532 { China’s Quest
especially important for Boeing, as demand for that model had been less
than expected. Boeing estimated it would lose $5 billion in sales if China
lost MFN and retaliated against the United States. In 1993, China purchased
forty-seven planes from Boeing. That was 14 percent of the company’s
annual aircraft production for that year. The State Planning Commission
delegation included representatives from China’s auto as well as its aviation
industry, and proceeded to visit a number of other US cities.^8 An article
in the Seattle Times outlined the impact China’s loss of MFN would have
on Washington State. Weyerhaeuser would lose its second largest customer
(after Japan) for wood and pulp products. Dozens of manufacturing firms
would suffer. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, which had seen Washington
State’s trade with China triple since 1987, would suffer greatly. “Seattle has
more to lose than any other place in the United States,” opined the commis-
sioner of the Port of Seattle.^9
When Vice Premier Zou Jiahua visited the United States in mid-1993 for
the funeral of Richard Nixon, he met briefly with President Clinton and
showed him a list of US goods China was prepared to purchase if PRC-US
relations improved.^10 Later in 1993, President Jiang Zemin visited Seattle for
the first summit of Asia Pacific Cooperation (APEC) leaders. Jiang took the
opportunity to visit Boeing. In a speech to Boeing employees, Jiang spoke of
the need for US businesses to work to “remove all the negative factors and ar-
tificially imposed obstacles” to PRC-US trade.^11 Jiang also dined with Boeing
executives. Large numbers of US business leaders were invited to China in the
second half of 1993 to be tantalized by the prospects of China’s “big cake” and
hear the message that enjoying that cake required joint efforts to thwart the
anti-China forces in the United States.
During 1992 and the first quarter of 1993, a number of big contracts were
signed with US firms: Coca Cola, AT&T, General Motors, Motorola, and
ARCO. As one Chinese foreign ministry official said, “The Chinese market
is a big cake. Come early and you get a big piece. I hope our two countries
have good relations, but it takes two to tango.”^12 In 1993, foreign investment
in China reached a new peak, with 83,437 contracts with foreign companies
worth $110 billion, of which 6,700 were with US companies.^13 This activity was
not due entirely to an effort to entice American businesses. By 1993, following
Deng Xiaoping’s pivotal southern tour a year earlier, China was entering a
new, expanded stage of opening and high-paced growth after the post-6.4
retrenchment, and that growth required lots of foreign cooperation. China’s
“big cake” was attractive to American businesses.
Beijing did not neglect to demonstrate to US business that Clinton’s
stance on MFN could benefit their European competitors. In November 1993,
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited China with a delegation of forty
German business leaders. Prior to the group’s arrival Li Peng told the media
“Chancellor Kohl is sure to fly back with a full suitcase.” Sure enough, the