University of South Carolina Libraries
___Nation & World Administration releases text of U.S.-China trade agreement by Martin Crutsinger Associated. Press Washington — The Clinton admin istration, under pressure from Congress, released the text of its landmark trade agreement with China on Tuesday and pledged intensive enforcement to en sure that China opens its markets. Administration officials insisted the 250 pages of detailed text that it sent to each member of Congress and re leased to news organizations confirm its claims that U.S. exporters stand to reap billions of dollars from lowered trade barriers promised by China. “Wfe are confident that once people have reviewed the agreement, they will see for themselves that this is a tremen dous deal for American workers, farm ers aid businesses,” U.S. Trade Repre sentative Charlene Barshefsky said in a statement. Opponents quickly seized oh what they view as serious shortcomings of the agreement: the lack of protections for workers, the environment or human rights. “It is scandalous to read through 250 pages of a Clinton administration trade agreement and find not a single word on the rights of workers, on environmen tal protection or on human rights,” said Scott Nova, director of Citizens Trade * Campaign. It is among groups leading the fight to get Congress to reject the law implementing the U.S.-Chinese agreement. In negotiations last November, Chi na offered to open its vast market in re turn for U.S. support for China’s mem bership in the World Trade Organiza tion. Under WTO rules, however, American exporters cannot receive ben efits of the reduced trade barriers until Congress scraps its annual reviews of China's trade privileges in the U.S. mar ket and bestows low tariff rates per manently. Opponents charged that the word ing of the text released by the adminis tration raised questions about how iron clad China’s market-opening commitments are. Over the past two decades, various U.S. administrations have negotiated deals to open China’s markets to American companies only to complain later that China did not live up to its commitments. “What we have is the same mushy language we have had in the past,” Nova said. Administration officials disputed that contention and pledged a vigorous en forcement effort. “To those who are concerned that these commitments by China will not be honored, let me assure you that we are already preparing for the most in tensive enforcement effort ever mount ed for a single trade agreement,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Tuesday in a speech to the Ameri can Electronics Association. The decision to release the text rep resented a turnabout for the Clinton ad ministration, which for months had in sisted that it was bound by WTO rules prohibiting release of the actual agree ment while China was still in negotia tions with other countries whose sup port it must receive for WTO mem bership. Members of Congress finally per suaded the administration to abandon that position. The administration ex pects China’s permanent trade status to win Senate approval with little difficulty. But the legislation faces a difficult strug gle in the House, where labor unions are putting pressure on Democratic law makers to oppose. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R 111., has said the administration will have to come up with 100 Democratic votes before he will call up the measure for a vote. A leading Democratic opponent. Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., said he be lieves two-thirds of the 211 House Democrats will oppose, which would give the president only 70 votes. Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., said release of the ac tual text should make the job of sup porters easier. He agreed with Distort that a full vote is impossible until Re publicans are assurdl of sufficient De mocratic support. Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, whose House Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over the legislation, plans to discuss the timetable for House con sideration of the measure in a speech Thursday. Archer’s aides said he will use the address to suggest that President Clin ton deliver a nationally televised address to the country emphasizing the impor tance of the China vote. NAACP can accept flag in Statehouse, president says at first community meeting Associated Press The NAACP can accept the Con federate flag being encased under glass in the Statehouse if plaques explaining both sides of the controversy are dis played, the president of the statewide branch of the civil rights organization says. James Gallman spoke to about 300 people Tuesday at the first of a series of community unity rallies. He said the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People would prefer that the flag flying over the Capitol be removed from the completely and put in the Confederate Relic Room across Sumter Street from the Statehouse com plex. Gallman said the NAACP realized keeping the flag in the Statehouse would not be acceptable to everyone. “I realize that that might not be what some people want,” Gallman said. Gov. Jim Hodges’ proposal to take the flag off the dome and place a simi lar flag at the Wide Hampton monument on Statehouse grounds is not acceptable, Gallman said. The civil rights group has called for an economic boycott of South Carolina until the flag, which it says is a symbol of racism, is taken off the Capitol. Flag supporters say it represents Southern heritage and honors Civil War dead. Reporters were not allowed into the sanctuary of the Francis Marion Unit ed Methodist Church where Tuesday’s rally was held. The NAACP will hold similar ral lies in Greenville, Charleston, Beaufort and Florence in the next two weeks to address the flag and othet legislative is sues, including charter schools, a holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the upcoming census. State Sen. John Matthews, D-Bow man, said legislation to exempt charter schools from racial quotas are a step back ward State Rep. Joe Neal, D-Hopkins, ex plained the recent House floor battle over a King holiday for all state employees. He said Republican amendments would have “introduced language to ex onerate the Confederate flag” and were unacceptable. ATTENTION UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS WORLDWIDE l_i ■ gj^^^JpCENTER.COM r PURSUE JOB AND INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES THAT SPAN THE GLOBE CampusCareerCenter.com ~ The world's largest campus job fair Undergraduate Position Available Student wanted for part-time position in on-campus office. Must have excellent communication skills and strong experience in Microsoft Office ‘97 (Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint) and Adobe Pagemaker 6.5. Salary commensurate with experience. Contact A. Dawn Ward at (803) 777-0311 I „ for more information. EPSCoR The University of South Carolina is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Propecia I (finasteride) f Ask your doctor about this pill ! from Merck. For mofe information, call i 1-888-MERCK-74. I 5 www.propecia.com i i Interested in Pharmaceutical Sales? The average starting salary for new pharmaceutical reps is from $40,000 - $50,000 annually, plus bonus, company car, benefits, trips, etc. To find out more about how college graduates, with a variety of degrees, can enter the lucrative field of pharmaceutical sales, please visit www.pharmhire.com. This web site details our 117- page guidebook for breaking into the industry, training seminars, PharmHire E-resume, pharmaceutical jobs listings and much more. www.pharmhire.com Quick Cashtfgg^POpportunities Decaf or regular? Sleep in or go to class? Life is full of hard decisions. Does anyone pay you to make them? We do!!! Take part m USC researchers’ decision-making experiments on campus. Give us 2 hours of your time and make about S10 per hour. Register online http://econ.badm.sc.edu/beam ENCOUNTER Thursday, Mar. 16 @7:00 PM • 700 Pickens St. ♦Sponsored by the Baptist Student Union 700 Pickens St. 799-3854 e-mail: BSUUSC@Compuserve.com Sunshine Thrift store Jfes Serving Children's Hospital of Richland Memorial f/ Used Furniture, Appliances, & Clothing^^? 754-2075 783-3284 3300 Two Notch Rd.7351 Garner’s Ferry Rd. Find the Best Price on New and Pre-Owned Hondas www.rickhendrickhonda.com HONDA 791-5660 1650 Airport Bpulevard » West Columbia, SC 29171 Kappa Delta Sorority iDr'/ock Project KA’s Shamrock or cM\!d Abv$& Prevention 12:15 Greene St. Tuesday, March 21st www.kappadeltausc.org