ZHAO： I think that although you took some time，your comments expressed your concern very clearly. And you belong to the category of Americans who do understand China. And you raise the question of Tiananmen，and this is something that every Chinese knows about. It happened 11 years ago but Americans still remember it. But as we have the development of the rule of law in China，and as Chinese students become mature，this sort of thing is not going to repeat itself.
You said that this was part of history，and I agree. It is a part of history and you cannot excise it from history. But the Chinese Government right now does not have a re-evaluation of Tiananmen.
When we look at the history of any nation，there are a series of separate events： In 1931，something happened in 1931，during President Hoover’s inauguration on Pennsylvania Avenue and there were demonstrations，and war veterans pitched tents. And McArthur，assisted by Mr. Eisenhower，brought out the troops，brought out the cavalry and disbursed the demonstrators. And at the time，he was not a general. He was only a major. Some tents were burned，some children were bayoneted. But now that time is past and it’s gone. It is history. And the United States doesn’t seem to find it necessary to keep repeating this story. The rule of law is constantly under development in China，and Chinese students are also constantly maturing. That is why I don’t think that an episode like Tiananmen will repeat itself in China.
HICKMAN： I am just getting a time signal. I don’t know how much time we have left.
Meanwhile，do you have a question over there？
Q： Mr Minister，I have two questions. Could you explain how China is going to reduce its huge trade deficit with the US？ And，about illegal immigration，which department do you work with in solving the problem？
ZHAO： Both are very important issues. The United States recently announced that the deficit for last month was ＄7 billion. But there are constant discrepancies between the Chinese statistics and the American statistics. The Chinese numbers are lower and the American numbers are higher. The reason is that they have different definitions of determining，and also different ways of calculating，their numbers. For instance，the value added to a Chinese product which is made in China，exported to Hong Kong and then re-exported to the United States. That added value tends to be estimated on the high side by the Americans and on the low side by the Chinese. Another problem is that China wants to buy more high-tech equipment from the United States，but some of this high-tech is prohibited for export to China by the American side. Recently the US relaxed its export restrictions on computers being sold to China somewhat. So now，computers of 28 MBPS can be sold to China. But computers of 4.8 billion Hz cannot be sold to China.
Gordon Moore of Intel said that the speed of chips doubles approximately once every 18 months，so I am wondering if the US is going to loosen its restrictions on China once every 18 months.
There is another factor in the trade imbalance figures，and that is those American companies also produce products that they make in China but sell in the United States.
China is willing to help to shrink the trade deficit because we’d like to buy more jets from Boeing and more American computers. But the Chinese are also concerned： What if we buy your planes and then all of a sudden you have a ban on selling us spare parts because of some kind of a boycott？ At least，we know that that’s not much of a danger if we buy an Airbus. So that’s an answer to your first question.
The second question was？
Q： What are you doing to stem the flow of illegal Chinese immigrants to the United States and other countries？
ZHAO： That is a very horrible thing，and it’s something that the Chinese Government wants to work with the US Government to put an end to. This only happens in the very southernmost coastal provinces in China because some of the people in those areas seem to have the idea that the streets of the United States are paved with gold. But there are people，including some based in the United States，who participate in organizing this kind of smuggling of people.
Recently，there was a series of exposés on Chinese television about the dilemmas and difficulties faced by these smuggled people after they get to the United States. And some of them said that they would never even dream of trying this again because they nearly starved to death or suffocated during the trip. So I think we have to both tighten up on administration but also step up education，and also step up cooperation with the United States.
HICKMAN： Unfortunately，we are out of time. We have no more questions，and I really regret it because I see some good questioners lined up. But we have to stop now. Maybe you can talk to the minister outside.
Thank you very much. （Applause）