Bennett joined six of his Senate colleagues on a weeklong diplomatic tour focused on trade issues.
On Thursday, Bennett succinctly summed up the sentiment of his hosts on the trip that ended last week. In China, the message was "friendship." While the officials from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam told the senators: "When you think of Asia, don't just think of China."
But U.S. politicians have found it hard not to, especially with China's bid to rival the United States as the world's economic superpower.
The Communist country has adopted its own version of a free-market economy. But while Chinese goods are flooding into the United States, U.S. goods are trickling past the Chinese border.
The inequity has resulted in a trade deficit with China that grows each year. The deficit for the first 10 months of this year is $167 billion, exceeding the 2004 total by $6 billion.
The senators planned to meet with China's trade minister but the visit was canceled abruptly without explanation.
"Frankly, we were a little disappointed," Bennett said.
That left a high-ranking Communist Party official to hear the senators' concerns.
Bennett said the delegation asked China to remove "bureaucratic delays" that hold up U.S. goods and to continue efforts to crack down on copyright infringement, mainly in the form of knockoff clothing and bootlegged movies and music.
Despite these concerns, Bennett backs more open trade with China and other Asian countries.
"Trade is good for everybody," he said, mentioning a Utah businessman he met in China who works for a company that sells nutritional supplements for new mothers.
Bennett also was impressed with what he called the "pro-American feeling" he experienced in all of the countries he visited, except for Kyrgyzstan, which he said is still influenced heavily by Russia. He described that country as a little more "skeptical" of the United States.
One thing that caught Bennett a little off guard was all of the Christmas decorations on the storefront windows of Beijing stores.
"They might as well celebrate Christmas," he said. "They make all of the ornaments there."
mcanham@sltrib.com
