Chinese Minister of Finance Xiang Huaicheng and U.S. Secretary of Treasury
Lawrence Summers co-chaired the 12th Session of the China-U.S. Joint Economic
Committee (JEC) in Beijing on October 25,1999. The two sides discussed
international and domestic financial issues and issued a joint statement.
Chinese animals and plants inspection and quarantine authorities sent a team
to California, Florida and other U.S. states for preliminary inspection of
citrus in January 2000. At the end of February, China National Cereal & Oil
Import & Export Corporation sent a team to inspect the western region of the
U.S and hold business talks with its U.S. partners. Consequently the team
ordered 50,000 tons of U.S. wheat. Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic
Cooperation Sun Zhenyu led a mission to the U.S. for the China -U.S. Joint
Committee on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) mid-term consultation in late February
2000. The two sides exchanged views on issues such as China's accession to the
WTO and U.S. granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to China ,
etc.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng and
U.S. Secretary of Commerce William Daley co-chaired the 13th Session of the
China-U.S. JCCT in Beijing on April 7, 2000. The two sides exchanged views on
the PNTR, the development of China's West and other issues, and issued a joint
statement.
(China's Accession to the WTO)
From November 10 to 15, 1999, the Chinese Government Delegation headed by Shi
Guangsheng, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the U.S.
Government Delegation headed by Barshefsky, U.S. Trade Representative and Gene
Sperling, Director of the U.S. National Economic Council, held negotiations in
Beijing on China's accession to the WTO. The two sides singed on November 15 the
Bilateral Agreement between the Government of the people's Republic of China and
the Government of the United Stades of America on China's Accession to the WTO.
(Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR))
China and the U.S. signed a bilateral agreement on China's accession to the
WTO on November 15, 1999. The U.S. Government promised to make all efforts to
press to solve the issue of China Permanent Normal Trade Status. On January 10,
2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the establishment of a team
consisting of his cabinet members and headed by Secretary of Commerce William
Daley and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steve Ricchetti to coordinate with
the Congress and urge the Congress to support the U.S.-China WTO agreement.
Thereafter in the State of the Union Address and on many other important
occasions, President Clinton urged both Republicans and Democrats in the
Congress to support the agreement and grant the China PNTR. On March 8, the
Clinton Administration submitted a bill on granting China PNTR.
On May 24, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill granting China
PNTR by a favorable majority of 237 votes against 197 votes. On September. 19,
the U.S. Senate passed the same bill with 83 for, 15 against, and 2 abstentions.
On October10, the bill was signed by President Clinton into law. That marked the
death of the twenty?year- long practice of examination and debate on granting
China the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status on the U.S. side, thus removing the
long-existing obstacle to the development of China-U.S. trade relations, and was
of major significance for the sustained, healthy and smooth development of the
bilateral economic cooperation as well as the overall China-U.S. relationship.
With regard to some contents of the act that interfere with China's internal
affairs and are harmful to China's national interest, the Chinese side made
serious representations to the U.S. side, and explicitly made clear its position
of firm opposition.
On July 18, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a bill put forward
by the House Representative Dana Rohrabacher on the cancellation of Normal Trade
Relations status to China with a majority votes of 218 against 147, which made
that status extended for another year.
Exchanges and Cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Education, Science
On January 31, 1979, China and the U.S. signed an agreement on culture
cooperation between the two countries. Since then, six implementation programs
on the cultural exchanges were signed successively. The exchanges have been
conducted in almost every category of culture and art, and have developed into a
multi-channelled, multi-levelled and multi-formed situation. And such exchanges
are increasing both in terms of frequency and scale in recent years. In February
1998, the Five Thousand Years' Chinese Civilization and Art Exhibition was held
in New York, which was the largest Chinese art exhibition covering the widest
range of history ever held overseas by China, with 500 items of art treasure
exhibited. The exhibition has forcefully demonstrated China's history and
culture. On May 5, U.S. returned to China 47 items of Chinese ancient cultural
treasure which were seized by the U.S. Customs. The U.S. Cleveland Symphony
Orchestra and New York Philharmonic visited China respectively in May and June.
In the latter half of January 1999, the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra visited
China, and President Jiang Zemin attended its opening performance in Beijing.
China-U.S. educational exchanges and cooperation have seen further development
as well. In 1998, during President Clinton's visit to China, the two sides
renewed the Protocol between the Government of the People's Republic of China
and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation in
Educational Exchange, and signed the Agreement Between the Government of the
United States and the Government of the People's Republic of China Concerning
the U.S. Volunteer Program in China. In 1998, the Department of Health and Human
Service of the United States and the Ministry of Health of China renewed the
Protocol in the Science and Technology of Medicine and Public Health.
The year 1998 witnessed the
continued development of the China-U.S. cooperation in the fields of science and
technology, environment protection and energy resources. On May 6, China and the
United States signed the MOU on implementing the Agreement of Cooperation
between the Government of People's Republic of China and the Government of the
United States Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy . On May 8, the
Ministry of Construction of China and the Department of Interior of the United
States signed in Beijing the MOU on Cooperation in Management and Protection of
National Parks & Other Natural Cultural Heritage Sites. In June, the
National Environmental Protection Bureau of China and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency signed a statement of intention on the project of monitoring
city air quality. Respectively in September and November, the China-U.S.
Energy-Financing Meeting and the China-U.S. Fuel Industry Forum were held in
Beijing.