British Exporters Seek China Trade

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28260, 24 April 1957, Page 13

British Exporters Seek China Trade

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, April 23. British exporters are hoping that the Board of Trade will soon license exports to China on the same basis as to the Soviet Union as the result, of United States agreement to relax embargoes on trade with China.

A group of British businessmen is preparing to go to Peking as soon as they know what they will be allowed to sell, and it is expected they will increase British trade by £2O million to £BO million a year. "The Times” says in a leading article that the American change of attitude is to be welcomed. ‘ ‘To the outside world, the United States has seemed Unrealistically obstinate over the matter for long enough. “There is no wish in Britain to use this relaxation as a step towards ending the embargo entirely. The need for control over strategic goods is recognised, whatever feelings towards China may still survive from the Korean war. It is the British case that the conditions of the embargo set up in 1951 no longer apply. War material can more precisely be defined today, perhaps, than it could be for the China that f9ught in Korea six years ago. “It is also important to emphasise that the trade issue is not linked to recognition of the Government in Peking or to the admission of that Government to the United Nations,” says "The Times.” “China herself has shown her readiness to treat the trade issue aside from diplomatic recognition. Neither Japan, France, nor Western Germany has relations with Peking. In pressing this case, Britain seeks no political ends, nor, it might be’ added, does she expect to gain any. But countries that live by trade need very good reasons indeed to prohibit “Daily Telegraph,” asking how far Britain is to welcome the prospect of increased trade with China, says there is nothing to be said for maintaining more 'stringent control of trade with China than with the Soviet bloc. To the extent that the United States, in the coming negotiations

with, her allies, brings the two i systems into line, it will remove < a wholly illogical and ineffective anomaly. ‘ “Britain may expect to benefit j to the extent that her observance of the embargo has lost her trade ' to more opportunist competitors. It is doubtful in any event if the easing of the China embargo will make very much difference to our trade. Doubling of our exports, and this would be much to expect, would not amount to much more than £2O million. We cannot, it is true, afford to let any useful exports go by default or miss the chance of supplying capital- goods as China’s industrial development gets further under way. “But we have no vital interest in a Communist country so tied to the Russian economy. It is more important to us that India, with her Western methods and democratic approach, should succeed with her industrialisation,” the “Daily Telegraph” says. \ “Decision Overdue” A Melbourne message quotes the Melbourne “Age” as saying in a leading article that the restrictions on trade with Communist China, imposed at the behest of the United States; had gone far beyond the strategic materials required for waging war, and far beyond the restrictions placed on trade with the Soviet Union and its European satellites. The reason for this tight embargo might be sought, in the emotional attitude of the United States Government towards the Peking regime—it could hardly be sought in cold common sense, the “Age” said. “Like Britain and Japan, Australia has long been irked by this artificial restriction of trade, and it would welcome any United States agreement to a revision of the trade control system,” said the newspaper. “If the United States itself still refuses to do business with China, that is its own affair. “Britain, as an old customer, and Japan as China’s nearest Pacific neighbour, have at last brought enough pressure to bear on Washington to gain its consent to a relaxation of the 15-nation agreement excluding China from the world of trade. The decision is overdue.”

Modern “Bathing Machine.”A modern “bathing machine’ shown at the annual gadget exhibition and competition in Paris comprises an elegant crown strapped round the head from which a hoop is suspended round the shoulders. A small tent attached to the hoop allows bathers to undress and change for bathing discreetly.—Paris, April 23