Cross-strait ties, arms proliferation, democracy and human rights 'could cause problems' The Clinton administration may have sold normalised trade with the mainland on the wider strategic benefits of pulling Beijing into the global financial system, but considerable risks of new frictions in Sino-US relations remain in the short-term, analysts warn.
Implementation of the market-opening, tariff-busting measures in the Sino-US trade agreement as part of China's entry into the World Trade Organisation could prove thorny.
'The administration has made a great deal about enforceability of this agreement,' said Nicholas Lardy, senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a private Washington think-tank. 'But we are really not doing very much for them or the WTO in making sure their institutions are ready . . . there really is a lot of potential for trade disputes and wider friction out there. Both the trade systems and wider relations could find themselves under stress as some of these issues start working themselves out.
Expectations are very high in some quarters.
'Maybe if economics can go on automatic pilot for a while, let the firms do their business, then maybe the [US] administration can spend more time on trying to deal with other issues,' Mr Lardy said. Those issues include fostering stable, peaceful relations between Beijing and Taipei, reining in the mainland's arms proliferation and urging Beijing to promote democracy and respect human rights.
Washington is working to revive military co-operation, with a visit by US Defence Secretary William Cohen this summer to China. It is also seeking to allay mainland worries over its plans for a missile defence system to protect the United States.