EU hopes for progress in WTO talks with China

Asian Economic News, Jan 24, 2000

BRUSSELS, Jan. 21 Kyodo

The European Union (EU) hopes to make progress in next week's talks with China on its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) but will not be rushed into a deal, EU trade officials said Friday.

"We're ready to conclude (them) next week," a senior EU official said. "But for us, the quality of the deal is better than the quickness of the deal. So the most important thing for us is that we get a good deal."

Another EU official said the Chinese side knows what the EU wants and that the "ball is in their court."

The EU and Chinese negotiators are to hold a two-day meeting in Brussels from Monday. Long Yongtu, Chinese vice minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, will head the Chinese delegation, while the EU team will be led by Hans-Friedrich Beseler, director general of the European Commission's trade directorate.

Although not specifically aimed at discussing the WTO bid, China's Vice Premier Wu Bangguo is also scheduled to hold talks with European commissioners next Tuesday in Brussels.

EU and Chinese negotiators met in Geneva in late October without making any significant progress.

The EU has been calling on China to make further concessions in such areas as tariff reductions in machinery, spirits and cosmetics, as well as loosening controls on banking, distribution, life insurance and telecommunications.

The European Commission, the executive body of the 15-member EU, said European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy handed Chinese Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister Shi Guangsheng a list of the EU's requests when they met in Seattle on Dec. 1 on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial meeting.

The commission said in a statement Friday that in next week's talks the negotiators "will look to find solutions to the outstanding requests that the EU has put to China regarding the opening and reform of China's economy."

"The commission hopes talks will serve to build on the fresh momentum injected into the process" by China's agreement with the United States last November, it said.

The EU is the last major trading partner with which Beijing must conclude market-access negotiations to enter the 135-member WTO.

Beijing has already reached bilateral deals with Japan, the U.S. and Canada.

Aside from the EU, China still has to conclude separate agreements with some 20 countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, Norway and Switzerland.

The senior EU official said all commitments and concessions made by China to the U.S. and other countries should be "automatically available to the EU because of the most favored nation principle in the WTO."