China coming to pick up wheat
PORTLAND (AP) - A ship from China is arriving in Portland Wednesday to pick up the first Pacific Northwest wheat shipment to the Asian nation in two decades.
The 50,000 metric tons of wheat, valued at $6 million, could be the first of many shipments if Chinese grain users are satisfied with the product and if Congress approves a landmark bill that would normalize trade relations with China, Chinese Consul General Wang Yunxiang said Monday. The bill could come up for a vote as soon as Wednesday.
``I'm confident that this agreement benefits both sides,'' Wang said Monday. ``This provides a great opportunity for the United States.''
The Pacific Northwest congressional delegation supports the bill for permanent normal trade relations with China, with the exception of Oregon Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio and David Wu. Rep. Jack Metcalf, R-Wash., is undecided.
Holly Armstrong, communications director for Wu, said the prospects for Northwest grain exports to China are overblown and don't diminish Wu's concerns with China.
``The grain shipment doesn't change his position, which is based on human rights violations,'' she said.
Wu's view is that normalizing trade relations with China is ``a bad business deal,'' she said. ``This doesn't change what is going on in China right now and doesn't change China's human rights record, or labor record, or record on missile proliferation.''
Armstrong also questioned how much wheat China would ultimately buy from the Northwest. She said China now has an excess of wheat and exports it.
Wu is the first Chinese-American elected to the House.
Wheat shipments from the Northwest had been barred because of China's contention that the grain contained excessive amounts of fungus. China no longer has this concern, Wang said.
The grain shipment comes as part of a trade agreement between the United States and China, which was signed in April 1999. China agreed to lower its barriers to U.S. farm products, if trade relations are normalized and if the United States backs its entry into the World Trade Organization.
Wang said that China has the potential of importing $485 million in U.S. wheat annually by 2009. | 
