*
14
Hong Kong with 12,000-14,000 IV's per year and another 50,000 IV's on file. Moreover, a potential flood of IV applications could arise from tne 325,000 Sino-Vietnamese refugees in South China as their relatives in the United States qualify for citizenship. In addition to the im- migrant visa and nonimmigrant visa load (2,000 to 3,000 per year) the consular section also is responsible for administering a growing number of social security and other pension benefits for Chinese- American retirees and consular services for other American citizens employed in China.
TRADE AND INVESTMENT
A principal purpose for reopening the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou was to promote Sino-United States trade and investment. Direct and indicet trade between the United States and South China in 1981 totaled $500 million, and recent estimates indicate that South China will receive 90 percent of all foreign investment in China, including American oil exploration in the South China Sea. This concentration of commercial activity in the Guangzhou consular dis- trict largely results from the special economic zones established in South China by the Central Government in Beijing designed to spear- head Chinese economic development.
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
--Another important function of the Consulate General in Guangzhou is to promote educational and cultural ties with China. Over 1,700 students, researchers, and professors have gone from South China to study in the United States during the past 22 years. The resident American population in the consular district is growing steadily; there are now about 100 resident Americans registered at the Consulate General, with the majority teaching in Chinese schools.
POLITICAL REPORTING
The growing American economic involvement in South China re- quires a deeper understanding of the Chinese political system which is intimately related to economic decisionmaking. For this reason a political reporting function has been assigned to the post, although, as mentioned previously, the political officer is encountering difficulties in developing local sources of information.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
In handling this workload, the Consulate General is handicapped by the local-hire policy of the Chinese Government which only per- mits short-term contracts (2-year maximum), lack of a pool of trained local personnel, and long bureaucratic delays in hiring. The upshot of this system is that the Consulate General must provide on-the-job training, only often to lose the employee when he becomes proficient at his job.
This problem could be partially alleviated if the mission had auto- mated equipment but, as explained earlier, lack of security precludes installation of necessary computerized equipment. Again, the Foreign Missions Act could be used to rectify this problem.
Page 15Page 16