Shopping List for Peking

The document ran for ten pages, single-spaced, and contained nothing but lists of items broken down into 142 categories. Yet when it was released by the White House last week, it spoke eloquently of the extent to which the U.S. is willing to move toward a relaxation of Sino-American relations. The catalogue of items that American businessmen may sell to Peking without Washington's approval--some 1,000 in all--represents an end to the 21-year-old U.S. prohibition against direct trade with Communist-ruled China.

The American shopping list is a follow-up to last April's flurry of Ping Pong diplomacy. At that time, while the Chinese played host to the U.S. table tennis team in Peking, President Nixon announced a series of trade and travel concessions. He also promised to allow U.S. businessmen to sell non-strategic goods to China. For five weeks a special team from the State, Treasury, Commerce, Agriculture and Defense departments worked to compile a master list. For three weeks after that, Under Secretaries from each department, along with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, reviewed it item by item. The list was personally approved by President Nixon before it was made public.

Up the Yangtze. American businessmen may now sell to China a wide variety of goods. If the Chinese have the cash--and inclination--they will be able to plow their fields with American farm tractors, use U.S.-made fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides and even import American livestock for breeding purposes. They can equip their offices with U.S.-made desks, typewriters, check writers, telephones and simple calculators, outfit their factories with American forklift vehicles and a wide assortment of U.S. machinery.

The Chinese will be able to use U.S. medical instruments and American-made road rollers and pavers, drive U.S. passenger cars and motor scooters, or cruise up the Yangtze in boats powered by American outboard motors. Chinese housewives will be able, if their government does not deem it too decadent, to whip up sweet cakes with U.S.-made mixers and enjoy the marvels of American household appliances. Chinese office buildings and department stores will be able to install American elevators, escalators, furnaces and air-conditioning equipment. In a bid for U.S. grain sales to China, Nixon annulled the old "50% clause," which in the past has discouraged U.S. wheat sales to Communist countries by forcing American growers to ship at least half of their goods in high-priced, noncompetitive U.S. ships.

Eager to Develop. Despite its considerable length, the China list is not as inclusive as the one that applies to the Soviet Union. American businessmen are still forbidden to sell to Russia a number of highly advanced items such as third-generation computers and advanced petrochemical plants. But they can sell the Soviets fairly sophisticated electronic calculating machines and advanced industrial chemicals and tools, like high-speed welding devices. The reason is that the Soviet Union is far more technologically advanced than China, so the U.S. is not selling Moscow any significant research-and-development knowledge that it does not already possess. For their part, the Chinese, who are eager to develop their technological abilities, would most likely only be interested in U.S.-made products if they could buy advanced machinery and other equipment. They can already buy nearly all the manufactured goods on the U.S. list from Japanese suppliers--and probably at lower prices.

Drawing Distinctions. U.S. planners tried to make the Chinese and Soviet lists as identical as possible. They knew that even the slightest disparity would offend Peking and buttress Chinese suspicion that the U.S. and Russia are partners in a conspiracy to keep China economically and militarily weak. At present, Sino-American trade amounts to only about $3.5 million in indirect deals mainly for chemicals and diesel engines. Chinese trade officials in Hong Kong have told U.S. businessmen that they do not expect any significant increase in U.S.-China trade until the political problems, notably Taiwan, are solved.

Meanwhile, China's leaders continue to draw a sharp distinction between the "friendly American people" and the "fascist, imperialist Nixon government." Premier Chou Enlai, the architect of Peking's exercise in Ping Pong diplomacy, has told several recent visitors that there has been "no thaw" at the governmental level. Although the new trade list is clearly a step forward, no one expects a quick change in that chilly situation.

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