"..More interesting news from China.."
CANBERRA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin, signalling a turning point in shattered ties with the United States, said on Wednesday he would discuss China's bid to join the WTO at a summit with President Bill Clinton next week. But he insisted the ball was in the U.S. court over its membership of the World Trade Organisation.
China broke off WTO talks with Washington in fury at the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May, which sent ties plunging to their lowest level since diplomatic contacts were established in 1971.
Jiang indicated the political atmosphere had cleared sufficiently to allow agreement, calling Clinton "my old friend" at a news conference after a meeting Australian Prime Minister John Howard. He said he was reluctant to talk about the bombing.
However, Jiang appeared to rule out any agreement at the summit itself, saying that "as for the specifics, I think that will be for our officials to discuss."
Jiang and Clinton are scheduled to meet on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Auckland.
Japanese officials in Auckland for the APEC gathering quoted China's trade minister, Shi Guangsheng, as saying it was unlikely there would be concrete discussions on China's WTO entry in talks later this week between U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and her counterpart Long Yongtu.
"He also said that for the Jiang-Clinton meeting he sees the leaders' discussion placing more emphasis on bilateral issues rather than the WTO," a Japanese official quoted Shi as saying after a meeting with Japanese trade minister Kaoru Yosano.
Jiang put the blame on China's failure to wrap up a WTO agreement on the U.S. Congress, which he said had blocked a deal during his visit to the United States in 1997 and during a return visit by Clinton to China last year.
"And this year I think the American side missed another good opportunity and that's when Premier Zhu Rongji visited the United States. At that time the agreement could have been reached but again due to reasons from Congress, that's from the American side, the agreement has not been reached," he said.
Clinton sent Zhu home from Washington empty-handed in April after China offered trade concessions that went well beyond all previous offers.
"While Prime Minister Howard is my old friend, China and Australia have already concluded bilateral negotiations on China's accession to the WTO," Jiang said.
"President Clinton is also my old friend," he said. But he added that since the U.S. Congress was so powerful "the prospect of the WTO question will be to a large extent dependent on the American side."
U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley said on Wednesday China must make additional market-opening concessions to win U.S. support to join the world trade body.
Daley said China must go beyond the terms it proposed in April if Beijing hoped to conclude a deal with Clinton and get it through the U.S. Congress this year.
If China refused, "it would be very difficult to expect that that deal would survive," Daley told Reuters on the sidelines of the APEC forum in New Zealand.
Jiang pointed out on Wednesday it was the United States rather than China that had led the push to resume talks.
On Monday, U.S. and Chinese negotiators began meetings in Beijing to review progress in marathon negotiations spanning 13 years.
U.S. officials have indicated Washington now would be prepared to accept a market-opening offer similar to the one put forward by Zhu in April, but it is far from clear whether Beijing is ready to put the concessions back on the table.
Foreign competition through WTO membership is key to Zhu's plans to reform China's ailing state-owned industry. But both Zhu and Jiang have to take into account powerful forces in government ministries who argue that foreign competition will lead to factory closures and job losses.
China's WTO entry bid faces a tight deadline. A new round of global trade talks begins in Seattle in November, and will raise the bar to entry even higher.
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Hopefully, Clintwit won't get confused, forget to inhale, and offer Jiang a cigar..!! |
