Bush's Agenda for China
(11/17/2005)
Topics on President Bush's Agenda during his visit to China:
• Currency – China revaluing its currency would destabilize the Chinese economy and undermine growth in both China and the U.S.
• Energy – China and America are on a collision course over growing demands for scarce energy resources. The only way for both countries to grow is to stop arguing over textile quotas and trade restrictions and invest heavily in education and information and communication technology.
• Intellectual Property Law – President Bush will press China to enact tougher laws to intellectual property. But China has strict intellectual property laws already; the difficulty is enforcement in a country without a ‘Rule of Law’ tradition. China’s strategic focus on IT industries means software companies are growing fast. They want IP protection too.
• Avian (Bird) Flu – China is taking the Avian ‘Bird’ Flu very seriously. The real bird flu story, however, is not the improbable mutation and spread to humans. It is the economic and political impact of millions of poor poultry farmers losing their only means of survival.
• Opening of Capital Markets – China has committed to fully open its capital markets over the next two years, to meet its WTO obligations mandated by the World Trade Organization membership standards. This coincides with China’s global coming out party -- the 2008 Olympics. Opening China’s capital markets will create massive opportunities for U.S. service industries in banking, insurance, and investment.
• China and America’s Future – There is a generation of bright, energetic, committed young people growing up in China who believe in the American dream. It is important that we get to know each other now so we can grow together.
I'll write more on these in the next few days.