FRUSTRATION OVER DEADLOCKED CHINA WTO NEGOTIATIONS BOILS OVER
GENEVA-- Talks on China's accession to the World Trade Organization erupted into a shouting match between China's chief trade negotiator and the chairman of the working party today (Sept. 25) after efforts to break deadlocks on key issues failed over the weekend. The chairman, Pierre-Louis Girard, had held small meetings over the weekend bringing together Chinese officials with key trading partners in an effort to resolve issues that have stalled the negotiations for the working party report.
The heated exchange between Vice Minister Long Yongtu and Girard in a small group meeting led to some concern among trade negotiators that Girard may leave his post as the chairman of the China working party that he has held for 14 years, trade officials said. Following the incident, WTO members and Chinese officials expressed their continued confidence in Girard and agreed to continue meeting in small groups, as well as larger plurilateral and informal working party sessions until Thursday (Sept. 28).
"There's only one horse that can take this thing in and that's Pierre-Louis Girard," one trade official said. He characterized the flare-up as "borne out of the frustration that the process had stalled."
A U.S. trade official also did not attribute the flare-up to one specific issue in dispute, but rather a general sense of frustration. "I do not think there is an issue that is more devastating than another," he said. "It just got a little hot."
Trade officials will meet on Thursday morning to discuss the scheduling of another negotiating session. A U.S. official said he hoped the new meeting could be scheduled with enough time to allow the negotiations to be wrapped up this year. "We still want to move ahead and get this done this year," he said.
For that to happen, China would have to make substantial movement on key demands being pressed by the U.S., European Union and others in the working party report. Those include elaboration of its services commitments on insurance, distribution and telecommunications as well as agreeing to independent judicial review of administrative and judicial decisions affecting companies doing business in China.
On trading rights, China wants to impose new registration requirements that trade officials fear would effectively deny foreign companies located outside China the right to trade, officials said. In its bilateral agreement with the United States, China has committed to grant full trading rights within three years except for certain products (Inside U.S. Trade, Sept 22, p.1). But Long told reporters the timing of China's accession is not contingent on China's posture in negotiations but is "out of our control.":
