| Speech by Vice Minister Long Yongtu at the Seventh Session of the Working Party Meeting on China's Accession to the WTO (April 8, 1998) |
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| 2004/04/19 |
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Mr. Chairman,
The Chinese delegation has come to Geneva for the seventh session of the Working Party meeting shortly after the formation of the new government of China. We have brought with us a comprehensive package of tariff reduction plan which have been circulated to all the delegations. This is the first document concerning China's WTO accession approved by the new government of China only several days after its establishment. This demonstrates that the new government will, as always, firmly implement the open policy in all directions, support the multilateral trading system represented by the WTO and will continue to adopt a positive attitude towards the negotiations on China's WTO accession.
During the informal meeting of APEC leaders held in November last year, President Jiang Zemin announced that China would lower the average tariff rate for industrial products to 10% by the year 2005. This represents the most significant trade liberalization measure adopted by China in recent years. This time, the Chinese delegation has translated President Jiang's important announcement into a line by line tariff offer on industrial products covering 5,669 tariff lines. This once again demonstrates the seriousness of the Chinese government in fulfilling its international commitments. It is my belief that this new effort made by the Chinese side will promote trade and investment liberalization in APEC as well as the process of China's WTO accession.
In addition, China has revised the annex to the Draft Protocol on subsidy and the notification on SPS in accordance with the Uruguay Round agreements and the requests from the WTO members. China has also made new efforts in the distribution services and professional services including legal and accountancy services.
Mr. Chairman,
During the past 12 years of negotiations on China's accession to the multilateral trading system, China has fully participated in the multilateral negotiations of the Uruguay Round and signed the Uruguay Round agreements in 1994. In the area of market access, China has committed to lowering the average tariff level for industrial products to 10% and eliminating all the non-tariff measures according to a clear timetable upon the elimination of the textiles quotas held by some WTO members. China has also committed to opening up more than 30 service sectors to various extents. It is fair to say that China has made substantial efforts towards WTO accession within the limits set by its current level of economic development.
Mr. Chairman,
Please allow me to speak frankly that the comments by a few members is unfair during this session of the Working Party meeting on the new package tariff offer of China. Thus it has made me deeply feel that all the members of the Working Party have to address a fundamental issue as by using what criteria to set up conditions for China's WTO accession. In terms of tariff level, there must be objective parameters to decide whether or not the level of tariff reduction by China already qualifies its WTO membership. In our view, these parameters are the outcome of the tariff negotiations after the Uruguay Round. I have in my hand a document analyzing the results of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations prepared by the then GATT Secretariat in November of 1994. This documents contains the statistics of post-Uruguay tariff levels for industrial products of 13 members of developed economy and 27 members of developing economy. According to the statistics, in terms of trade-weighted tariff average of industrial products, five out of the 13 members of developed economy are higher than China's current offer, and the tariff level of China's offer is lower than that of 23 out of the 27 members of developing economy. With regard to the so-called tariff peak, according to the document, developed economies on average have 15% of their total tariff higher than the peak tariff, and the developing economies have 75% of their total tariff higher than the peak tariff, whereas only 19.7% of the tariff lines in the current offer of China are higher than the tariff peak. These statistics show that the China's latest tariffs offer for industrial products is much lower than the average level reached by parties to the Uruguay Round tariff negotiations. Without referring to the average level of Uruguay Round results as the parameters, it would be absurd and irresponsible to say that China "still has a long way to go" to make a tariff offer to meet the conditions as a WTO member. They should be aware that the current negotiations are multilateral trading negotiations on China's WTO accession and are not for the purpose of satisfying the insatiable demands of certain members.
Mr. Chairman,
It is rather puzzling that when certain members raise excessive requests on China's WTO accession, they always say they are defending the integrity of multilateral trading system. It seems to them that if China does not meet conditions of one or two WTO members, China's accession will bring disaster to the whole multilateral trading system. This kind of statement is, to say the least, based on ignorance. For the past decades, China has participated in many multilateral organizations, both political and economic, including the United Nations, and has played a positive and constructive role in promoting peace and development in these multilateral organizations. During the recent financial crisis in Southeast Asia, China has participated within its own capacity in the bailout plan of international financial organizations. China has paid the price and made the sacrifice for the stability of Asia economy by not devaluing its own currency. In spite of the difficulties caused by the Southeast Asia's financial crisis, China , at this session, still decided to honor its commitment and tabled its latest tariff offer. Facts have shown that China is a responsive member, willing to undertake the obligation in the international community. Now it is time that major players of WTO demonstrate some degree of responsibility towards China's WTO accession. History will prove that China's accession to the WTO will contribute positively to the consolidation and development of the multilateral trading system.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Chairman for his patience and optimism during the negotiations, and to the Secretariat for its arrangement made for this meeting, and to the members of the Working Party for their efforts.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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