DATE=2/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA E-U W-T-O (L)
NUMBER=2-259384
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  China and the European Union have opened two 
days of crucial talks in Beijing on China's bid to 
join the World Trade Organization.  VOA correspondent 
Roger Wilkison reports from the Chinese capital, the 
E-U is the most important of China's trading partners 
with which Beijing has still to strike a deal for 
accession into the W-T-O.


TEXT:  Neither E-U nor Chinese officials would comment 
Monday about the negotiations.  But both sides have 
raised hopes of a breakthrough.  Chinese Premier Zhu 
Rongji told W-T-O Director-General Mike Moore last 
week he hopes a deal will emerge from this week's 
talks.  And E-U Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has 
indicated he is ready to take the first flight to 
Beijing if there are signs a deal can be struck.

China has to reach agreements with all of the W-T-O's 
135 members before it can join the organization that 
sets the rules for world trade.  Besides the E-U, 
Beijing must still negotiate separate deals with such 
trading partners as Thailand, Malaysia and India.  The 
Indian commerce minister was also in Beijing Monday 
for W-T-O talks with his Chinese counterpart.

The final push for China's membership in the W-T-O 
comes after a market-opening deal that was struck 
between Beijing and Washington last November.  U-S 
officials are hoping for a quick China-E-U agreement 
so that the Clinton Administration can submit its 
accord with Beijing to Congress.  The longer a 
congressional vote is delayed, the greater the risk 
that the trade deal will fall prey to internal 
political pressures in a presidential election year.

The Europeans want a deal that is as good -- if not 
better -- than the one the Americans got.  Like 
Washington, Brussels is holding out for concessions in 
the fields of telecommunications and financial 
services.  An E-U diplomat says E-U trade negotiators 
are especially anxious to make sure that European 
insurance companies have greater access to the Chinese 
market.  Individual E-U member countries also have 
their wish lists.  The British, for instance, want 
lower Chinese tariffs on gin, and the French on 
cosmetic products.

            //REST OPTIONAL//

The Chinese government is anxious to join the W-T-O 
after nearly 14 years of negotiation.  It sees the 
market concessions it must make to get into the group 
as a spur to make Chinese companies more competitive.  
And it feels that, once China is perceived abroad as a 
nation that plays by global trading rules, billions of 
dollars in foreign investment will start flowing into 
the country.  That -- say Chinese economists -- will 
help create much-needed jobs as China's creaky state-
owned companies are overhauled and their employees are 
thrown out of work.  (signed) 


NEB/RW/GC/FC 



21-Feb-2000 05:43 AM EDT (21-Feb-2000 1043 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.