Trade growth: China & Israel

Beijing's XINHUA 3/11/99: "Trade volume between China and Israel has witnessed fast growth over the last couple of years, with bilateral trade volume rising 46.9 percent in 1998.

The general volume of bilateral trade hit 523.82 million US dollars, with China's exports to Israel at 352.79 million US dollars and imports from Israel at 171.03 million US dollars, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs.

China's main export goods to Israel were machinery and electronic products, footwear, textile goods, garments, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals.

China's main imports from Israel include machinery, electronic products, diamonds, medical instruments and fertilizer, according to a recent report in the International Trade News. Meanwhile, there were 61 Israel-invested projects in China by last September.

The total investment in contractual volume reached 91.92 million US dollars...

A major power plant with a total investment of 600 million US dollars in Rizhao City, in east China's Shandong Province, and a potash fertilizer plant with a total investment of 4.64 billion yuan (about 560.48 million US dollars) in northwest China's Qinghai Province are the two major Israeli-invested projects in China.

China and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992. Trade officials of both sides have since exchanged visits frequently. The two sides have had wide-ranging cooperation in such fields as agriculture, electronics, telecommunications and medicine.

The International Trade News quoted Zvi Mitlanski, first secretary of the Israeli Embassy in China, as saying that China is the only Asian nation that has seen continuous trade growth with Israel over the past two years. He added that many Israeli companies are now considering investment in China."

US Discrimation against Israel over Copyrights?

GLOBES 3/11/99: "Minister of Industry and Trade Nathan Sharansky will protest to US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky against the discriminatory attitude Washington is taking toward Israel in matters of breach of copyright.

Sharansky will come to Washington for a two day visit next Monday. As reported by "Globes", the administration intends to impose economic sanctions on Israel in Y2000, unless Israel takes significant measures against copyright infringement, and especially against video and audio cassette copying.

According to the Washington sources, Sharansky will tell Barshefsky that Israel is not the worst nation in terms of copyright infringement. According to a report of the American-International Copyright Organization, which usually serves as the basis for the administration's acts, there are many nations in which the situation is far worse than in Israel.

They include China, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Italy and East European countries. The sources said the United States is well aware that Israel is taking steps against unlicensed cassette and compact disc copying.

However, they believe that the current feeling in Washington is that Israel is an easy target, not presently enjoying White House backing.

Sharansky will make representations along these lines to Barshefsky, and will demand that Israel be given an extended interval in which to step up its fight against CD copying."

Turkey concerned over PA support of PKK

Ankara's ANATOLIA 3/11/99: "President Suleyman Demirel sent a letter on Thursday to his Palestinian counterpart Yasir 'Arafat through the Turkish Consul General in Jerusalem, and expressed concern over the demonstrations held in Palestine in favour of the terrorist organization PKK [Workers Party of Kurdistan].

Meanwhile Hikmet Cetin, the Speaker of Parliament who is paying an official visit to Israel, met Ahmad Quray', the Chairman of the Legislation Council of Palestine Autonomous Administration, in Ramallah, and stressed that participation of several officials to such demonstrations created deep regret among the Turkish people.

Several officials from the Fatah movement headed by Yasir 'Arafat, were in attendance at the demonstrations held in Palestine in the wake of the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, the chief of terrorist organization PKK, in Kenya last month."

Consumer Price Index down 103.9 points

THE JERUSALEM POST 3/16/99: "The Consumer Price Index sank by 0.8 percent in February to 103.9 points, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday. February's index, which caught all experts and market players by complete surprise, marks the steepest monthly plunge in 13 years, and the third-largest ever.

Prior to the announcement, the most far-reaching expectations were for an 0.3% decline in the index.

In all, since the beginning of the year, consumer prices have deflated by 1.2%, while last year's second-half saw inflation climb by 6.5%, following the emerging-market crisis instigated by Russia's debt default announcement last fall.

Judging by February's wholesale prices, which shed 0.6% of their previous average level, March's index is also likely to hover between zero and negative levels, before the Pessah shopping season pushes the index back into positive figures.

The most prominent component in the index's contraction was registered in the housing market, where prices dived by 2.5%...

Chambers of Commerce president Dan Gillerman said: "It would be a great mistake to view the index as a success, since it reflects a deflationary process which means an acceleration of the recession."

...However, Bank of Israel Governor Jacob Frenkel told The Jerusalem Post his recommendation is to respond to long-term trends rather than one-time events. Frenkel conceded that the continuum of the last three monthly indexes of 0.1%, -0.5% and now -0.8% do make for a deflationary trend, but stressed that future adjustments in the central bank's monetary policy must be "gradual and cautious."

Hebrew University economist David Levhari came out in support of Frenkel's view, saying that while the index's decline is "too sharp," interest rate policy must take into consideration economically destabilizing factors like the labor disputes between the Histadrut and the government."

Ross calls settlements "destructive to the pursuit of peace."

THE JERUSALEM POST 3/14/99: "US special Mideast envoy Dennis Ross spoke out forcefully against Israel's settlement policies over the weekend and, for the first time, touched upon the need to set a time limit for the final-status talks.

Ross, in an interview with Reuters, called Israeli settlement activity "very destructive to the pursuit of peace" and also said the US will seek to put a time limit on the conclusion of a final peace deal between Israel and the PLO following the May 17 elections.

"We see settlement activity as very destructive to the pursuit of peace precisely because it predetermines and prejudges what ought to be negotiated," Ross said from Washington.

"Therefore, we don't see any issue of the permanent status being resolved by either unilateral declarations or by unilateral moves on the ground."

David Bar-Illan, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's communications director, said in response that Israel "will continue to build in the villages and towns of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza to satisfy the needs of the people who live in them, and their natural growth."

Bar-Illan added that he found this building "no more unusual than the building going on in villages and towns of Arab communities in the area," and stressed - in a thinly veiled counterattack on Ross - that "any prior criticisms of the activities in these communities only serves to prejudice the outcome of the final-status talks."

Meanwhile, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, the Palestinian Authority's cabinet secretary, said that "Ross's statements on settlement activities were positive, but we would like to see US action against settlements."

In the interview, Ross called for the final-status talks to be resumed, saying that "they do need to be pursued on an intensive basis, on an accelerated basis," and stressing that "it's very important that these negotiations not be open-ended and we clearly will do all we can to promote such a process."

An Israeli diplomatic source explained Ross's unprecedented statements in light of the upcoming meeting between PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton.

"The Americans want Arafat to postpone the declaration of statehood," he said.

"They cannot promise him recognition of the state in exchange for the postponement, but they can try to please the Palestinians with strong statements on our settlement policy, and the need to get the final-status talks going again."

Arafat has acknowledged that he is weighing whether to delay declaring a Palestinian state on May 4, but aides say he wants some form of international support for Palestinian aspirations in return. Ross declined to go into details on the US options, but Palestinian and Western diplomats said a six-month to one-year deadline for concluding final-status talks is among them.

Another is to hold a new peace conference to reaffirm support for the Middle East peace process and to give it new momentum, the diplomats said. Ross repeated the US view that the Palestinians had done more to meet their side of the Wye agreement than Israel has.