Monday, March 24, 2008
[IWS] CRS: CHINA-U.S. RELATIONS: CURRENT ISSUES & IMPLICATIONS for U.S. POLICY [17 March 2008]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL33877
China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy, Updated March 17, 2008
Kerry Dumbaugh, Specialist in Asian Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33877_20080317.pdf
[full-text, 55 pages]
Summary
U.S.-China relations were remarkably smooth for much of the George W. Bush
Administration, although there are signs that U.S. China policy now is subject to
competing reassessments. State Department officials in 2005 unveiled what they said
was a new framework for the relationship with the United States willing to work
cooperatively with China while encouraging Beijing to become a "responsible
stakeholder" in the global system. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in
December 2006 established a U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue with Beijing,
the most senior regular dialogue yet held with China. But other U.S. policymakers
have adopted tougher stances on issues involving China and U.S.-China relations.
They are concerned about the impact of the PRC's strong economic growth and a
more assertive PRC diplomacy in the international arena; about procedures to assure
the quality of Chinese pharmaceuticals, food, and other products being imported into
the United States; and about trade practices and policies in China that contribute to
a strong U.S.-China trade imbalance in the latter's favor.
Taiwan, which China considers a "renegade province," remains the most
sensitive issue the two countries face and the one many observers fear could lead to
Sino-U.S. conflict. But U.S. relations with Taiwan have also been plagued by what
some U.S. officials see as that government's minimal defense spending and the
recurrent independence-leaning actions and rhetoric of its President and other
government officials, which U.S. officials have called "unhelpful" to regional
stability. On March 11, 2008, the anniversary of a large-scale anti-Chinese uprising
in 1959, the political status of Tibet re-emerged as an issue when monks in Lhasa
launched a protest against PRC rule. The protests, at times apparently resulting in
violent clashes with police, judging from news reports, have spread to several other
cities in Tibet and beyond. Beijing's response has led some Tibetan activists to add
their voices to other calls urging a boycott of the Summer Olympics in Beijing in
August 2008.
Other concerns about China appear driven by security calculations in Congress
and at the Pentagon, where officials question the motivations behind China's
expanding military budget. One congressionally mandated DOD report concluded
Beijing is greatly understating its military expenditures and is developing antisatellite
(ASAT) systems a claim that gained more credence when the PRC used
a ballistic missile to destroy one of its own orbiting satellites in January 2007.
Bilateral economic and trade issues also are growing matters of concern. U.S.
officials and lawmakers particularly criticize China's massive bilateral trade surplus,
its failure to halt piracy of U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR), and its continued
constraints on currency valuation.
This report will be updated regularly as events warrant and will track legislative
initiatives involving China. For actions and issues in U.S.-China relations considered
during the 109th Congress, see CRS Report RL32804, China-U.S. Relations in the
109th Congress, by Kerry Dumbaugh.
Contents
Most Recent Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Background and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Current Issues and Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Demonstrations in Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Concerns about Product Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Military and National Security Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
China's Growing Military Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
PRC Anti-Satellite Test and Space Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Denials of U.S. Port Calls in Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Military Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Economic and Trade Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Currency Valuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Unfair Trade Subsidies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
North Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Six Party Talks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
October 2006 Nuclear Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
U.S.-PRC Official Dialogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Senior Dialogue and Strategic Economic Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Referendum on U.N. Membership for Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
U.S. Taiwan Policy and U.S. Arms Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Official Taiwan-PRC Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
China's Growing Global Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
European Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Middle East and Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Western Hemisphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Environmental Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Domestic Political Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Social Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
17th Party Congress, October 15 - 21, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Xinjiang's Ethnic Muslims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Internet and Media Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Religious Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Family Planning Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hong Kong Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
U.S. Policy Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Public Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 P.L. 110-140 . . . . 37
Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 P.L. 110-161 . . . . . . . . . 37
National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008 P.L. 110-181 . . . 37
Other Pending Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Appendix A. Selected Visits by U.S. and PRC Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Appendix B. Selected U.S. Government Reporting Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 50
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL33877
China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy, Updated March 17, 2008
Kerry Dumbaugh, Specialist in Asian Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33877_20080317.pdf
[full-text, 55 pages]
Summary
U.S.-China relations were remarkably smooth for much of the George W. Bush
Administration, although there are signs that U.S. China policy now is subject to
competing reassessments. State Department officials in 2005 unveiled what they said
was a new framework for the relationship with the United States willing to work
cooperatively with China while encouraging Beijing to become a "responsible
stakeholder" in the global system. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in
December 2006 established a U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue with Beijing,
the most senior regular dialogue yet held with China. But other U.S. policymakers
have adopted tougher stances on issues involving China and U.S.-China relations.
They are concerned about the impact of the PRC's strong economic growth and a
more assertive PRC diplomacy in the international arena; about procedures to assure
the quality of Chinese pharmaceuticals, food, and other products being imported into
the United States; and about trade practices and policies in China that contribute to
a strong U.S.-China trade imbalance in the latter's favor.
Taiwan, which China considers a "renegade province," remains the most
sensitive issue the two countries face and the one many observers fear could lead to
Sino-U.S. conflict. But U.S. relations with Taiwan have also been plagued by what
some U.S. officials see as that government's minimal defense spending and the
recurrent independence-leaning actions and rhetoric of its President and other
government officials, which U.S. officials have called "unhelpful" to regional
stability. On March 11, 2008, the anniversary of a large-scale anti-Chinese uprising
in 1959, the political status of Tibet re-emerged as an issue when monks in Lhasa
launched a protest against PRC rule. The protests, at times apparently resulting in
violent clashes with police, judging from news reports, have spread to several other
cities in Tibet and beyond. Beijing's response has led some Tibetan activists to add
their voices to other calls urging a boycott of the Summer Olympics in Beijing in
August 2008.
Other concerns about China appear driven by security calculations in Congress
and at the Pentagon, where officials question the motivations behind China's
expanding military budget. One congressionally mandated DOD report concluded
Beijing is greatly understating its military expenditures and is developing antisatellite
(ASAT) systems a claim that gained more credence when the PRC used
a ballistic missile to destroy one of its own orbiting satellites in January 2007.
Bilateral economic and trade issues also are growing matters of concern. U.S.
officials and lawmakers particularly criticize China's massive bilateral trade surplus,
its failure to halt piracy of U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR), and its continued
constraints on currency valuation.
This report will be updated regularly as events warrant and will track legislative
initiatives involving China. For actions and issues in U.S.-China relations considered
during the 109th Congress, see CRS Report RL32804, China-U.S. Relations in the
109th Congress, by Kerry Dumbaugh.
Contents
Most Recent Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Background and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Current Issues and Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Demonstrations in Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Concerns about Product Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Military and National Security Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
China's Growing Military Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
PRC Anti-Satellite Test and Space Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Denials of U.S. Port Calls in Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Military Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Economic and Trade Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Currency Valuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Unfair Trade Subsidies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
North Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Six Party Talks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
October 2006 Nuclear Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
U.S.-PRC Official Dialogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Senior Dialogue and Strategic Economic Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Referendum on U.N. Membership for Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
U.S. Taiwan Policy and U.S. Arms Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Official Taiwan-PRC Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
China's Growing Global Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
European Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Middle East and Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Western Hemisphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Environmental Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Domestic Political Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Social Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
17th Party Congress, October 15 - 21, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Xinjiang's Ethnic Muslims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Internet and Media Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Religious Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Family Planning Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hong Kong Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
U.S. Policy Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Public Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 P.L. 110-140 . . . . 37
Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 P.L. 110-161 . . . . . . . . . 37
National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008 P.L. 110-181 . . . 37
Other Pending Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Appendix A. Selected Visits by U.S. and PRC Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Appendix B. Selected U.S. Government Reporting Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 50
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 5:31 AM
