consumption and the changing agricultural patterns” of an increasingly prosperous population (U.S. Strains, 1996). The United States should increase such initiativesin order to maximize the competitive advantage ofU.S. firms’ environmental technology. Accordingto experts, with self-interested help from theUnited States and other wealthy nations, a program to install efficient equipment and processes throughout China’s energy system could reduce its energy consumption by 50 percent (Hertsgaard 1997). Exercise Swifter Diplomacy to Offset PossibleRetaliation A possible result of the Clinton administration’s decision to block Ex-Im Bank financing for U.S. companies involved in the Three Gorges project is that an antagonized China may retaliate againstAmerican businesses by excluding them from largeinfrastructure projects in the future. Chineseresentment may stem from the perception thatEx-Im adopted environmental guidelinesspecifically in opposition to the Three Gorgesproject, soon after it had been approved by theChinese government. We believe the United States should have actedsooner through high-level diplomatic contacts inorder to forestall any possible retaliatory actions.Although in 1996 Vice President Gore andPremier Li Peng agreed on a program ofenvironmental cooperation, a similar effort shouldhave taken place before or immediately after theEx-Im decision was announced. To be morespecific, it should have included an offer to Chinato participate in the United States-AsiaEnvironmental Partnership (USAEP)a programthat links U.S. private and public sectorenvironmental expertise with government programsin Asian countries. China is currently excludedfrom the program due to the events in TiananmenSquare. This policy, adopted under the Bushadministration, is inconsistent andcounterproductive, because it punishes China forits deplorable human rights record at the expenseof its environment. By depolitic...
