BEIJING (AP) - Greater access to China's markets was the main issue as talks resumed Monday with the European Union on Beijing's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
Long Yongtu, a top Chinese trade negotiator, and Hans-Freidrich Beseler, the European Commission's director general for trade, were heading the talks.
The EU is seeking greater access especially to China's telecommunications and financial services markets. The issue is the biggest remaining obstacle to China's membership.
As the EU talks were going on, China reached a separate WTO agreement Monday with India. That deal reduced the number of WTO members with which China still needs to reach agreements to 13, of which the 15-nation EU is the most important.
China has been seeking membership in the WTO and its predecessor for 14 years, but needs the endorsement of all 135 WTO members to join the body, which makes rules for world trade.
EU and Chinese negotiators met both Monday morning and afternoon at China's Ministry of Foreign Trade before finishing for the day, a ministry spokeswoman said.
A European Union spokeswoman, Laura Greebe, said she thought talks would continue Tuesday.
She refused to give details, but the EU has said that if the talks make progress, the EU's Trade commissioner, Pascal Lamy, could quickly travel to Beijing to finalize a deal with China's minister for foreign trade, Shi Guangsheng.
WTO Director-General Mike Moore said Friday that China was "very close" to concluding negotiations for its entry and he expressed hope that the talks with the EU would reach a conclusion.:
