China's President, Hu Jintao, is making a much-anticipated visit to the United States this week, first stopping in Seattle for a meeting with Bill Gates and then moving on to meet with President Bush. He comes at a time when the trade relationship between our countries is a disaster: a $200-billion-plus U.S. trade deficit with China is soaring while the Chinese government continues to undervalue its currency and not play by fair trading rules. The result? U.S. jobs are hemorrhaging, and the bleeding is showing no signs of stopping.In light of the visit and the overall situation, here are some facts on the world's most populous nation:
- China increased its industrial production by nearly 28 percent in 2005 alone.
- “Outsourcing” companies promote that relocating to China’s low-wage market with little if any worker or environmental protections can immediately save 30-50% in costs.
- Five out of every six ships sent here from China loaded with products for our market return to China empty. The sixth ship likely has scrap metal or paper on board.
- Every year, 202 billion pairs of shoes are sent from China to the U.S. – seven pairs for every man, woman and child!
- Over four million Chinese are in forced labor camps producing auto parts and other products that are often exported.
- According to China’s own central bank, U.S. workers earn 33 times as much as their Chinese counterparts.
- We have a $37 billion deficit in advanced technology goods - $36 billion of which is with China (so much for the claim that Americans who lose their manufacturing job can simply move on to a high tech job).
- Right now, the number of Chinese that speak English as a second language is more than the number of people in the United States that are native English speakers.
- Though China doesn’t track rural unemployment, estimates show that overall unemployment is around twenty percent – that’s over 250 million people, or just 50 million less than the entire U.S. population.
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