China Busy Preparing for WTO Entry

"Have you got prepared for China's accession to the WTO?" -- this has become a central topic of discussion heard everywhere in the country, from the national capital to the most impoverished province of Gansu and from local seminars to the current annual session of the supreme organ of power.

A big billboard "WTO: Opportunities and Challenges" stands aloft over a street in downtown Chaoyang District where foreign nationals live in compact community.

All these tell that China is busy priming up for its accession to the WTO.

Chinese enterprises are confident to take up the challenges posed by China's accession to the WTO, said Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission.

He predicted that some of the Chinese enterprises might face the greater pressure from foreign competition, which, he said, should be a good thing.

The Amendments of the Law on Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures submitted to the ongoing fourth session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) for adoption involves only a some hundred Chinese characters, but they embody the full, concrete commitments by the Chinese Government.

The amendments scrapped stipulations that require joint ventures to give priority to Chinese-made raw materials in their procurement and to report their production plans to competent authorities.

Besides, China is also busy reviewing other laws and regulations that are incompatible with the WTO rules. In addition, the NPC Standing Committee will enact laws on anti-monopoly and revise laws on foreign trade, rules on import and export commodities inspection and other associated laws and regulations.

Joining the efforts to honor China's commitments to abide by the WTO rules, the State Council has also started examining and clearing up current administrative decrees, and is to enact a number of other rules and regulations, including those against dumping and subsidy.

The Ministry of Agriculture issued a circular recently calling for greater efforts to reduce cost for producing and improving the quality of agricultural produce and at the same time, to make full use of China's agricultural advantages to raise the competitiveness on the international market.

China's agriculture is expected to face the most serious challenges after China becomes an official member of the WTO.

NPC deputies and CPPCC members now meeting at their annual sessions have devoted a considerable part of their time to discussing China's preparedness for WTO membership.

Tianjin Mayor Li Shenglin said that in order to improve the competitiveness of local enterprises, the city will exert greater efforts to develop high-tech industries and encourage foreign businessmen to invest in the sector.

Tianjin, the biggest port city in north China, is one of China's major foreign trade bases. Currently, the city has trade relations with more than 160 countries and regions worldwide.

Briefing on foreign trade in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, Wong Wenxiang, deputy director of the city foreign economic and trade committee, said that relevant adjustments will cover reducing import duties, narrowing the scope covered by quota or license management, lifting all restrictions on exports and imports, revoking stipulations requiring foreign-funded enterprises to apply for export, and making foreign trade policies more transparent.

Huang Qifan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic Committee, said that Shanghai will reduce tariffs by 8 percent in the coming five years. He said, Shanghai is fully prepared to meet the WTO requirements for canceling the quota system.

He said that shanghai has removed over 60 percent of the more than 1000 commodities from the list subject to quota control over the past decade and the rest will be removed within the next five years.








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