DESPITE RIFT, U.S.-CHINA TRADE STRONG.

Byline: Michael White Associated Press 

Packed shoulder to shoulder in a hotel conference room, a delegation from China's prosperous Jiangsu province jotted notes as a panel of Americans delivered a primer on U.S. law, business practices and the art of avoiding a scam.

Here, in this blue-collar suburb, tension over espionage allegations and the accidental bombing by U.S. planes of China's embassy in Yugoslavia is taking a back seat to the nitty gritty details of international trade.

More than 100 Chinese businessmen and government officials in the delegation hoped to close deals on the purchase of medical technology and other goods.

They also are looking for American companies that want to invest in booming Jiangsu, a province of 72 million people that surrounds Shanghai on China's central coast.

``After 20 years of an open-door policy, Chinese people know better the importance of cooperation with the outside world,'' said Ye Jian, director general of Jiangsu's Commission of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade and leader of the delegation. ``America is very important for its developed economy, high-tech knowledge and also its capital.''

The visit, scheduled a year ago, isn't without political overtones. The governor of Jiangsu originally was scheduled to lead the group. The bombing was partly to blame for his last-minute decision to stay home, Ye said.

But in the big picture, the continuing tension between China and the United States appears to have done little to alter day-to-day business between the countries, analysts said. Almost daily, Chinese ships disgorge tons of T-shirts, toys, shoes and other cargo in Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors. Passenger jets fly from U.S. airports to Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities. And trade groups such as the Jiangsu delegation make deals with American companies.

One reason trade continues to flow is because China badly needs U.S. currency to maintain its domestic economy. And China still wants U.S. support for its entry into the World Trade Organization. Entry to the body would enable China to trade on more favorable terms with WTO nations.

``It seems to me that fundamentally U.S. and Chinese interests have not changed that much,'' said Greg Mastel, a China analyst with the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington. ``It was in their interests to negotiate a trade agreement a month ago and it's in their interests today.''

Since the Asian economic crisis began two years ago, China has relied heavily on exports to the United States and Europe to keep workers employed as the central government privatizes costly, inefficient state-owned businesses.

China also needs trade to generate the foreign currency needed to buy Western technology as it modernizes domestic industries and builds up its communications and transportation infrastructure.

``What they're anxious about is their economy is slowing down,'' said Marcus Noland, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics in Washington. ``The basic fundamental problem they face is they are saddled by these dinosaur state-owned enterprises, which are incredibly inefficient.''

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Photo

PHOTO Ye Jian, left, director of a Chinese trade delegation, speaks with Lily Wong of the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce in Baldwin Park.

Jill Connelly/Associated Press