For US President George W. Bush's administration, and even for many members of Congress, China has become almost too big to bash.
A day after one of China's state-controlled oil companies made an unsolicited US$18.5 billion bid for Unocal, a Californian oil and gas company with extensive fields in Asia, US administration officials and many lawmakers were almost tongue-tied about the implications.
US Treasury Secretary John Snow, asked whether he would lead a national security review of the deal, hesitantly told members of the Senate Finance Committee last Thursday that the question was "hypothetical" because the transaction has yet to happen.
US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan said virtually nothing about the deal. But he used some of his bluntest language ever to warn lawmakers against imposing tariffs on China as a way to pressure it over its exchange-rate policies.
For months, many lawmakers in both parties have become almost frantic about China's soaring trade surplus and its impact on US manufacturers.
Anxiety is so high that Republican lawmakers from industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania are loathe to vote for anything that sounds like a free-trade agreement.
But anxiety is at least as great about a disruption of US business ties to China.
"I think there is a reluctance to confront China," said Republican Representative Phil English of Pennsylvania, the leader of the congressional steel caucus.
"The problem is that many companies are depending on Chinese inputs and on imported goods to sell at retailers," he said.
China is also one of the US' largest creditors, and acquired more than US$200 billion worth of Treasury securities over the past year.
Moreover, China is already home to a growing number of US-owned factories, many of them exporting back to the US, and an even greater number of factories that are suppliers to US companies.
For the past two years, the Bush administration has struggled to balance competing economic goals: It wants to persuade China to let its currency rise in value, which would make Chinese imports more expensive in dollar terms even as it works to fend off proposals from Congress to impose high tariffs if China refuses to change its policies.
Last Thursday, Snow argued that it would be dangerous to impose "punitive" actions on China. Not only would it be a mistake to threaten China with tariffs if it refuses to let its currency float, he said, but it would also be a mistake to subject China to countervailing duties in cases where it illegally subsidizes exports.
"Acting on any of the punitive legislative proposals before Congress now would be counterproductive," Snow told lawmakers.
Greenspan, testifying at the same hearing, said it was a major mistake to think that US jobs would be increased even if China did change its currency policies.
"I am aware of no credible evidence that supports such a conclusion," Greenspan said. Tariffs of Chinese imports would protect "few, if any American jobs," he continued, and would "materially lower our standard of living."
But the political debate about China is lagging behind events on the ground.
The US$18.5 billion bid for Unocal by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), China's third-largest oil company, was merely the latest and by far the biggest move by a Chinese company to acquire a formidable US company.
The move marks an evolution in China's ambitions from being a major exporter, using its earnings to acquire US Treasury securities, to becoming a significant foreign investor in hard assets as well.
US officials made it clear last Thursday that a deal with Unocal would almost certainly be subjected to an interagency review over its implications for national security.
But Snow was extremely hesitant when asked about the issue by Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.
"It's hypothetical at this point, because we don't have a transaction," Snow said, adding that a foreign company taking over a company in a potentially sensitive industry would normally ask for such a review itself. Indeed, CNOOC did just that last Thursday, even before it is clear whether Unocal's board and shareholders will accept the offer over its standing deal with Chevron.
Snow's diffidence startled Wyden, who has supported the administration on many trade issues.
"I'm a free-trader, but being a free-trader isn't synonymous with being a chump. He should have said, `You bet we're going to take a look at it,'" Wyden said after the hearing.
Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Institute for International Economics, said the US administration badly wants to keep the many issues involving China as separate as possible, from its currency policy to its surging textile exports to its enforcement of US patent and copyrights.
"What the administration wants to do is avoid putting all these issues together into what some what want to call a single `coherent' China policy," Hufbauer said.
"A `coherent' policy would probably be one that sees China as an emerging adversary," he said.
But lawmakers in both parties are increasingly demanding a more comprehensive approach to China.
"China's competitive challenge makes Americans nervous from Wall Street to Main Street," said Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat.
"What is the administration's plan? They have none," he said.
Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, complained that the administration has made little progress in prodding China over its trade and currency policies.
"They've kind of told us to take a hike," Bunning said. Snow responded, as he did several other times during the hearing, that "we're not satisfied, and we want them to know that."
Despite the frustration among lawmakers, most avoided any criticism of CNOOC's attempt to buy a major US oil company.
US administration officials noted that China remains a miniscule direct investor in the US, far smaller than the tiny European nation of Luxembourg. As a general matter, US officials have encouraged foreign companies to invest in the US and refrained from interfering in all but a handful of cases.
Critics of China hinted that they might use the bid for Unocal as a way to pressure China on other issues.
"Does anybody honestly believe that the Chinese would ever let an American company take over a Chinese company?" asked New York Democrat Senator Charles Schumer, sponsor of a bill that would impose a tariff of 27.5 percent on Chinese imports if it fails to change its currency policy.
But other lawmakers emphasized caution in handling China's growing presence on the global stage.
"We must be thoughtful in our actions and get it right," said Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, chairman of the Finance Committee.
"We can't afford to act rashly, and get it wrong," he said.
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