Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC) Shi Guangsheng and European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy are discussing China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Brussels, Belgium, the EU's headquarter.
The talks are widely expected to be smooth and constructive to end China's 15-year quest to join the WTO.
"The EU is not seen as a major block after China and the United States have bridged their differences,'' said Long Guoqiang, a senior researcher with the Development Research Centre, a think-tank of the State Council.
He said in an interview that the EU's positive signal immediately after China and the US announced an "all-round common understanding'' pointed to a smooth road ahead for China's multilateral negotiations to join the WTO.
China and the US agreed to 8.5 per cent subsidies for China's agriculture earlier this month.
Immediately after China and the US confirmed they had struck a deal on the outstanding issues concerning China's WTO membership, the EU sent a communique saying that China and the EU had "established the necessary contacts'' to prepare "an accord for the next meeting of the WTO working group on China's membership,'' which has been set for June 28.
China has reached bilateral deals with all WTO members except Mexico. But Mexico has promised support for China's WTO entry
The country's multilateral negotiations, on the other hand, drew on longer than many had expected due to differences with large economic powers, such as the US and EU.
Major differences include agricultural subsidies, trade in services, retail and distribution and trading rights.
But the process is believed to be accelerating after China and the US bridged their differences and trade ministers of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation voiced their strong support for China's WTO entry before the November WTO ministerial meeting in Qatar.
Now is the best time for China to join the WTO, with a growing manufacturing industry and the New Economy in the country and the slowing of world economic growth, said senior US economist Joseph Stiglitz in Beijing.
WTO membership would help facilitate the manufacturing industry's export of high-quality, low-price products and the country's import of high technologies and equipment that are needed to develop the New Economy, he said.
Slowing world economic growth would aid China by alleviating pressure from newly competitive foreign-made products due to the lowering of customs tariffs and the elimination of trade barriers in accordance with WTO rules, he added.
(chinadaily.com.cn 06/19/2001 )
