se. A lot of China’s economic problems seem to be internal, and connected with supporting the massive population while divesting the government of money-losing businesses. Indicative of the overall industrial health of China is the amount of tax the country collected through their industrial and commercial tax in August, 1997. The total collected was $6.5 billion-a 12.9 percent increase over the same period in 1996. Included in the overall tax is a business tax, which grew by 49.5 percent in August, 1997 alone. There are hundreds of American businesses wanting to take advantage of the growth of China’s business sector. Several US- based, multinational companies already have entered the Chinese market, and now the smaller entrepreneurs would like to be included, too. One of the keys to this movement is that China now claims an emerging middle class, most of which wants American goods (Cross 25). US-China trade has increased by fully 90 percent since 1990, reaching $64 billion in 1996. Before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese ownership and rule, US businesses used Hong Kong agents to negotiate with the Chinese government. Now, however, Hong Kong is the international administrative arm of the Chinese government (Barnathan 30). Such negotiations are less certain and requires either the services of an international trade consultant, or at the very least, more than a passing glance at US government-generated "tips" on doing business in China (Cross 25). Jiang announced "that the unorthodox brand of market-driven socialism that has propelled China this far needs a radical overhaul. In one of the most sweeping sets of policy changes since the late Deng Xiaoping unleashed the forces of modernization in 1978, Jiang announced that the state sector is in for a wrenching downsizing" (Clifford et al.). Of course, his plan to restructure carries with it the risk of opposition among the worker’s, particularly those that will be left to fe...
