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Brown

BEIJING: The death of U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who juggled jest with grit in delicate talks with China, is a huge loss both to business ties and to diplomatic relations, businessmen and Chinese analysts agreed on Thursday.

"This is a great loss," said one U.S. businessman. "He was the best thing going."

"His death will leave a void in U.S.-China relations that will be difficult to fill," said James McGregor, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.

Chinese trade analysts mourned the passing of an official seen in Beijing as a champion of a more reasoned U.S. approach to doing business with China who was able to set aside differences over human rights issues.

"I feel shock and regret to hear about the death of Brown," said one Beijing foreign trade academic.

"It is a great loss because he took a positive attitude to trade and economic relations between China and the United States, including China's Most Favoured Nation treatment," he said.

Brown's most high-profile trip to China was in August 1994, when he became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit since the White House earlier that year severed links between renewing MFN status and Beijing's human rights record.

He so charmed his hosts that his Chinese counterpart, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Wu Yi, departed from protocol to conduct him on a personal tour of Beijing's Forbidden City.

The two huddled in corners to discuss aircraft and auto deals, and Brown left after striking business deals worth about $6.0 billion.

"He showed them respect when he came to China," the U.S. businessman said. "He didn't treat them like the evil empire."

This approach succeeded not only in boosting U.S. commercial interests in China but also in smoothing out problems -- some of them profound -- in rocky ties between Beijing and Washington, he said.

Some U.S. businessmen felt Washington had lost one of the few officials in the administration able to engage China.

"He showed real vision and leadership in coming to China to see things with his own eyes, instead of sitting in Washington and relying on preconceived notions," McGregor said.

"He knew that building a strong relationship with China was in the best interests of China and in the best interests of the United States."

Brown had been due to visit China in June for a meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.

"But he was no patsy," the businessman said. "He could be very blunt with his hosts."

During his 1994 visit, Brown won billions of dollars of business deals and pressed Beijing to open its markets wider and a year later he criticised a yawning U.S. trade deficit with China.

"Secretary Brown had excellent personal relations with many senior Chinese officials," McGregor said. "It wasn't because he told them what they wanted to hear, but because he engaged them in forthright and respectful discussions.

One businessman described Brown's death as coming at an unfortunate time for Sino-U.S. ties -- troubled by a string of disputes over human rights, nuclear proliferation, Taiwan, intellectual property piracy in China and textile quotas.

"We need more people from the administration who are willing to come and see instead of railing from afar," one U.S. businessman said.

China's Foreign Ministry said it was awaiting confirmation of Brown's death, but voiced shock at the crash of his plane.-Reuter