DATE=5/25/2000 TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP TITLE=U-S HOUSE APPROVES NORMALIZING CHINA TRADE NUMBER=6-11838 BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE DATELINE=WASHINGTON EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 CONTENT= INTRO: The United States House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday normalizing U-S trade with China. Prior to the measure, the congress had to debate renewing China's trading status each year, and usually did so with an acrimonious display of rhetoric pitting human rights against expanded trade. The victory, by a surprisingly easy vote of 237 in favor, to 197 against, was a major foreign policy victory for President Clinton. The issue had been bitterly debated in the House and in the U-S press for weeks. It is scheduled to be voted on next month in the Senate, where it is widely expected to pass easily. Wednesday's winning margin was achieved with active support of the Republican majority in the House, but with substantially less support from Democrats, who worried about rewarding China despite its poor human rights climate. Because the vote was announced about 21:30 Universal Time, (5:30 P-M Washington time) many international newspapers had already published Thursday's or Friday's editions and had no time to respond with editorials. But some early reaction is available and here is a sampling from ____________, with this week's World Opinion Roundup. TEXT: One of China's official newspapers, the China Daily in Beijing, reported the news on its Internet web site, noting: VOICE: Supporters say the passage of the bill [will] ... spur reform in China and benefit U-S companies eager to enter the vast Chinese market, while opponents argue that it would mean fewer jobs for U-S workers. TEXT: Computer users reading the Strait Times web site from Singapore, saw extensive coverage shortly after the vote. Beijing correspondent Mary Kwang filed this from the Chinese capital, calling the vote a "Boost for Jiang, and Zhu. VOICE: ... passage of the trade bill has boosted the positions of Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, who have promoted very hard China's bid to enter the World Trade Organization. ... The vote allows the Chinese leadership to press on with economic reforms in the country, in the face of resistance from several quarters, which had opposed China's W-T- O entry. TEXT: Also on the Straits Times web page, there are comments from the newspaper's Washington correspondent Lee Siew Hua, who suggests: VOICE: New paths in Washington-Beijing relations are opening up with the normalization of China's trade status, but the China debate in the U-S will still be unresolved and politicized. TEXT: In a separate dispatch from the Chinese capital, Ms. Kwang reports that at least one Chinese think tank predicts higher growth for the huge nation after it enters the World Trade Organization. To Hong Kong now, where the press is significantly freer than in the rest of China. The Hong Kong Standard's reporter in Washington, Charles Snyder, suggests some caution is required: VOICE: ... as (U-S) supporters of mainland trade prepared to savor the victory, new questions arose in the Senate over differences between the bills before the two chambers. ... The new language was added [by the House Ways and Means Committee] ... to assuage wavering members who feared that [the bill] would strip away the ability to pressure the mainland on human rights, arms proliferation and other matters. ... If the Senate and House end up approving bills with different wording, that would have to be resolved in a joint conference, which [Senate Majority leader Trent] ... Lott would like to avoid. If both chambers cannot agree on identical wording, the bill may be shelved until next year. TEXT: Moving on to Australia now, the Sydney Morning Herald runs a dispatch in Friday's [5/26] edition from Gay Alcorn in Washington and John Schauble in Beijing, including these comments: VOICE: China ...praised passage of the legislation, but flatly rejected those provisions setting up a human rights watchdog and "any other irrelevant conditions." The setting up by the U-S of a permanent commission to scrutinize China's human rights performance constituted direct interference in China's internal affairs, said Ms. Zhang Qiyue, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry. "This is something we cannot accept," she said. "We reserve the right to take further actions." ... asked whether china's accession to the w-T-O would lead to further political reforms, Ms. Zhang said the process of opening up and reform in China would continue "according to our own national conditions" ... TEXT: Here in North America, there was rapid reaction from the Canadian daily, the Toronto globe and Mail, which noted: VOICE: This is a bilateral deal, but it is enormously important for the rest of us. It paves the way for China to join the world Trade Organization. That would bring the world's most populous nation under the umbrella of a rules- based multilateral regime administering the trading of goods and services. On balance, that would be a positive development. /// OPT /// Many of China's one-billion inhabitants do not now participate to any great extent in the global economy. But one day they will, and sheer numbers will give them enormous power. The prospect of an undemocratic China making up its own rules to play commercial partners off against one another is alarming. /// END OPT /// TEXT: To Europe now, for first impressions in the British Press, where London's Financial Times calls the vote: VOICE: A decisive foreign policy triumph for President Clinton ... the resounding vote was a bitter blow to organized labor, which had made defeat of the China bill its top legislative priority. TEXT: And in Paris, Le Figaro Economie agrees: VOICE: Bill Clinton has won a crucial victory in Congress ... The president must share this victory with the leaders of the narrow Republican majority ... Paradoxically, the White House and the Republican majority were on the same side. TEXT: Lastly, we go to Rome, where Italy's La Repubblica writes: VOICE: Thanks to an unusual cross majority ... in which Bill Clinton sided with the Republicans against the labor unions, some Democratic representatives and Chinese dissidents, Congress ... [approved] the normalization of trade ... with China... In practice, there will be no more obstacles for China's entrance into the W-T-O while "made in the U-S" products will be allowed to enter the Chinese market with fewer difficulties. TEXT: With that comment from Italy's La Repubblica, we conclude this sampling of early reaction to Wednesday U-S House of Representatives' vote to normalize trade with China. NEB/ANG/JP 25-May-2000 16:12 PM EDT (25-May-2000 2012 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .