(new throughout, previous BEIJING/WASHINGTON)
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - China's new buying spree of U.S. products ranging from airplanes and automobiles to soybeans and possibly wheat may not be enough to reverse a bilateral trade relationship that has been more ornery than sweet, trade experts said on Thursday.
Responding to months of pressure from the Bush administration that Beijing reduce its whopping trade deficit with the United States, Chinese officials are filling their shopping carts with American goods.
But the Buy America binge is unlikely to result in trade "nirvana," warned Don Phillips, a former high-ranking Clinton administration trade official specializing in Asia.
"I think there will probably be some highly public announcements that will make things look good, but I don't think it's going to fundamentally change the huge trade imbalance that we have with them," he said in an interview.
"They are trying to play the political game. They have to be seen doing something because of the anger in the U.S., but they don't want to do anything that disrupts China's fundamentals," said Paul Cavey, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday, China signed a deal to spend $1.7 billion on 30 737 airliners and engines built by Boeing Co. and General Electric Co. . Beijing has also launched a "large-scale" effort to buy U.S. farm goods, including American wheat for the first time in many years, said Zhang Guobao, vice minister of China's development and reform commission.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans said the contracts were a "big victory" for the companies.
The purchases are expected to continue in coming weeks, coinciding with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the United States in early December.
Recently, the Chinese also have expressed interest in U.S. telecommunications equipment, chemicals technology and high-tech goods now barred by U.S. national security concerns.
BIG THREE
Detroit's Big Three automakers, General Motors , Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG , say they will export thousands of U.S.-made vehicles to China over the next two years.
All this activity couldn't come a minute too soon for a Bush administration eager to demonstrate economic progress.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Thursday that China's trade deficit hit a record $12.69 billion just for the month of September and is on track to far surpass the unprecedented $103 billion for all of 2002.
Even if Beijing's new purchases put a dent in that deficit, there are plenty of U.S.-China trade difficulties ahead.
By Monday, the Bush administration is supposed to decide whether to impose emergency import quotas on Chinese textiles, such as knit fabrics, gloves, bras and robes. American textile firms, which have been bleeding jobs the last few years, are demanding action against China's cheap exports.
As a young member of the World Trade Organization, China also has been slow to live up to its new trade committments, including establishing copyright protections for foreign goods and setting market-opening tariffs for imported farm goods.
American shipments of soybeans to its biggest customer -- China -- also have been repeatedly disrupted by uncertainties over Beijing's new regulations for biotech foods.
Nevertheless, agriculture is a bright spot in the trade picture.
In September and October, China bought an astonishing 4.4 million metric tons of American soybeans and 2.2 million running bales (500 pounds or 227 kg each) of U.S. cotton. China also is a regular buyer of U.S. hides for leather.
More recently, grain traders have been salivating over the prospects that China could import millions of tons of wheat.
But a U.S. Agriculture Department official, who asked not to be identified, said China is "not short of any major commodities -- wheat corn and rice."
"China does not want to be dependent on foreign suppliers" for food, he added.