Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Petting the monster

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL decades my critical opinions of the government in Beijing have drawn fire from two groups of Americans. The most vocal group has been made up of businessmen and international corporation leaders who see China as a huge consumer market and a supply of cheap labor. The other critics have been good people who have spent little time in China and want to pacify its belligerent government in the name of peace.

In the first group of China promoters are corporate giants like Wal-Mart. Last year when questioning the wisdom of giving congressional approval of permanent normal trade relations, or PNTR, with China, I wrote what Joseph Kahn of the New York Times found when visiting a Wal-Mart in a Minneapolis suburb. Kahn entered the huge store with an American flag flying over it and found the shelves loaded with Chinese-made goods

Wal-Mart didn't want to tell the Times writer what percentage of its goods are made in China. Kahn writes that, "From car stereos to steel-toed work boots, Wal-Mart is the single largest United States importer. About half of its imports come from China, according to a study of Customs Department documents conducted by the Citizens Trade Campaign, which is critical of the company."

Two generations of American farmers have found a market for many of their products in Asia. In their eagerness to promote good will they have helped the backward agricultural business in China to modernize and also taught its farmers how to raise production. Now with several American businessmen and politicians pushing for China's entrance into the World Trade Organization, these American farmers are starting to worry.

In early August a front page Los Angeles Times story tells readers of the problems California farmers are now facing as a glut of cheap Chinese fruits and vegetables flood Asian markets.

At the same time promoters of Beijing are pushing for closer U.S. ties, many also are willing to sacrifice our friends on Taiwan. But what are the facts? This spring the Overseas Press Club of America heard Su Tzen-pins of Taiwan give them the real facts of life in that part of the world when saying, "Last year, Taiwan was the United States' eighth largest trading partner as bilateral trade reached US$64.9 billion, up 19.4 percent from 1999. Taiwan was the seventh largest export market for the United States, purchasing US$24.4 billion of American goods in 2000. Taiwan was also the seventh largest source of U.S. imports. Moreover, U.S.-Taiwan economic activity resulted in the creation of an estimated 800,000 American job opportunities last year."

The Taiwan government spokesman went on to use U.S. statistics to make his point. He told the club members, "Taiwan has outperformed the Chinese mainland as a major trading partner of the U.S. by a large margin, even though the PRC is 256 times larger in area and has 58 times the population. According to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Taiwan purchased 1.57 times as much as the Chinese mainland last year. Over the past decade, total U.S.-Taiwan trade has been 1.67 times greater than U.S.-China trade. And in terms of a comparison of per capita consumption of U.S. goods, every Taiwanese man, woman and child purchased US$1,060 worth of American products in 2000, while the average mainlander bought only US$12."

The U.S. sat on its collective hands and watched the 2008 Olympics be given to China as a platform to promote itself while hiding its abuse of human beings. Now let's see how far our leaders are willing to go in promoting China's membership in the WTO. Once in that Geneva-based organization there will be little, if anything, our country can do to protect our farmers and manufacturers from the dumping of cheap labor products from China on our markets.

It's about time more Americans take an educated interest into where we are being steered by big business and our government.