A US bipartisan advisory group planned to deliver a report to Congress yesterday that is sharply critical of China's trade practices and endorses sanctions including a tariff on imports unless Beijing takes forceful steps to allow its currency to move in line with market forces.
The 222-page report, by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, has more than 50 recommendations, including urging closer cooperation with China on coal-related programs intended to help wean both nations from their dependence on imported oil.
But the overall portrait is of growing friction, especially on trade issues. The report comes at a time when Congress is increasingly ready to take action against China, as that country's rapid economic ascent and its fast-growing trade surplus with the US stir anxiety that US jobs and wealth are being lost, perhaps unfairly.
The commission's report could strengthen the hand of those in Congress who favor a tough stance on China matters. Congress holds the constitutional power to regulate foreign commerce, but it tends to become most involved when trade becomes a heated political issue. That happened in the 1980s when Japan's trade surplus with the US surged, and it seems to be happening now with China.
Last summer, for example, the state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corp (
"There is a real urgency in Congress to get progress on issues with China," said Richard D'Amato, chairman of the US-China commission and formerly a senior staff member for Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat. "What we'd like to see is legislative actions that get at pieces of this problem."
The commission report said Congress should consider "an immediate, across-the-board tariff on Chinese imports," unless China moves quickly to allow its currency, the yuan, to rise in value by at least 25 percent against the US dollar or a trade-weighted basket of currencies.
The recommendation amounts to an endorsement of the approach taken in a bill once sponsored by Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican. The bill called for a 27.5 percent tariff on Chinese imports unless China let its currency float more freely. The Bush administration, which has been adamantly opposing the legislation, was taken aback last spring when 67 senators voted against a motion to kill the bill.
Schumer and Graham withdrew the bill after assurances by US Secretary of the Treasury John Snow and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan that China would soon move to let its currency fluctuate.
In July, China made a modest step toward adopting a more flexible currency policy. But the change has resulted in an appreciation of the yuan of only about 2 percent against the US dollar.
Schumer and Graham met again last week with the Treasury secretary and the Fed chairman. Afterward, the senators issued a brief statement saying that the meeting had been "very productive" and that they were "hopeful" progress would be made soon. The senators have held out the option of introducing their bill again.
The US-China commission, created by Congress in 2000, has 12 members. One of them, William Reinsch, dissented from the report's recommendations.
"It does a good job of defining the difficult issues we face with China, but its standard solution is to beat Chinese over the head until they comply," said Reinsch, who is president of the National Foreign Trade Council and was an undersecretary of commerce under former president Bill Clinton.
"That approach runs the risk of undoing our policy of engagement with China, which has been the policy of the last five administrations," he said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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