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China asks U.S. senators for more tech and visas

Posted on: Friday, 24 March 2006, 08:00 CST

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China wants the United States to relax restrictions on its high-tech exports and ease access to visas for Chinese citizens, two visiting U.S. Senators told reporters on Friday.

Sen. Charles Schumer reiterated that "the jury is still out" on whether he and Sen. Lindsey Graham would bring to a vote a bill to impose import tariffs of 27.5 percent on Chinese goods if Beijing refused to allow its currency to float more freely.

"I believe in my heart that they agree that they should let their currency float," Schumer said, adding that financial mechanisms were now in place to allow a more rapid appreciation.

But Graham told the news briefing "a 3 percent change, to me, is still strong evidence that there's manipulation going on."

The pair, in China on a fact-finding mission, complain that the Chinese currency is undervalued by between 15 and 40 percent, undermining U.S. manufacturers and fuelling China's large trade surplus with the United States.

They have been in China for the past week meeting officials in Beijing as they seek greater flexibility in the yuan's exchange rate to better reflect its true value. They stressed on Friday that they were not seeking a definite timetable but "clear evidence" that the currency was responding to market forces.

"We're beginning to sniff real results," Schumer said in Shanghai at the end of the pair's trip, adding that no decision on whether to proceed with the bill would be reached until they got back to Washington next week.

If passed, the bill would not actually impose tariffs until two years after it was enacted, providing leeway for China to effect the desired reforms, Schumer said.

"We did because we knew what would happen, and we know what will happen, the two governments will get together, come up with the agreement that we've been seeking anyway, and the tariffs wouldn't take effect," he said.

"Obviously our preference is to get the two governments to agree to a reasonable timetable.

But China had also raised its own concerns on issues it believes are impeding bilateral trade, including restrictions on technology transfers and on the issuing of visas for Chinese visiting the United States, Schumer told reporters.

"The Chinese government brought up two concerns to us, and they're both reasonable," he said.

Washington restricts transfer of technology to China for products deemed sensitive, such as nuclear technologies that could theoretically be used in defense applications. But it is seeking greater exports to China.

Beijing plans to quadruple its nuclear power capacity to 40 gigawatts by 2020, which means building two or three 1,000-megawatt units a year, to meet the growing power demand of its rapidly expanding economy.

The United States issued 81,699 visas to applicants in China last year, up 30 percent from the 63,065 it issued in 2004, according to figures released by the U.S. consulate in Shanghai.

Consular officials noted that the 2005 number was also up from the 60,262 issued in 2001, the year before scrutiny was tightened following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Chinese complain that the time required to obtain a U.S. visa is longer now than before and more expensive -- $100 per application compared to half that amount before 2001.

Many U.S. businesses and universities have also complained that restrictive visa policies adopted after September 11 have hurt business and scientific ties.

However tough the talks were in Shanghai, Schumer clearly enjoyed his time in the city, telling his hosts:

"I'll pay Shanghai the ultimate compliment in my opinion, You're a lot like New York! The architecture knocks your socks off, in so many ways."

Source: REUTERS

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