BEIJING, MAY 31: With less than a month for US president BILL clinton's maiden state visit to China, Beijing is putting more pressure on Washington to allow its early accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by citing more favourable market entry conditions than in India and Japan."It is well-known that China is more widely opened than India, but India entered into the General Agreement of Trade and Tariff (Gatt), the predecessor of the current WTO, as early as 1993," the official `China daily business weekly' said today, quoting a senior trade official.
Citing Japan as another `telling example,' the official said although the US was `unsatisfied' with Japan's market admission level, it pulled Japan into the Gatt 33 years ago while cruelly refusing China's repeated request over the past 10 years for membership into the multilateral trade body.
"China's accession to the WTO will be the focus of Clinton's visit to China (next month)," the official newspaper quoted Zhou Shi Jian, vice-chairman ofthe China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters as saying. He stressed that as an emerging economic giant, China will ultimately be accepted into the WTO. "this is the need of the world organisation and also the demand of the global economic integration drive," he said.
Apart from the WTO issue, China's most favoured nation(MFN) trade status will also be high on Clinton's agenda during his visit, expected to commence on June 25. The paper said the trade imbalance between China and the US had for a long time affected serious disputes and continued to be a major challenge for the Clinton administration. "Due to the US government's exaggeration of its import volume from China, statistics provided by the two countries have always differed," the report said.
In 1997, China's trade surplus volume with the US was $16.4 billion according to statistics complied by Chinese customs figures. However, as per the US statistics, it amounted to $49.7 billion during the same period."The trade deficit on the part of US will drop remarkably if the Clinton administration writes off its out-dated trade sanctions on China," Zhou said.
The US government's restriction on its hi-tech exports to China has deprived its companies of valuable business opportunities in China, the official said pointing out to the 1989 sanctions on Beijing after the army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators here at Tiananmen square.
With regard to the MFN trade status, he said it was time that Clinton put an end to the "endless discussion."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
