Two examples easily demonstrate this point. China is now the third largest oil consumer in the world and will by all accounts become increasingly dependent on oil imports in the next century. China's increasing stake in the free flow of oil is the basis for a convergence of U.S. and Chinese interests in the Persian Gulf. China is becoming increasingly aware that privileged relationships with individual Gulf States might not be enough to guarantee China's future energy security, and that the overall peacefulness of the Persian Gulf is therefore vital. Oil has long been at the center of strategic calculations, so perhaps it is not surprising that we have been discussing it intensively with China.
Environment is a relatively new and growing subject of common concern.
Growing recognition within China of the tremendous social and economic costs of environmental degradation has opened up new vistas of cooperation on environmental issues. While in the past calls for China to protect the environment were interpreted in Beijing as a conspiracy to keep China poor, today, Chinese leaders are painfully aware that environmental protection is a key component of sustainable development. In Auckland, Presidents Clinton and Jiang announced that our two countries were renewing negotiations to conclude a bilateral WTO agreement that will be in the interests of both our countries. As the President has said a number of times, we want this to be a commercially meaningful agreement, one that will provide increased market access for U.S. companies. At the same time, WTO accession will make China's own goods and services more competitive internationally.