China's President Visits West Coast

Apr. 17 (KGO) -- China's president arrives on the West Coast Tuesday for a four-day visit sure to test our relations. Business leaders and politicians each have a list of issues they want to tackle.

Talking about it has done little to reverse America's growing trade imbalance with China. It remains a major issue when President Bush meets with China's President Hu this week.

The U.S. deficit with China has now topped $200 billion dollars -- the result of Americans buying more goods from China than the other way around.

There's one bright spot. China just bought 80 Boeing jetliners worth $16.2 billion dollars. President Hu will visit the assembly line outside Seattle.

He will also have dinner at the home of Microsoft's Bill Gates to talk about software piracy.

Sebastian Teunissen, PhD, UC Haas School of Business: "Piracy is a huge issue. I think China is about the third most flagrant copier of software without paying for it."

Private investigators and software companies say 90 percent of all software sold in China is counterfeit.

U.S. software companies have been making the case that counterfeiting stifles China's own fledgling software industry.

A recent study says China has created a half-million new jobs in software in the past three years with an economic impact of $3.2 billion dollars.

Doing business in China isn't easy and often requires adaptation.

Jeffrey Bernstein, Shanghai American Chamber Chairman: "KFC changed the taste of their original recipe to meet the taste of the Chinese consumer."

KFC is now the most popular fast food chain in China.

Sebastian Teunissen, PhD, UC Haas School of Business: "The U.S. has a habit of dictating to people what it wants, and it's used to most countries to react because of its economic and its military strength. China is not likely to go that way."

Steps toward improved relations generally are taken one baby step at a time. President Hu is not expected to make any major concessions while in the U.S., being mindful how his visit will play back home in China.

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