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China as WTO member to Play Greater Role in APEC
China will be able to play a greater role in the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation forum after its pending entry into the World Trade Organization, Long Yongtu, China's chief negotiator for WTO-related talks, said in Shanghai Saturday.
As China is not yet a WTO member, its representatives were embarrassed when APEC discussed WTO-related issues, Long said in response to a question from the media as he attended the APEC CEO summit Saturday in this eastern Chinese city.
But when it joins the WTO, China will be able to play a role in promoting WTO negotiations together with other APEC members that are also WTO members, said Long, who is also a vice minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation of China.
Long said APEC, as an economic forum, has made major contributions over the past decade to promoting global economic development.
Though APEC itself does not participate in negotiations, as a high-level forum for leaders of member economies, any signals from it bear great importance, Long said.
He recalled that the Uruguay round of negotiations encountered great difficulties in 1993, but the APEC Seattle meeting of that year played a very important role in successfully ending the negotiations the next year.
Similarly, he said, at a time when WTO is now having difficulty in launching a new round of negotiations, strong signals issued by this year's APEC ministerial meeting are expected to play a decisive role in helping launch a new round of WTO-related negotiations.
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