UNITED States Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's visit to China this week is not only about closing business deals, but about opening a new, hopefully healthier chapter in US-Sino relations, local economists say.
''US policy is taking a pragmatic turn. The US is coming to terms with the fact that its earlier restrictive policies have only had a limited impact on China,'' said Miron Mushkat, chief economist at Lehman Brothers.
''In China, you need to use both the carrot and the stick.'' That carrot amounts to billions of dollars in new contracts which Mr Brown and his entourage of 24 American business leaders are signing during their six-day visit - the first by a US Cabinet official since President Clinton separated human rights and trade issues last May.
According to Mr Mushkat, severing the link between business and politics means that Americans will face a less turbulent investment environment on the mainland, allowing them to compete more effectively and to plan ahead.
''Business is just business now. That is, provided this is not a tactical shift, but a strategic departure from the status quo,'' he said.
W K Chan, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries, agreed that US-Sino relations are now on a more rational footing, but he said that it was ''wishful thinking'' to assume that sticky problems such as China's re-entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) would be solved during this visit.