Blog of Q's

Lobbying efforts by Micron Technology Inc. and the Idaho congressional
delegation were credited Friday with helping prevent the U.S.
Export-Import Bank from subsidizing China’s growing memory chip
industry.

A
Micron spokesman said a Chinese company’s bid for an Export-Import Bank
guarantee of a $769 million loan to buy chip-making equipment would
have contributed to a glut in the memory chip market and led to a loss
of American jobs.

“We don’t think the U.S. government should be
using U.S. taxpayer money to finance the movement of semiconductor jobs
to China,” spokesman Dave Parker said.

Alan Tonelson
Friday, February 11, 2005

This is the extent of the “article”. The site is worth visiting.

Two news items from the Eastern Front caught our eye last week.

Wednesday January 12, 9:58 am ET; By Alexa Olesen, Associated Press Writer
U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans Gets Chilly Reception in Beijing
BEIJING (AP) — China’s commerce minister told outgoing Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans on Wednesday …”Judging from the view of friends and judging from the achievements of your work, I should say that 70 percent of what you have done has been pretty good,” … A visibly uncomfortable Evans responded with surprise.”Oh, hey, that’s almost flunking,” he said. “That’s almost failure.” Later, Evans told The Associated Press that [Commerce Minister Bo Xilai] meant the comment as praise…

Secretary Evans might have made a pointed rejoinder instead of a profound kow-tow. He might have even given his host a worse than flunking grade for exploiting workers, persecuting believers, etc. Surely he knows that saving face rates extra-credit points in the Middle Kingdom. But his hesitation is understandable if we consider what our Communist Friends and Strategic Partners were doing across town that day:

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (from the Washington Post) — … Four legislators from [South Korea] who were on a fact-finding mission to China called a news conference Wednesday to urge the Beijing government to show leniency toward refugees from North Korea and to release South Korean activists jailed for helping them. But Chinese security agents cut the lights in the hotel meeting room, then shoved dozens of journalists out of the room. The men struck at least one photographer on the head. … A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said …”My feeling is they didn’t come to China to seek friendship or understanding or to expand cooperation. … Their behavior should be more cautious and self-disciplined.”

In his second inaugural speech, President Bush proclaimed, “We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people.” If and when he goes to China again, we hope he gives life to these fine words. And we hope he brings the Marines to his press conference.

Wednesday January 12, 9:58 am ET
By Alexa Olesen, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) — China’s commerce minister told outgoing Secretary of
Commerce Donald Evans on Wednesday …”Judging from the view of friends
and judging from the achievements of your work, I should say that 70
percent of what you have done has been pretty good,” … A visibly
uncomfortable Evans responded with surprise.”Oh, hey, that’s almost
flunking,” he said. “That’s almost failure.” Later, Evans told The
Associated Press that [Commerce Minister Bo Xilai] meant the comment as
praise…

See our editorial, My Secretary Went to China and the Only Gift He Bought Me Was This Bloody T-Shirt.

Highlight of the Financial Times article (hyperlinked to its title, above):
“Americans are consumers first,” said John Zogby, chief executive of
Zogby International, the polling firm that carried out the survey…”

See our Editorial, Hu Lost France?, of 1/13/05.

Today the Financial Times reports on a new survey commissioned by the Committee of 100, which describes itself as a “non-partisan organization composed of prominent American citizens of Chinese descent.” The Times’ headline proclaims Chinese imports valued over US jobs, but the published results don’t back it up. The only pieces of evidence are that … over 60% … including union members, consider low cost goods from China as a benefit to the American consumer. Over 70% … consider economic trade with China as beneficial to the US.

So? Cheap goods and brisk commerce are good in themselves, but the question is: how much of them will you trade for your neighbor’s job, and your own? We hope that the head of the polling firm is wrong when he says of the survey that Americans are consumers first. Alas, it may be true, but there are some signs to the contrary: 64% of Opinion Leaders [and] 46% of the General Public … advocate linking China’s trading status to its human rights record … and there are strong feelings in both groups against the country’s military threat, degradation of the environment, etc.

In any event, we can’t take too seriously a poll financed by a committee of 100 China boosters. Let’s simply marvel that Both Opinion Leader and General Public groups see China as an ally of the United States ranking above Saudi Arabia and France. And that Twenty three percent of Americans say that they have a friend or family member that adopted a Chinese baby.

To paraphrase Godfather Michael Corleone, I’m going to find out who the Chinese baby in my family is.