Agence France Presse | April 12, 2000
KUALA LUMPUR - China said Wednesday it would soon resume talks with the European Union on its accession to the World Trade Organisation and was confident of reaching a deal.
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister Shi Guangsheng said the last round of talks in Beijing - which ended without agreement on March 31 - had made "significant progress."
"The failure to clinch a deal ... does not mean a break-up of the negotiations because each side needs to further coordinate its stance on some questions," he told an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) business summit here.
"In the near future we will resume talks on these issues. I believe China will reach an agreement on the WTO with the EU and that will not hinder China's entry into the organisation."
The EU's top trade negotiator Pascal Lamy said Monday he would return to Beijing "when the time is right".
"The sooner we can conclude these negotiations, the better," Lamy said, "because it is very important for us all to have China in the WTO discipline.
"I am prepared to show flexibility but that flexibility will have to be met on the Chinese side as well."
The European Union is the largest of China's trading partners yet to conclude a bilateral agreement that would open the way for Beijing to accede to the WTO and its rules-based trading regime.
Shi, answering questions after speaking at the ASEAN meeting, said China had achieved fast development in the first quarter of this year but had no plans to change its seven percent growth estimate for the year.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said China had "never considered" changing the value of the yuan and "there is no need for us to do that."
Shi later signed an agreement with Malaysian International Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz on China's accession to the WTO.
"China has agreed to offer Malaysia a package of concessions in the form of tariff reductions for 760 products of export interest to Malaysia and to increase the import quota for palmoil," Rafidah said.
She said the tariff cuts would mainly be made within three to five years after China joins the world trade club.
Trade in palmoil is now handled exclusively by Chinese state enterprises.
Rafidah said Beijing had agreed progressively to increase the share which the Chinese private sector is allowed to import, from 50 percent in the first year of accession to 90 percent in the fifth year.
Six years after its accession China will eliminate quotas on palmoil - a major Malaysian export.Agence France Presse:
