The New York Times

Tuesday, November 16, 1999

Many Steps to Go Before China Can Become a Full Member

By ELIZABETH OLSON

GENEVA -- While hailing the accord clearing the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization, Mike Moore, the trade regulator's chief, also cautioned that several steps remained before the country could become a full-fledged member. "China must still reach agreement with other member governments and we need to complete important technical talks before China can take her rightful place at the table of great trading nations," Moore said.

Bilateral agreements must be concluded with other W.T.O. member nations, most significantly the European Union. In addition to the United States, China has made agreements with 12 other countries, including Japan and Australia. However, negotiations remain open with an additional 28 countries, making it nearly impossible for China's membership to be cleared in the two weeks remaining before the Nov. 30 ministerial summit in Seattle.

Talks last month in Geneva between the EU and China produced no bilateral trade deal, but the 15-country trading bloc has a new round of talks set for Nov. 19 in Beijing to iron out differences.

Once the deals with other W.T.O. countries are wrapped up, the more technical portion of the membership application begins. The terms under which China has agreed to join the W.T.O., which is a list of tariffs and other treatment it will accord goods and services, is set out in a document called a protocol of accession. This is considered by a W.T.O. working party, which formalizes the details and reports on its work over the period that China has tried to become a W.T.O. member.

The legal framework for China's entry will be set out in a draft membership treaty, which is submitted to the W.T.O. decision-making body, the General Council, or to a ministerial conference, which is the ultimate arbiter for the W.T.O.. The application must be approved on a two-thirds vote.

China would be required to ratify the arrangement, and 30 days after that is done, it would be formally accepted into the 135-country trading club.

Moore consistently has backed backed China's 13-year effort to join the global group. "A door to history has been opened and now member governments must walk through it together," he said on hearing the news of the U.S-China agreement.

However, he noted that because of the substantial work involved, a meeting of the working party on China's accession would not be convened until after the Seattle summit. Moore said China would have an observer status at the ministerial gathering.

Under the nationalist government, China was among the 23 original signers of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the predecessor body to the W.T.O.. China's membership lapsed after the Communist revolution of 1949. Then in 1986 Beijing renewed its effort to join the global trading system.