Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

China pledges to be good citizen in WTO

China pledged on Monday it would be a good citizen in the World Trade Organisation as members of the body, from major powers to the poorest states, hailed Beijing's impending entry as a boon for all.

Long Yongtu, his country's top negotiator for much of the 15 years of talks that led to formal approval of an admission package earlier in the day, dismissed the marathon negotiations as "a blink of an eye in China's 5,000-year history".

In China, he told delegations rubber-stamping an 800-page accord reached at the weekend and detailing terms under which it will come in late this year that 'the WTO will have an important new player who will play a positive and constructive role'.

"China will strictly abide by WTO rules," Long declared.

"One thing is certain," WTO director-general Mike Moore told Reuters. "Things in this house can never be the same again."

With China's membership, the currently 142-member WTO "will take a major step towards becoming a truly world organisation," he said in a separate formal statement.

"The near universal acceptance of its (the WTO's) rules-based system will serve a pivotal role in underpinning global economic co-operation," declared Moore in an oblique reference to concern about potential global recession.

European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, in a statement issued in Brussels, said the approval of the China entry package provided "a much-needed boost of confidence and hope for the future at this difficult time".

RULE OF LAW

The agreement, to be endorsed by WTO ministers at a meeting set for Qatar in November, "will strengthen the global economy and the international rule of law for trade," said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

The United States and its European allies are known to be keen to win Chinese support for, or at least acquiescence in, any action they take after last Tuesday's attacks in New York and Washington which killed thousands, including some Chinese.

The 10-nation ASEAN grouping said it was pleased to have its huge neighbour alongside it's members within the trade body.

In a statement delivered by Thailand's ambassador Apiradi Tantraporn to Monday's formal meeting of the WTO working party negotiating China's entry since 1986, the southeast Asian nations' grouping said China's accession, was "proof of the importance many governments still place on the multilateral trading system".

Pakistan's ambassador Munir Akram said his country would gain from China's entry "because it will add a very strong voice to the developing countries and help bridge the development gap in the WTO."

This view was echoed by Malaysia's ambassador M Supperamanniam and the Dominican Republic's outspoken and combative envoy Federico Cuello Camilo.

NEW WEIGHT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

China "will give developing countries new weight in the WTO," the Malaysian diplomat told Reuters. "The entry of China will change the correlation of forces and strengthen the role of the developing countries in the WTO," said Cuello Camilo.

Pakistan, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic are all in a group of WTO members resisting efforts led by the EU and the United States -- and a parallel drive by Moore -- to get a new round of trade liberalisation talks agreed later this year.

China has said it backs the idea of a new round, and Long told a news conference on Monday that a new set of talks -- which would be the first since the 1986-93 Uruguay Round -- would boost the credibility of the WTO.

But he said such a negotiating effort should take into account the concerns of developing countries.

Asked how China saw the growing anti-globalisation movement, whose efforts are focused on dismantling or at least hobbling the WTO, Long said his country had programmes to cope with any social problems caused by free trade and opening markets.

"We see globalisation as an historic tide which no one can resist," he declared. "So we think it is best to go with this tide, and that is how we see China's accession to the WTO."

But globalisation, like market economics -- which China is now pledged to follow despite its nominal communist ideology and governing system -- can bring social injustice and some increased poverty as well as overall benefits, said Long.

"We think we can address this successfully with the correct programmes of social security and development of the more backward regions of our country," he added.

Tell us what you think of this report