Agence France Presse | December 10, 2001
BEIJING - China was on Monday counting down the hours to finally becoming a World Trade Organisation (WTO) member.
China's formal accession to the WTO on Tuesday, agreed at a meeting of the trade body last month, ends an arduous 15-year process which began when the organisation was known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT):
July 1986: China, a founding member of GATT in 1947, asks to be readmitted to the organization it left after the communists took power in 1949.
October 1987: First meeting of the working group charged with examining Beijing's bid for accession to the WTO at its headquarters in Geneva. June 1989: Discussions suspended after the Tiananmen Square crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. The talks resume in December.
September 1992: GATT begins negotiations with Taiwan.
December 1994: China fails to become part of GATT before the target date of January 1, 1995 set for being a founding member of the WTO.
May 1995: China opens discussions with the new WTO. Thirty-seven countries also ask to hold bilateral negotiations with China, including Japan, the United States and the European Union, China's top trading partners.
July 1995: China attains status of observer.
July 1997: Asian financial crisis. China maintains parity of the yuan but puts its WTO bid on the back burner, fearing a quick opening of its borders would worsen an economic slowdown and complicate reforms.
March 1999: Prime Minister Zhu Rongji revives the process by announcing China is ready to grant greater concessions to the US to gain WTO entry.
April 1999: Washington rejects the concessions made by Zhu during a visit to the US, sparking Chinese anger.
May 1999: Bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade by NATO. China freezes negotiations with the US and the EU.
July 1999: China agrees the terms of its WTO accession with Japan during a visit to Beijing by then-prime minister Keizo Obuchi.
September 1999: Resumption of Sino-US negotiations after a summit between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President Bill Clinton in New Zealand.
November 1999: US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky reaches a bilateral agreement with China on its WTO membership.
May 2000: China and the EU finally agree a bilateral trade deal after five days of talks.
2001
June 9: China and the US announce they have reached an agreement on details of Beijing's WTO accession, as Beijing agrees to a lower limit on farm subsidies.
June 20: The EU says it has reached an agreement with China overcoming differences in areas such as telecommunications, removing one of the final remaining obstacles for Beijing's WTO bid.
Sept 13: China and Mexico conclude bilateral negotiations on China's entry to the WTO, completing the 37th and final such accord needed before Beijing can join the global trading body.
Sept 17: China and its major trading partners reach a formal agreement on the Asian giant's WTO membership.
Nov 10: China is officially accepted as a WTO member. A meeting of 142 WTO members in Qatar accepts by consensus a proposal for China to join the organisation. Chinese officials deposit articles of ratification signed by President Jiang Zemin with the WTO secretariat immediately after the decision.
Nov 11: Chinese Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng signs the agreement papers.
Dec 11: After an agreed 30-day waiting period, China's WTO membership is due to come into effect.
Copyright 2001 Agence France PresseAgence France Presse:
