'We Can Learn a Lesson From China'
China has shed its fabled economic isolation and is now a world-class trader that uses its advantages of size, scale and cost to compete in the international marketplace. The consensus is that within a generation or two, China's economy will equal America's.
How did China advance so dramatically? Historically, China has always had vast resources and formidable power -- but has only intermittently sought engagement with the wider community of nations. After many years of walling itself from the outside world, China is again welcoming foreign investment and engaging in international trade. While others debate globalization, China has mastered it.
Some are alarmed at the pace of China's economic expansion and seek to constrain it. We have seen the elements of this strategy in various proposals to erect barriers to U.S. imports of Chinese goods.
Not only are these attempts to inhibit China's international trading unrealistic, they are potentially damaging to the U.S. economy and job growth. A prosperous China with a rapidly expanding middle class represents one of the most significant opportunities for the U.S.
U.S. producers across nearly every industrial sector -- from commercial aircraft to medical devices to integrated circuits -- recognize China as one of the world's most promising export markets. Boeing, for example, will soon begin filling an order for 60 new commercial airplanes for China. Limiting U.S.-China trade might actually do more to inhibit job growth in Seattle than in Shanghai.
U.S. agriculture also has a growing stake in China trade policy: Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has become one of the fastest growing markets for U.S. farm products, with exports tripling from $1.7 billion to $6.1 billion in 2004.
And that's just the export story. Last year, affiliates of U.S. companies doing business in China sold more than $75 billion worth of products to Chinese consumers and businesses.
Clearly, the U.S. has nothing to gain by adopting a protectionist posture. Rather than attempting to constrain the competition, we should adopt a strategy that will amplify our own strengths. Such a strategy has five elements:
? First, we must take advantage of the economic opportunities in our own hemisphere. Congressional approval of Cafta was an important step towards creating more outlets for products made in the U.S. This should be followed by a revitalized effort to complete the Free Trade Area of the Americas, covering 34 nations. It is estimated that adoption of the FTAA could yield up to $130 billion in annual economic growth for the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
? Second, we should deepen the Transatlantic Business Dialogue and work towards the creation of a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. This would stimulate growth and provide an incentive for Western Europe to undertake reforms needed to keep their economies internationally competitive.
? Third, we must intensify our trade program in Asia in order to benefit from the increasing economic interdependence among the region's nations. Most importantly, we should build on the success of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent trip to the U.S. to deepen our trade relationship with India. And the U.S. should accelerate trade negotiations with Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, and open talks with Japan and Korea. China is already moving aggressively to tie neighboring economies to its own. (Last year, China overtook the U.S. as Japan's largest trading partner.)
? Fourth, we must ensure a successful conclusion to the global negotiations in the World Trade Organization. This will further encourage China and virtually every important trading nation to live up to their WTO commitments and play by the rules of foreign trade.
? Finally, if we are going to meet this new competitive challenge, we must get our own house in order. The biggest concern of American industry, according to a recent Commerce Department survey, is not foreign imports but domestic policies and problems. Manufacturers cite rising health-care costs, burdensome taxation, excessive regulation and inadequate investment in research and education as the prime constraints to long-term competitiveness.
China's successful economic expansion is creating new wealth, for Chinese citizens and for Americans. As a society founded upon free enterprise, let's not complain that today's Chinese businesspeople are becoming too enterprising. We can learn a lesson from China: Isolation is not the answer. Instead, we must do what our nation does best: foster innovation, encourage entrepreneurship and boost productivity. That is how America will prosper.
Mr. Sternberg is chairman and chief executive officer of New York Life Insurance Company
吸取中国发展经验
中国早已摈弃曾经长期实行的闭关锁国政策，如今已发展成为世界级的贸易大国，凭藉规模和成本优势活跃在竞争激烈的国际市场上。人们普遍认为，再有一代人到两代人的时间，中国的经济将与美国比肩。
中国是如何实现翻天覆地的变化的？从历史上看，中国一直拥有丰富的资源和令人敬畏的实力，但只是断断续续地寻找加入国际社会的机会。徘徊在国际大家庭之外多年以后，中国再度敞开了欢迎海外投资和从事国际贸易的大门。尽管部分国家仍对全球化存在争论，中国却在牢牢地抓住这次机会。
有人对中国经济的扩张步伐心存警惕，希望加以遏制。我们从美国通过贸易壁垒限制中国商品进口的各类提案中可以看到这一战略的本质。
遏制中国国际贸易的企图不仅是不现实的，也很可能损害美国自身的经济和就业增长。中国的繁荣和快速增加的中产阶级是美国面临的最重大的机遇之一。
美国几乎所有工业领域的制造商──从商业飞机到医疗设备，乃至集成电路的制造商──都认识到中国是全球最有潜力的出口市场之一。比如，波音公司(Boeing)很快就将开始执行来自中国的60架商业飞机订单。限制美中贸易对美国就业增长的负面影响可能要比中国更大。
美国的农业也日益从中国的贸易政策中获益：自2001年加入世界贸易组织(WTO)以来，中国已经成为美国农产品增长最快的出口市场之一。出口额增长两倍多，从2001年的17亿美元增加到2004年的61亿美元。
这还仅仅是出口方面。去年，美国企业在中国的子公司共向中国消费者和企业销售了750多亿美元的产品。
很明显，美国采取贸易保护主义的做法没有任何好处。我们应该采取扩大自身优势的战略，而不是试图压制竞争。这种战略包括5个要素：
--首先，我们必须利用美洲的经济机遇。国会(Congress)批准的中美洲自由贸易协定(Cafta)是增加美国产品出口渠道的重要一步。接下来，应该重新启动包含34个国家的美洲自由贸易区(Free Trade Area of the Americas)进程。预计美洲自由贸易区将推动美国、加拿大和拉丁美洲的经济每年增长1,300亿美元。
--其次，我们应该深化跨大西洋经济对话(Transatlantic Business Dialogue)，并努力同欧盟(European Union)签署自由贸易协定。这将刺激增长，并鼓励西欧进行改革，以维持其全球竞争力。
--第三，我们必须加强在亚洲的贸易活动，从该地区国家越来越密切的经济相互依存关系中受益。更重要的是，我们可以利用印度总理辛格(Manmohan Singh)最近成功访美的契机，加深同印度的贸易往来。美国还应加快同越南等东南亚国家的贸易谈判，同日本和韩国进行对话。中国已经在这方面采取积极行动，加强同周边经济体的经济联系了。（去年，中国取代美国成为日本的最大贸易伙伴国。）
--第四，我们必须确保WTO内部全球贸易谈判的成功。这将进一步鼓励中国和几乎每一个重要贸易国信守加入WTO的承诺，遵守外贸准则。
--最后，如果我们希望迎接新的竞争和挑战，我们必须保持国内局面井然有序。根据美国商务部(Commerce Department)近期的调查，美国企业最担心的问题不是外国进口，而是国内的政策和问题。制造商称，医疗保健成本上升、税负沉重、额外的管制和研究及教育投资的不合理是长期竞争力的主要障碍。
中国经济的成功创造了新的财富，无论是中国人还是美国人都从中受益。作为一个建立在自由经济体制基础上的社会，我们不应抱怨当今中国企业家的咄咄逼人。我们从中国身上能够得到的教训是：闭关锁国不是解决问题的办法。我们必须做最利于我们国家的事情：积极创新、鼓励企业家精神、提高生产率。这才是美国繁荣昌盛的必经之路。
（编者按：斯滕伯格(Sy Sternberg)是纽约人寿保险集团(New York Life Insurance Company)的董事长兼首席执行长。）
