China’s Chance of WTO Entry Dims Further

The latest round of negotiations over China’s entry into the World Trade Organization has ended with Beijing remaining “essentially non-responsive” in many areas of concern to the United States, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Monday.

In unusually blunt terms, Barshefsky also accused Chinese negotiators of trying to create a false impression that their talks with U.S. trade officials are going well, in the hopes of pressuring smaller WTO member nations to cut their own deals with Beijing.

The trade representative’s comments, made in a telephone interview, underscored the increasingly dim outlook for the effort to bring China into the global trade body any time soon. The Geneva-based WTO, with 131 members, serves as a referee of international trade disputes.

Getting Beijing into the WTO is widely viewed as an essential step in China’s integration with the global economy and its acceptance of international legal norms, because the move would entail a comprehensive pact requiring an opening of Chinese markets and adherence to WTO trade rules. The Clinton administration had once hoped to reach an agreement in principle for China’s admission when President Jiang Zemin visits Washington this fall.

But the prospects for an autumn accord have all but disappeared in recent months. That is attributable, in part, to the anti-Chinese atmosphere in the United States stemming from the controversy over Democratic fund-raising practices, trade experts say. The U.S. political situation has made it almost impossible for President Clinton to offer major concessions to Beijing for fear that his actions will be portrayed as a payoff for campaign contributions.

Whether because of these developments in the United States or because of internal Chinese political considerations--or both--China has shown reluctance to take steps necessary to gain WTO membership, such as lowering trade barriers, scrapping government subsidies of Chinese production and dismantling state control over large enterprises.

Beijing wants to join the WTO because of its desire to become a full-fledged member of the international community and because WTO membership confers protection from certain types of unilateral trade sanctions that Washington and other nations can impose on Chinese products. But the Chinese authorities are loath to liberalize their economy too quickly lest they cause massive dislocations, unemployment and social disorder.

In the latest round of negotiations, which began three weeks ago and ended Friday in Beijing and Geneva, the Chinese did offer some new concessions, U.S. officials said.

Beijing said it would eliminate import quotas for automobiles in eight years, instead of 15 as initially offered, and it pledged to shorten the phaseout of quotas for other goods as well. The Chinese also promised to refrain from subsidizing agricultural exports.

“If you look at the last year, certainly we have made progress,” Barshefsky said. “But in many areas, China remains essentially non-responsive.”

For example, she said, the Chinese “have yet to make even a first-time offer” on opening their market for services, and they “have not come forward with detailed proposals” to remove barriers on foreign agricultural products.

The U.S. side responded with particular vehemence to a statement in Geneva by China’s chief negotiator, Long Yongtu, that Barshefsky would go to Beijing soon to discuss the WTO issue--a development that would signify a breakthrough in the talks and improved chances for an agreement.

One high-ranking Clinton administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied that Barshefsky had such plans and said the Chinese tactic amounted to a “Ponzi scheme,” designed to convince smaller nations that Washington and Beijing were close to a deal.

To gain entry into the WTO, China must strike bilateral agreements with each member country, and then offer all of the concessions it makes to all members.