April 13, 1999
Web posted at: 12:54 a.m. EDT (0454 GMT)

In this story: Chinese paper says WTO obstacles political Nuclear secrets issue rankles Washington In China: Criticism over trade concessions RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A day after he was cheered by traders on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji prepared for a whirlwind day in New York, as he wound up his visit to the United States.

He will be drumming up support for trade with China during an American Bankers Association luncheon and a dinner hosted by the U.S. China Business Council, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the N.Y. Economic Club. Tuesday's agenda also includes a visit to the Chinese Mission.

Zhu told U.S. business leaders on Monday that he is privately more pleased with China's progress toward entry into the World Trade Organization than he has admitted publicly.

"For public occasions I have somewhat expressed my regret that we failed to reach the package agreement for China's membership in the WTO," he said of trade negotiations in Washington last week.

"But to be honest, at the bottom of my heart I am not thinking that way. I am quite pleased," he said."

Zhu said promises were made in Washington that the "United States of America strongly supports the access of the People's Republic of China into WTO in the year 1999. That's enough!"

Zhu also said there are no plans to devalue China's currency, even though the country paid a price by not doing so during last year's Asian economic turmoil. Other foreign exchange sources have brought equilibrium, he said, and the currency "will not be devalued."

The Chinese newspaper Economic Information Daily said on Tuesday that China has cleared most major economic hurdles to joining the World Trade Organization, leaving the U.S. Congress as the only significant obstacle.

The paper said the agreement signed in Washington last week by Zhu and President Clinton underscores their commitment to complete bilateral WTO negotiations this year.

A host of last-ditch concessions by China had largely satisfied U.S. terms in the five key areas of tariffs, non-tariff barriers, market access, agriculture and information technology, the state-run daily said in a commentary.

"However, although conditions are ripe for China-U.S. accord in economic negotiations, there are endless criticisms of China's WTO entry from some members of the U.S. Congress and the main barrier to admission is political, not economic," it said.

The newspaper did not specify the reservations about China's WTO entry by members of Congress.

While Zhu has been pictured in informal settings -- tossing a football in Denver, and being presented a prize bull in Chicago -- in Washington, the tone with regard to U.S. -Chinese relations was less friendly.

A Senate committee on Monday dug into accusations that China stole nuclear secrets from U.S. laboratories.

"These allegations are extremely serious," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner said.

"China is America's, and indeed the West's natural enemy in the next millennium," the Virginia Republican said. "China is striving to elevate its superpower status, both in terms of its military capabilities as well as its economic and political."

China has steadfastly denied allegations that it used secrets stolen from Los Alamos in the 1980s to produce small warheads that could be launched from a single missile at multiple targets.

Zhu has said he had no knowledge of the matter.

While trade issues have been foremost on the Chinese premier's agenda, the spying allegations have produced tension.

The Senate hearing centered on whether the Clinton administration moved too slowly in reacting to allegations of Chinese espionage which first surfaced in 1995.

Notra Trulock, acting deputy director at the Energy Department's office of intelligence, said he sought to brief members of Congress on the spying allegations earlier but his efforts were rebuffed by superiors.

And warnings about suspected spying were also ignored by laboratory officials, he said.

"This month notes the four-year anniversary of the initial detection of problems within (Energy Department) laboratories," Trulock said. The Energy Department oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons research laboratories.

Zhu said trade concessions China has made to date are enough and if demands are "too much too soon ... maybe you will wind up with nothing."

Already, he said, he has faced some criticism at home that he may have given too much away.

On Monday, the Chinese premier confronted one of the citadels of western capitalism, setting foot on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange while billions of dollars in futures contracts changed hands around him.

Traders, whose unofficial motto is "free markets for free men," cheered the leader of the world's largest Communist country as he stepped onto a walkway high above the exchange floor. They cheered again as he exchanged mock hand signals with traders in the pits.

Zhu weaved his way through the crowded trading floor to the Eurodollar pit, where investors can bet on the direction of short-term interest rates, shaking hands with traders and clerks who reached out to greet the premier.

He began his U.S. visit on April 6 in Los Angeles before meeting President Clinton in Washington, and traveling to Denver and Chicago.

The last stop on his nine-day tour is Boston, where he is scheduled to travel on Wednesday before leaving the United States.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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