GLICKMAN LEADS PRESIDENTIAL DELEGATION TO CHINA
                                            Release No. 0132.00
                                                               
                                    Andy Solomon (202) 720-4623
                                          andy.solomon@usda.gov
                                    Susan McAvoy (202) 720-4623


GLICKMAN LEADS  PRESIDENTIAL DELEGATION TO CHINA

     WASHINGTON, April 24, 2000 Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today
leads a week-long Presidential Delegation to China.  The delegation will visit
Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong to discuss and learn more about U.S.-China
relations, additional U.S. export opportunities, and China's commitment to
market-opening agreements and international trade rules. 

     The delegation will include five American elected officials: Rep. Norman
Dicks (D-WA), Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Rep. Greg
Walden (R-OR), and  Governor Edward Schafer (R) of North Dakota.    

     The Chinese market is now worth more than $1 billion per year to
American farmers and ranchers.  USDA projections indicate that after China is
granted permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) and joins the World Trade
Organization, U.S. farm exports to China will increase by $2 billion per year
by 2005.  

     Recently, under the U.S.-China Agricultural Cooperation Agreement, the
first direct exports of U.S. meat and the first California and Florida citrus
exports were shipped to China.  China also purchased 50,000 metric tons of
U.S. soft white, hard red, and spring wheat earlier this year.   

     Glickman said the delegation will depart Washington on Monday, April 24,
arriving in Beijing the evening of Tuesday, April 25.  The group will meet
with senior Chinese officials, Chinese entrepreneurs and academics, and
American business leaders in Beijing on Wednesday, April 26.  On Thursday,
April 27, they will travel to Shanghai to meet with the Chairman of the
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and China-based U.S.
constituents and cooperators.  They will also tour a local grocery store which
carries U.S. products, visit a cathedral, and have dinner with local members
of the American Chamber of Commerce.  On Friday, April 28, the delegation will
visit a soybean crushing facility in Shanghai before traveling to Hong Kong. 
On Saturday, April 29, they will meet with Hong Kong's Chief Executive and
other senior government officials, Democratic Party leader Martin Lee, a group
of Hong Kong CEOs, and local members of the American Chamber of Commerce. 
They will also tour a produce processing center with U.S. products.  The group
will depart China on Sunday, April 30, arriving back in the Washington area
late that night.    

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