VZCZCXYZ0017
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBJ #1689 0730708
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 140708Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5610
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1660

UNCLAS BEIJING 001689 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR KARESH, ROSENBERG, CELICO, STRATFORD, BLISS 
LABOR FOR ILAB AND OSEC-OWENS 
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN AND DAS KASOFF 
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD CH
SUBJECT:  USTR PROPOSES BILATERAL LABOR DIALOGUE WITH CHINA 
 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary: On March 6 Assistant USTR Tim Stratford met 
with the Chinese Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSS) 
and proposed that the United States and China initiate a 
bilateral labor dialogue that would help the United States 
sustain and improve trade ties with China.  USTR has coordinated 
this proposal with the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), 
he said, and both agencies would participate.  MOLSS Deputy 
Director General for International Affairs Jiang Mohui agreed to 
discuss the proposals within the Chinese government and come 
back with a response.  Stratford said he hoped a first session 
of the dialogue could take place before mid-April.  Jiang 
thought this may be too soon.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  AUSTR Tim Stratford met MOLSS Deputy Director General 
Jiang Mohui and proposed that the United States and China launch 
a bilateral labor dialogue that would help improve and sustain 
the US-China trading relationship. (During the previous week, 
Deputy USTR Amb. Karan Bhatia alerted the Vice-Ministers of 
Commerce and Foreign Affairs that the United States would be 
making such a proposal -- septels.)  Stratford recalled USTR?s 
decision in July 2006 to reject a section 301 petition filed by 
the AFL-CIO against China, as well as a White Paper the Chinese 
Embassy in Washington provided at the time, which stated that 
China was ?willing to strengthen communication and cooperation 
and enhance understanding? on labor issues.  Stratford noted the 
criticism USTR received from Congress and American labor unions 
for its decision to reject the petition in 2006, and reviewed 
political developments that have occurred in the United States 
since then, including the increased attention to labor in trade 
policy debates in the new Democratic Party-dominated Congress. 
Stratford said Congress is already working on several pieces of 
China-related trade legislation, and that a labor dialogue would 
be helpful to demonstrate to Congress that China and the United 
Stats are engaged in a constructive discussion of labor issues. 
Stratford said USTR has coordinated the proposal with USDOL. The 
goal of the dialogue, Stratford said, was not to supplant 
existing cooperative programs between the Chinese government and 
USDOL, but to use the forum to explain United States concerns 
and learn more about the Chinese situation, as well as to find 
ways to cooperate and make improvements. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Stratford said he envisioned bilateral meetings at 
the Assistant Secretary/Director General level twice a year, 
with Vice Ministers meeting occasionally to review progress.  He 
said either side should be free to place topics on the agenda. 
Stratford hoped the first meeting of the dialogue could take 
place no later than mid-April 2007.  The United States is 
flexible, Stratford said, about what to call the dialogue, takes 
no position on which Chinese agencies other than MOLSS should 
participate, and sees no need to sign any agreement or 
memorandum, or link the dialogue to existing structures such as 
the Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) or the 
Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), but is open to considering 
other approaches China might favor. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Jiang said he would report the proposal to his 
superiors within MOLSS as well as to the Ministry of Commerce 
(MOFCOM) and others, before providing an official response.  He 
thought mid-April was very soon for a first meeting, and said 
that if such a dialogue were linked to the JCCT or SED, it could 
make the process much more complicated.  He reiterated China?s 
view that labor issues should not be used as an excuse for 
protectionist trade sanctions, but also indicated that China 
would welcome an opportunity to correct prevalent but unfair 
misimpressions in the United States about the labor situation in 
China.  He observed that in previous visits to the United States, 
he found American officials and non-government China experts 
misunderstood China?s situation because of lack of first hand 
information. 
 
¶5.  (U)  AUSTR Stratford cleared this message. 
RANDT