CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, February 6, 1995
3A
United States, China bicker about trade
Both sides say they will impose tariffs
By Brian Vandervilet Kansan staff writer
The United States announced yesterday that it would double the price of more than $1 billion worth of Chinese goods with a 100 percent tariff. The tariff is a response to China's theft of copyrighted American computer programs, movies and music, U. S. trade officials have said.
China said it would retaliate with a 100 percent tariff on certain U.S. goods.
Professors at Kansas say that a trade war between the two countries would be damaging to both.
"I think both sides would be devastated by this in the short term," said Paul Koch, professor of business. "By far the best situation would be for both nations to resolve their differences."
Koch said that he did not advocate trade sanctions to achieve policy objectives but that he did not see an alternative solution for the problem of China's abuse of copyright
laws. The economic impact on the United States may not outweigh the benefits, he said.
Koch also said China would be significantly hurt by losing the large U.S. market.
"It's conceivable that the U.S. could suffer much more than China if other countries step in and satisfy China's import demands," Koch said.
"Both sides have substantial bargaining power," he said.
Peter Frevert, associate professor of economics, said that the sanctions against China were needed to motivate the country to change its trade laws.
On a 1988 visit to China, Prevert saw products pirated from U.S. companies sold in state-run stores.
"They have really violated copyright laws." he said. "It clearly isn't right."
Doug Phummer, assistant manager of K-Mart, 3106 Iowa St., said about 8 to 10 percent of the store's merchandise was made in China. He said that higher-priced Chinese goods would have little effect on the store's retail sales because the company would find other places to buy similar products.
"There's nothing made in China that we don't make in the U.S.," Plummer said. "It's not going to affect us at all."
U.S.,China trade tariffs,not goods
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The warning shots have been fired in the U.S.-China trade war, but both sides are leaving room for a truce before real damage is done to one of the world's most important trade and political relationships.
The United States, exasperated by China's failure to crack down on intellectual property theft, on Saturday announced 100 percent tariffs on $1.08 billion worth of Chinese products.
China promptly retaliated,
complaining that its national dignity had been violated. It placed 100 percent tariffs on a variety of U.S. products, including video games, compact discs, cigarettes and alcohol.
U. S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor's pronouncement that the United States would draw the line on trade came just three days after an annual State Department report faulting China as an authoritarian state that had failed to improve its record of well-documented human rights abuses.
Both were admissions that
President Clinton's decision last spring to remove the link between trading privileges and human rights had done little to promote improvements in either area. China's trade surplus with the United States was nearly $30 billion last year, second only to Japan.
The trade dispute is serious. For example, it could result in China turning to Europe for billions of dollars worth of future aircraft purchases.
But both sides are likely to work hard to keep it within manageable limits.
Muslims celebrate holy month
Ramadan observance includes fasting,prayer
By Eduardo A. Molina
Kansan staff writer
For 30 days, beginning last Tuesday, Muslims around the world abstain from food, drink, tobacco and sex from dawn until sunset to celebrate Ramadan — the month of the great Islamic fast.
Muslims at the University of Kansas are no exception.
Saqiv Shaikh, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, senior, said that Ramadan taught Muslims discipline but that it also had social significance
"This month helps us to master our physical appetite," Shalik said.
Mara Wilson, a KU graduate who converted to Islam three years ago, said that understanding the meaning of Ramadan had been a learning process.
this," she said. "If you persevere, it becomes clear what God wants. It has given me a lot of rewards. I have learned how sometimes we take for granted many things that others don't have."
"You ask yourself why God wants you to do
Al Rizvi, Karachi, Pakistan, junior, said that Ramadan was more than a sacrifice.
"Fasting is a way to feel how other people without food feel," he said. "It is not only that we don't have to eat but that we do to all the good things we can during the day. It is also a way to unite the whole Muslim nation during a month."
At the end of the month, he said, Muslims are united in a celebration — the Feast of Fastbreaking.
"It is a day of happiness," Rizvi said. "It is like Christmas for Christians."
Iffaaz Salahudeen, Sri Lanka graduate student, said that Ramadan was different at KU because Muslims here had different cultural backgrounds.
"In my country we have a community dinner every day," he said. "Here, everybody is busy, and we don't have regular activities."
What is Ramadan?
It is the holy month of fasting, the ninth month of the Muslim year. For 28 to 30 days, from dawn to sunset, total abstinence from food, drink, tobacco and sex is obligatory for Muslims.
All healthy Muslims beyond the age of puberty are required to fast. The only people who are not required to fast are those who are sick, the elderly, travelers and pregnant and nursing women.
This fast is one of the five pillars of Islam. The other pillars of Islam are prayer, recitation of the creed, pilgrimage and almsgiving.
Salahudeen said one activity was nightly prayer from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Lawrence, 1300 Ohio St.
Ramadan has traditionally been regarded as the month in which the first revelation of the Koran was made to Mohammed, the central prophet of Islam.
Watkins actively tests for chlamydia
By Robert Allen
Kansan staff writer
Kansas has a 25 percent higher incidence rate of chlamydia than the rest of the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But chlamydia infections at the University of Kansas have dropped in recent years.
One of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, chlamydia is often called the silent epidemic because those infected often show no symptoms.
Kevin Ault, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said that the 25 percent difference between Kansas and national numbers in the centers' report was not that dramatic. Infection rates seem higher in Kansas because doctors here are actively testing their patients for chlamydia even if no symptoms are apparent. Ault said.
"We're looking for trouble and finding it," he said.
In 1992, the centers reported that nationally, there were about 180 cases of chlamydia per 100,000 people. In Kansas, there were about 280 cases per 100,000 people.
"We may just be catching them more than the rest of the nation." Ault said.
Henry Buck, head of gynecology at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said that Watkins routinely screened women for chlamydia regardless of whether they showed smutomas.
Six or seven years ago, Buck said, about 10 percent of women screened for chlamydia at Watkins had the disease. In 1993, only 2.78 percent of women screened had the disease. Last year, the number dropped to 2 percent even though the total number of women screened had remained constant.
Buck said that because Watkins tested women who did not show symptoms, the doctors were finding the disease earlier. This helps to treat patients before they can spread the disease to others through sexual contact or to their children during birth. Thus, actual cases have steadily dropped.
Chlamydia is a bacteria with a unique life cycle. It hides within cells and invades the immune system via those cells. Ault said.
Buck said that chlamydia, like other infections, often remained dormant in the body. When chlamydia does show symptoms, it can cause tubal pregnancies and scarring of the cervix in women. In men, a burning feeling in the urethra and discharge are common.
This summer, Ault will begin research on the body's immune response to chlamydia. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Curatek Pharmaceuticals have awarded Ault $15,000 for the study. He hopes the research will help women whose fallopian tubes have been damaged by chlamydia.
Vonnegut vouchers available from SUA
Kansan staff report
Ticket vouchers for author Kurt Vonnegut's Feb. 9 lecture at the Lied Center will be available beginning at 8 a.m. at the Student Union Activities box office at the Kansas Union.
The vouchers are free with a KUID. Two vouchers will be allowed to each person.
The vouchers will be collected until 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 9, at which point seating will be open to the public.
Novegnut is scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. Feb. 9. The lecture will be titled, "How to Get a Job Like Mine."
Among Vonnegut's most popular books is "Slaughterhouse Five."
This year is the 25th anniversary of the publication of "Slaughterhouse Five."
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