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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KYA27 who wrote (11106)	11/14/1999 6:34:00 PM
From: Bindusagar Reddy	Respond to of 21876

US/China WTO talks outcome, if positive ( to be announced in few hours) will be huge for LU, as they will be one of the biggest beneficiaries in Wireless markets. U.S. and China Dig In Heels During Extended Trade Talks By IAN JOHNSON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BEIJING -- The U.S. and China's trade tango continued over the weekend, with negotiators pushing their high-stakes talks to a sixth day. Neither side seems willing to give up on a deal to get China into the World Trade Organization. But the sticking points are unclear, with Chinese negotiators sworn to secrecy and the U.S. team avoiding substantive comment. One U.S. official said areas of contention have moved beyond telecommunications and financial services to include a wide range of issues believed settled in April, when Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited Washington. The U.S. has threatened to walk out several times. Each time, China has sought a last-minute extension of the talks, which seemed headed for a breakthrough Saturday when U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, for the first time since April, met with Mr. Zhu in a session that lasted an hour and a half. Afterward, U.S. officials said they believed they had made real progress for the first time since they arrived here. During his April visit to Washington, Mr. Zhu almost nailed down an agreement to bring China into the WTO. The deal would have allowed China to join the rule-making body in exchange for opening major markets to foreign competition. But President Clinton walked away from that agreement, and since then, Chinese bureaucrats have been protesting the extent of the April concessions. A few hours after the Zhu meeting on Saturday, things were going poorly again. Ms. Barshefsky returned to China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation for more talks with her counterpart, Minister Shi Guangsheng. Negotiators for the two sides talked through Saturday night and into early Sunday, with the U.S. preparing to leave on a Sunday morning flight. At the last minute came another request for another meeting, and U.S. negotiators ended up meeting with Mr. Shi four more times through Sunday. Late Sunday night, the U.S. delegation, most of whom had been up for 48 hours straight, returned to their hotel and blocked phone calls from the press. The endless series of talks, recesses, consultations and further talks signaled progress was being made. But both sides are almost out of room to compromise. "It shows that both sides are too weak politically to put Zhu's April offer back on the table," says Rick Baum, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego. U.S. officials now rue rejecting Mr. Zhu's April offer, and analysts say the U.S. probably would accept it if China offered it again. The U.S. delegation was scheduled to leave Monday morning, but only time will tell whether they did or not. While Ms. Barshefsky had indicated from the start that she wouldn't stay beyond the weekend, both the U.S. and China have put a lot on the line to reach an agreement. Still, Ms. Barshefsky is needed back in Washington to prepare for a WTO meeting in Seattle that starts Nov. 30. China wants to join the WTO before those talks begin. But if China doesn't get in soon, Ms. Barshefsky and her counterparts in WTO member countries say they will be too busy negotiating among themselves to further liberalize the world trading system to consider China's application for another two years. Write to Ian Johnson at ian.johnson@wsj.com BR