One Billion Customers - James McGregor [27]
The beginning of the end of China’s long trade travails happened in April 1999 when Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji arrived at the White House carrying with him a deal that he had negotiated with Barshefsky. Zhu was confident that the agreement would pave the way for China to become a member of the World Trade Organization. Yet he was uneasy. The agreement would open China’s agriculture, banking, telecommunications, and retail industries to a greater degree than the United States had been able to wrest from Japan, its biggest trading partner. The U.S. Congress and business community would love that. But the concessions he was going to make would infuriate his opponents in China, who knew little or nothing of the details when Zhu left Beijing for Washington. He needed to sign the deal now, before his opponents at home could rally support against it. He was gratified that on the day of his arrival President Bill Clinton signaled in a speech that if China were willing to play by WTO rules, “it would be an inexplicable mistake for the United States to say no.”
When Clinton invited Zhu to the White House residence that evening for an informal discussion before the final negotiations were to begin, Zhu assumed that for all practical purposes he and Clinton would seal the deal in this intimate setting. He hadn’t reckoned with the crisis atmosphere that hung over the Clinton administration. It had been only two months since the U.S. Senate had rejected the embarrassing House-approved articles of impeachment against the president. A congressional committee had just completed its severely flawed but politically charged report declaring that China was systematically stealing American nuclear and military technology. Indictments were being prepared against Chinese-American hustlers who raised money for the Clinton campaign from donors alleged to be connected to the Chinese government. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin had warned Clinton that the U.S. financial industry wasn’t wholly satisfied with the China WTO deal and Gene Sperling, Clinton’s top domestic economic adviser, was urging the president to delay because of strong opposition in Congress and from organized labor. The last thing Clinton needed now was another fight with Congress, especially over China. To make matters worse, Barshefsky hadn’t had the opportunity to explain to Clinton about Zhu’s difficult political position in China.
Clinton greeted Zhu warmly, putting his arm around the Chinese premier, whose blunt style, fluent English, and self-deprecating sense of humor had made him a favorite of foreign leaders. Clinton leveled with Zhu. We have two options, he told him. If Zhu really needed a deal, they could do one right now. But then he said, “Let me tell you about the politics on our side and then you decide how to handle this.” Clinton explained that he was worried that the poisonous atmosphere in the Republican Congress could kill the agreement amid charges that Clinton had given away the store to the Chinese. Perhaps, he said, the two could announce they had made significant progress tonight and finish the deal later in Beijing.
“You have to let me know,” Clinton told Zhu. “Do you really need a deal now?”
Zhu was both flustered and flattered by Clinton’s physical familiarity, but he knew what his answer had to be. The premier of the great country of China, the upright official who was building a commercial system using many aspects of the American system as a model, a man steeled by years of Communist party discipline, could not tell an American president that he needed a political favor. Zhu looked at Clinton and said: “We will take option two.”
Clinton left the meeting relieved that he could avoid another immediate fight with Congress, and gratified that he and Zhu could be so honest and straightforward with each other. Zhu walked away angry and worried. Clinton was smart; how could he walk away from a deal that would have given the United States unprecedented access to Chinese markets? He must not be in touch with his constituents.
Trying Again
Then hell broke