The lure of the great China market has captured the attention of foreign investors throughout history. After a background report by Tom Bearden, Elizabeth Farnsworth talks with the president of Sprint International and two experts on how foreign companies are making inroads into China.

TOM BEARDEN: President Jiang journeyed to the heart of western market capitalism this morning, ringing the opening bell for today's trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It was symbolic of one of the major reasons for Jiang's visit--strengthening ties between what is potentially the world's biggest single market and the world's most powerful economy.

Jiang has spent much of his time on the issue, even though most of the news coverage of his trip has focused on human rights issues. Meetings with businessmen have continued almost nonstop this afternoon, with representatives from major U.S. corporations like AT&T, IBM, and Lucent Technologies. Jiang is scheduled to attend a dinner tonight hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council. And yesterday clinched a deal to buy $3 billion worth of American aircraft from Boeing.

Jiang has said over and over that his top priority is developing the Chinese economy, which has grown faster than any other country since 1982.

PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN, People's Republic of China: (speaking through interpreter) We will continue to readjust and optimize the economic structure and speak to the strategies of revitalizing the nations through science and education and sustainable development. We will further improve our pattern of openness, which is all directional, multi-level, and wide-ranging, develop an open economy and open China still wider to the outside world.

TOM BEARDEN: Corporate America seems to agree, investing $3 billion in China in 1996. For example, the world's largest McDonald's is in Beijing and Nike has built a factory there. Low-cost labor and more than a billion consumers are what attracted them. Many American companies are flourishing but there are occasional problems.

CHARLES BROWN, General Manager, Nike: Probably my two biggest problems is lack of infrastructure and lack of proper telecommunications.

TOM BEARDEN: Another problem is the growing trade deficit. Chinese goods are everywhere in America, from textiles to toys. American consumers bought nearly $52 billion worth of Chinese products last year. But the Chinese only bought a little more than $12 billion worth of American products, and the deficit is projected to grow even larger this year. U.S. businesses say the problem is worsened because the Chinese market isn't completely open to them.

Some members of Congress want to deny China "most favored nation" trading status as long as their market remains restricted. President Jiang addressed that issue in one category of products this week when he announced that China will remove all tariffs on many telecommunications and high technology products. Last month he announced the government would privatize thousands of their government-run factories and businesses, making room for more foreign investment and competition.

But sore points still remain. U.S. industry complains China isn't doing enough to protect intellectual property like computer software, movies, and music, that pirating is still rampant. And there are still reports that the Chinese use prisoners as slave labor in factories producing goods destined for the U.S. And this week's roller coaster ride on Wall Street, which followed the precipitous of the Hong Kong stock market, has also raised questions about the future relationship between the U.S. and Chinese economies.