China WTO talks end in disagreement WIRE:02/24/2000 12:23:00 ET Link BEIJING (Reuters) - China and the European Union on Thursday offered sharply different versions of the outcome of their WTO trade talks, with China saying agreement was close but the EU insisting not enough progress was made. The official Xinhua news agency quoted China's top WTO negotiator Long Yongtu as saying the two sides were "very close" to a deal after four days of negotiation. State television reported a "basic understanding" had been reached. Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng had invited his EU counterpart Pascal Lamy to visit China to conclude talks to bring China into the 135-member World Trade Organization, Xinhua said. However, the EU said that Lamy would not be traveling to Beijing based on the current state of talks and its team would fly home Friday morning. It said the talks ended without an agreement and no date was set for them to resume. "We don't have any knowledge of a basic understanding," European Commission spokesman Anthony Gooch said in Brussels. Brinkmanship and political theater are characteristic tactics of Chinese negotiators, who make a habit of catching counterparts off-guard and thrashing last minute deals. EU MOST IMPORTANT WTO MEMBER LEFT China must reach agreements with all WTO members who request talks before it can join the giant trade body. The EU is the most important of 13 WTO members yet to sign a trade deal with the Asian giant. Beijing signed agreements with the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada last year, and struck an accord with India this week. European sources close to the talks said telecommunications were a major sticking point. They said the talks had not even reached the issue of insurance, a key EU concern. A European diplomat in Beijing who declined to be identified said EU negotiators spent time discussing issues they thought had been settled during talks in Brussels in January. "Issues which seemed to have been clarified in Brussels were put in doubt again," the diplomat said. But Xinhua's account of the negotiations painted a rosy picture. "MOFTEC Minister Shi Guangsheng welcomes Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy of the European Commission to visit China, and to finally conclude the China-EU negotiations on China's entry into the WTO," Xinhua quoted Long as saying. Gooch had insisted the talks were not dead. "We've gone as far as we can in this round," he told a news conference. "We remain committed to a deal with China at the earliest available opportunity." TALKS NOT INFLUENCED BY TAIWAN CONTROVERSY Gooch said the talks were not influenced by the controversy over China's latest threat, made in a cabinet paper Monday, to invade Taiwan if the island drags its heels on reunification. "The WTO talks are being taken forward on the basis of the criteria of accession to the WTO," he said. Beijing' new threat put at risk the trade deal reached in November with the United States. Democratic Taiwan enjoys huge support in Congress, which will soon be asked to approve Washington's WTO deal with Beijing. In the United States, influential Republican lawmakers said the threat could imperil passage of a bill to grant China so-called permanent normal trade relations (NTR), a key step in the WTO accession process. U.S. administration officials had urged China and the EU to wrap up their talks as soon as possible, fearing any further delay in a vote on NTR could be fatal amid swelling opposition to China's WTO membership by labor unions and growing anti-China sentiment in a U.S. presidential election year. Top EU negotiator Hans-Friedrich Beseler earlier held the door open for a last minute deal. Asked if he would return to the table if summoned, he said: "We would certainly consider it. It depends on the conditions, it depends on the situation." Beseler declined to say why this round of talks had failed. "The gap has narrowed," an EU statement quoted him as saying. "But we are not there yet." An EU source said China refused to discuss an EU demand to raise foreign ownership in telecommunications networks beyond the 49 percent agreed upon with the United States last November. Copyright )2000 ABC News Internet Ventures

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 24, 2000

Answers

The government is trying to pass laws it knows the majority of people don't want? What happened to "the will of the people"?

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 24, 2000.

The EU isn't cooperating with China on WTO approval of China's permanent entry into the club?

Hmmmmm, I wonder how long before some Chinese general just happens to "mention" that there's a new Chinese missile which can reach all the way to Europe?

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 24, 2000.

Will of the people? Which people? The only thing that seems to matter to the current administration is the will of the people in the White House!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 24, 2000.