| |
|
AP:Yuan Won't Resolve Trade Friction
|
|
|
Raising the value of China's currency will not resolve trade friction with
the United States, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said Thursday in a
report underscoring the importance of the Chinese market for U.S. businesses.
The report was upbeat overall, saying that more than 90 percent of some
450 members surveyed were optimistic about business prospects in fast-growing
China over the next five years. But it accused Beijing of failing to meet
deadlines to fulfill crucial market-opening commitments and to prevent
commercial piracy.
"In some cases, compliance with WTO commitments has
slipped," said the report by the American Chambers of Commerce in China and
Shanghai. Chinese anti-piracy enforcement efforts to date "have not effectively
deterred infringement of copyright, trademark, and patent rights."
China
made those commitments when it joined the World Trade Organization in December
2001.
The report said that 80 percent of the companies surveyed found
enforcement of such intellectual property rights to be "ineffective or totally
ineffective." A third said piracy had seriously hurt their exports and almost
half said such problems were negatively affecting investment decisions and
research and development work.
"We're working closely with the Shanghai
government, but obviously we're not there yet," said James Green, government
relations director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Still, 80 percent of those polled said they were expanding their
businesses in mainland China this year.
The report was released as U.S.
and Chinese trade negotiators were meeting in Beijing to try to resolve a
festering textile trade dispute.
U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for
International Affairs Timothy Adams, Washington's top official on international
economic issues, was also in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian on Thursday and Friday for a gathering of
financial officials of the Group of 20 developing and industrialized nations. [Special]Finance Minister & Central Bank Deputy
Meeting
Despite the hoopla over a July 21 revaluation of the
Chinese yuan by 2 percent to 8.11, such adjustments will likely have little
impact on overall trade with the United States, the report, issued annually,
said.
"We do not believe that (yuan) appreciation will solve the U.S.
bilateral or global deficit problem, nor will it ameliorate the long-term
structural decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs," the report said.
U.S.
trade deficit with China reached a record $162 billion last year, and Washington
says the gap this year is running at a rate 32 percent above even that level.
The survey found that 35 percent of companies polled believed that a 10
percent appreciation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar would be positive for
their business, while 24 percent said it would be negative.
Conversely,
when asked to gauge the effect of a 10 percent depreciation of the yuan, 24
percent of companies polled said such a move would be positive, while 29 percent
said it would be negative.
Between 13 percent and 16 percent of
companies polled said a 10 percent yuan change up or down would have no effect
on business, while 19 percent were uncertain over how a yuan appreciation would
affect their business and 24 percent were uncertain over effects from a
depreciation.
Critics of China's foreign exchange policies contend that
the yuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, giving Chinese exporters an
artificial price advantage. Washington has said it expects more than a 2 percent
revaluation, but says it recognizes the need to give Chinese companies and
financial institutions to adapt to other currency reforms.
Since July
21, the yuan has appreciated less than 0.2 percent against the dollar. It now
trades against a basket of currencies of China's main trading partners.
In other areas, the chamber of commerce urged China to lift the current
25 percent cap on total foreign investment in any Chinese bank to minimize the
impact on the market when China fully opens its banking sector to foreign
competition at the end of 2006.
China pledged to open its banking sector
when it joined the WTO in 2001.
The report noted that the government has
not yet issued or implemented rules allowing direct selling or commercial
distribution rights, missing a Dec. 11, 2004, deadline.
It said new
construction regulations hamper market access for foreign builders and
engineering firms and that many commercial regulations are not clearly
explained.
As for Shanghai, one of the group's most urgent demands was
an improvement in slow and unreliable Internet connections, especially to the
United States.
"If you want to make Shanghai a
world class business center, you need more access and connectivity," Green said.
|
(Editor:Farah Song) (From:Associated Press )
 |
|
|
