THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607120010
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: ANOTHER VIEW
SOURCE: By SANTOSH CHOUDHURY
LENGTH: 63 lines
The dangling carrot of a large future market that enticed us to China has turned out to be a myth so far. Instead the flood of goods from China to America evaporated thousands of U.S. jobs and endowed China with an average trade surplus of $25 billion every year. Beijing also forced U.S. companies (GM, AT&T, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, AIG, Microsoft) in China to provide money, research and training in their respective fields to Chinese employees and university students.
Over time, China's transfer of nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan; nuclear tests; rearming Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar; military maneuvers in the Taiwan straits; commercial piracy of software, music and movies; abrogation of commercial contracts; acquisition of sensitive military technology from McDonnell Douglas; ordering Airbus instead of Boeing airplanes; gun-running in the U.S.; export smuggling; illegal immigration; torture in Tibet; horrible human-rights violations, to mention a few, are overlooked by the United States as a neighborhood naughty boy's play.
Henry Kissinger's secret trip was certainly not for kissing Mao's feet. Or was it? Obviously there was something else that the rest of the world is left to surmise.
If we assume that billions of dollars ($2.3 billion a year) of piracy losses for the U.S. entertainment and software industries are deductible for tax purposes in the United States, then it is clear that China is directly extorting the U.S. taxpayer for its own gain. What a clever way to rob U.S. taxpayers.
For all this, China is not even chided; instead after an annual media frenzy it is granted Most Favored Nation status and more trade surpluses.
Our compliance with pre-Cold War policies belies the realities of the post-Cold War era. Eastern Europeans opted for democracy. United Germany is a stalwart of capitalism. Soviets don't exist. A tattered Russia has fewer bear claws to scratch with. In Asia, North Korea is fighting famine and Vietnam is imbued with the free market. But China is constantly exhibiting the fire of the dragon with its nuclear weapons and missiles. The fear of the dragon spurred both India and Pakistan to go nuclear.
Despite economic progress, a vast majority in communist China are still poor. A large tract of China is virtually desert, and another large tract is pre-empted by inhospitable climate. Is it unexpected that someday the bulging population (with military assistance) might try to emigrate to other hospitable areas?
Tibet was conquered. More than 1,500 square miles of Indian territory was conquered in 1962. A large tract of Pakistan along Karakoram highway is under China's quasi-control. Hong Kong and Macao are already taken; Taiwan is targeted. China is rearming Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar. Do we need more evidence of China's expansionary policy?
The fundamental objective of all economic reforms is to increase national income. If China's goal is to improve the economic lot of its people, it deserves all our support. What makes China different is its flagrant violation of technology-transfer agreements. This is where safeguards are needed. The West and the United States, instead of being charmed by the big carrot, should agree to stand against the military adventurism of China. U.S. policies toward China should be guided by our national interests and to foster world peace. MEMO: Santosh Choudhury is a professor of finance at Norfolk State
University and a free-lance writer who has published academic papers on
China. by CNB