TRADE: Talks Move Forward on China’s Inclusion in WTO

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Nov 10 2000 (IPS) - Multilateral negotiations for including China in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) made progress during sessions this week due to Beijing’s greater “flexibility,” said the trade official in charge of following that country’s accession process.

The Chinese delegation has demonstrated its political will to overcome differences, acknowledged Paul-Henri Ravier, president of the Working Party on the Accession of China and one of four WTO deputy directors-general.

The talks are to reconvene, also in Geneva, in early December, but observers say it is unlikely the parties involved will reach an agreement by the end of this year.

Ravier reported that, in the bilateral sphere, China finalised new trade accords this week with Bolivia, Costa Rica and Venezuela. Talks are pending on agreements with Mexico and Panama.

One of the principal factors postponing a trade treaty with Mexico is related to the admission of Mexican sugar into the Asian country.

The chief of China’s delegation, Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade Long Yongtu, said Beijing is acting with “great patience” in talks with smaller countries because they have claimed that China only pays attention to the major trading powers.

The admission of new members into the WTO requires the signing of bilateral accords with each of the organisation’s members and also the multilateral approval in the working party created specifically for each country requesting admission.

The number of countries and customs territories included in the WTO reached 139 this week with the accession of Oman. Croatia is to become a member 140 by the end of this month. Another 30 countries have presented admission requests, Russia and Saudi Arabia among them.

Negotiations for China’s entry into the WTO, which have extended over 14 years, are of significant interest in commercial spheres due to the magnitude of that country’s market – more than 1.2 billion consumers – and the productive potential the nation has demonstrated in recent years of continued growth.

In sessions this week, negotiators reached agreements on judicial review, transparency and uniform administration.

They also made progress on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), on industrial policy and tariff rate quota (TRQ) administration.

Ravier pointed out that they advanced on fundamental questions such as transitional review mechanisms, which are employed to monitor compliance, in this case by the Chinese government, of the obligations and commitments the country assumes.

Among the matters still pending is agricultural policy. Chinese delegate Long commented that “the key to achieve progress in this important area is to handle the relevant provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture and the SCM Agreement (Subsidies and Countervailing Measures) in an appropriate manner.”

In this regard, Long stated that the WTO must “recognize the fact that China is a developing country,” one of the basic principles the Chinese delegations has maintained throughout the trade talks.

Ravier stated that “China already has one foot” in the WTO and encouraged the parties to the talks to maintain the impetus created during the last period of negotiations.

Observers from diplomatic circles said further details in the trade talks could be hammered out during sessions to run parallel to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum, to be held next week in Brunei.

In addition to the Chinese delegation, also planning to attend the APEC meeting are the United States Trade Representative, Charlene Barshefsky, and the European Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy.