Ambassador says U.S. not trusting of Chinese

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 10:12 a.m.

As relations improve between the People's Republic of China and the United States, so does the likelihood that more Chinese tourists will make their way to Las Vegas.

But Wang Yongqiu, a Chinese consul general based in San Francisco who holds the rank of ambassador, said the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has to be more trusting of Chinese citizens coming to the United States before tourism can flourish.

Wang was in Las Vegas last month to address several organizations with ties to Asia about prospects for trade and other business opportunities. In Wang's address, he emphasized how the Chinese economy is more stable than the rest of Asia and doors are opening in China as diplomatic relations warm.

President Clinton plans a state visit to China in June and already has received Chinese leaders in the White House. But Wang said the biggest roadblock to growth in tourism rests with the difficulty of Chinese visitors getting visas to enter the United States. He insisted there is no problem with Chinese citizens leaving the country and stories about the Chinese government thwarting travel are blown out of proportion by the American media.

"The biggest problem our people have is getting a visa to get into this country," Wang said. "A lot of them already do because they do business here, but there is some suspicion of our citizens that makes it difficult to get in."

Wang said the distrust stems from cultural differences between the two nations that can only thaw with more interaction between the people of the two nations.

About 119,000 Chinese visitors came to Las Vegas in 1996, according to U.S. Department of Commerce statistics analyzed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. That figure includes visits from the Republic of China -- Taiwan -- the island off the coast of the Chinese mainland that maintains it is a separate country while China considers it a renegade republic.

The Taiwan issue is one of the sore points between the United States and the Chinese. Although Taiwan is a democracy, the United States recognizes the Communist mainland government as the official leadership.

Tourists making their way to Las Vegas from China usually arrive by way of San Francisco or Los Angeles. Three airlines -- Air China, China Southern and China Eastern -- offer a handful of flights between those two cities and Shanghai and Beijing.

As far as business contacts are concerned, Wang told members of the Southern Nevada International Business Council, the Nevada Small Business Development Center and the Asian Chamber of Commerce that China acquired $11.3 million in exported goods from Nevada in 1996, a 178 percent increase over the previous year. Wang said minerals are the primary export, but China also gets a small amount of electronics and medical products from Nevada.

In addition to his appearance before the business group, Wang and He Weiwen, economic and commercial counselor for China based in San Francisco, were guests at a reception at the residence of John O'Reilly, a prominent Las Vegas businessman and attorney.