DATE=5/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA TRADE / HIGH TECH REACT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262820
BYLINE=MAX RUSTON
DATELINE=SAN FRANCISCO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO:  Leaders of the top high-technology companies 
in the United States are welcoming the U-S House of 
Representatives' vote in favor of permanent normal 
trade ties with China.  As we hear from V-O-A's Max 
Ruston in San Francisco, the U-S high-technology 
sector is expected to be one of the biggest 
beneficiaries of increased trade with Beijing.

TEXT:  U-S high technology firms, particular 
telecommunications and computer software and hardware 
companies, are among the strongest supporters of 
improved trade ties with China.  They say China is 
growing at an extraordinary speed as a market for U-S 
products in almost every technology sector, as it 
pursues modernization.

Tim Bennet is vice president of the American 
Electronics Association, the largest high-technology 
association in the country, with more than 34-hundred 
member companies.

                  /// BENNET ACT ///

      The market potential there is large, 
      particularly for high-tech products, and U-S 
      industry is very anxious to have the opportunity 
      to participate in that market, especially in 
      light of the fact that we anticipate China's 
      successful accession into the W-T-O [World Trade 
      Organization] later this year, and our European 
      and Asian and Latin American competitors 
      certainly do intend to compete in that market, 
      and we believe we should be there also.

                   /// END ACT ///

As examples of China's importance as a market for 
technology purchases, Mr. Bennet says that by the end 
of the year 2002, China will be the world's second-
largest market for mobile telephones.  By 2003 it will 
be the third-largest market for semiconductor chips.  
Next year it will be the second-largest market for 
computers.  And every year it is installing the 
equivalent of one U-S regional telephone system.

Mr. Bennet has been trying to win over opponents of 
normalized trade with China, who charge that 
Washington is exchanging its conscience for trade 
dollars.  He says leaders in the U-S high technology 
industry agree that China has serious shortcomings in 
areas such as labor rights, environmental protection 
and religious and political freedoms.  But he says 
they disagree over how to achieve change in the 
world's most populous country.

                /// OPT 2ND BENNET ACT ///

      We do not disagree with the concerns.  We 
      acknowledge those as legitimate and serious.  We 
      disagree on the best way to address it.  We feel 
      that just complaining on this side of the ocean 
      does not do anything to foster the type of 
      change that we would all like to see.

            /// END ACT ///   /// END OPT ///

Technology-industry executive Tim Bennet says he 
believes the best way to change conditions in China is 
to ensure that it is fully engaged with the United 
States and the rest of the world.  He says that 
eventually will speed up the process of establishing 
higher standards in China for all types of rights and 
freedoms. 

Those sentiments are echoed by another technology-
sector executive, who says it will be hard to maintain 
a totalitarian regime when people are constantly being 
given new and better tools for communications with the 
rest of the world.   (Signed)

NEB/MPR/WTW



25-May-2000 17:00 PM EDT (25-May-2000 2100 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.