Agence France Presse
LUXEMBOURG, April 10 (AFP) - EU top trade negotiator Pascal Lamy said Monday he would return to Beijing to resume trade talks on China's entry into the World Trade Organization only "when the time is right."
Lamy said: "I have no fixed date, no time frame, but I have flexibility to decide myself when to return, in concert with my Chinese counterparts."
He was speaking to a press conference after briefing EU foreign ministers on his failed round of talks in Beijing last week.
"The sooner we can conclude these negotiations, the better," he said, "because it is very important for us all to have China in the WTO discipline.
"It is very important for us to give a signal to the Chinese that they are engaged in a very profound economic reform which is involved in WTO membership."
"I am prepared to show flexibility," he said, "but that flexibility will have to me met on the Chinese side as well."
Lamy said he was closely following US congressional action on the deal the US struck with China and was in contact with the American side "on a technical level."
"We want congress to ratify the deal that has been done," he said, "but at the end of the day the US congress has to decide. We have our own decisions to take."
"I will not adopt a position that hinges on the US action," he said, adding, "We cannot be dependent on them."
Lamy was also clear that the human rights situation in China played no part in the WTO negotiations, saying that the United Nations in Geneva was different from the WTO in Geneva.
Both the WTO and the UN Human Rights Organization are based in Geneva.
Lamy refused to give details on the sticking points, saying the talks last week in Beijing had taken place in "a friendly atmosphere."
Earlier, however, Lamy's spokesman Anthony Gooch said, "Given the current remit of both sides, an agreement is not possible.
"To the extent that both sides would like to reach an agreement there's a necessity to reflect internally on both sides on their current positions and what give and take there can be on both sides in order to close the existing gap.
Lamy was also to brief European parliamentarians in Strasbourg later this week on the talks with China.
The Chinese side has invited Lamy to return, but no date was fixed. Some EU diplomats have said privately they are hopeful he may return and clinch a deal by the end of this month.
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, something China has sought for 14 years.
Though Lamy and his team have refused to divulge specifics of the talks, it was understood that greater EU access to China's growing telecommunications and financial services sectors, particularly insurance, were some of the main hurdles.
The EU is also known to be keen on gaining entry into China's automobile, tobacco and oil seed markets.:
