of other American companies, prompted U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky to warn China that its desire to be a member of the World Trade Organization is jeopardized by its failure to enact serious market opening reforms.
The U.S. trade deficit with China is expected to rise to $44 billion by year-end, eclipsing the huge trade imbalance the United States has had with Japan for years.
The Clinton administration walks a fine line on Chinese trade policy. The administration does not want to lose China’s market to Europe. At the same time, the White House has come under increasing criticism for putting U.S.-Sino trade ahead of other issues, such, as China’s vulnerable record on human rights and religious freedom.
Those issues could come up when Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin comes to the nation’s capital next week. Allegations that China tried to influence U.S. elections and policy through illegal campaign contributions to the ’96 Clinton-Gore campaign also could be addressed.
