Montreal, December 2. According to an article appeared in today's Montreal Gazette. "China believes it is now ready to be admitted to the organization that oversees world commerce, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. This is a fantasy. China has made progress, but it has much more to do before it complies with GATT's requirement that members be 'market economies'. Business people in China face a web of conflicting and aggravating rules. Different port cities impose different import regulations. Laws of commerce frequently differ among provinces, sometimes even among municipalities. One of the biggest problems remains a lack of trading rights. A business wishing to buy a foreign-made machine cannot merely order it. It must submit its request to a government trading company, which may deny the request on the grounds that the country already has 'enough' of that product. In a more recent example of China's fickleness, McDonald's Corp. has been told by the government that the 20-year lease it thought it
had on its Beijing restaurant site is now effectively worthless. The real stumbling blocks are much more fundamental. China remains hostile to the idea of private property. It lacks an independent court system capable of overturning arbitrary decisions. It does not yet operate by the rule of law. China seeks GATT admission before Dec 31, because that would make it a founding member of GATT;s proposed successor, the World Trade Organization. Admitting China under current conditions, however, would make a mockery of the rules other countries are required to live by". (EuroTibet News N·6)