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APEC Wants China's WTO Entry Agreed by Yearend
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum members plan to call for an agreement on China's entry to the World Trade Organisation to be reached by the end of this year, a senior Asian official said on Sunday.
"Member economies will urge the early conclusion of China's WTO accession negotiations as early as possible and by the end of the year," the trade official told Reuters, quoting from a draft declaration being prepared for a meeting of APEC trade ministers in Shanghai later this week.
China's 14-year bid to enter the WTO has dominated weekend talks of senior officials from the 21-nation APEC group who will set the Shanghai agenda and lay the groundwork for a summit meeting of APEC leaders in October.
"China's participation in the global trading system is an important part of giving new impetus (to the WTO)," a Japanese foreign ministry official said on the sidelines of the APEC meetings in the southern China boomtown of Shenzhen.
APEC economies generate about 60 percent of world output and account for about half of global trade. The organisation's agenda is increasingly focused on the WTO and how APEC can contribute to pushing forward the global trade system.
"Given that China chairs APEC this year, a strong message of support from these meetings should help the negotiations on the outstanding issues to facilitate China's entry and make progress on launching a new global trade round (in Qatar)," the Japanese official said.
Sour diplomatic relations between China and the US are seen as the biggest obstacle to progress, but a hint of warming Sino-U.S economic ties emerged on Saturday after a senior Washington official said diplomatic disagreements with Beijing would not derail WTO talks.
"The main question of accession into the WTO is something that is an important issue for both of us in terms of our economic interests," Larry Greenwood, head of a US delegation to a meeting of senior APEC officials told reporters.
WTO BID New US trade representative Robert Zoellick, is set to meet with China's trade minister, Shi Guangsheng, for the first time next week at the Shanghai talks.
The two trade chiefs will discuss China's WTO bid, raising hopes they can iron out differences over Beijing's agricultural subsidies, a key barrier preventing China's WTO entry.
The bilateral meeting follows US President George W. Bush's decision last week to extend normal trade relations to China for another year, setting the stage for a vote in Congress on the issue this summer.
China's trade minister Shi has said a new round of global trade talks would be high on the agenda at the APEC trade ministers' conference in Shanghai. The talks are expected to be announced at a WTO summit in Qatar in November.
Leaders at the APEC summit in Brunei last year called for talks in 2001 after stressing their concern with the lack of progress in 2000. But there has been little progress on kick-starting a new round at WTO since.
APEC groups, Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
Source: chinadaily.com.cn
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