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To: djane who wrote (3851)	4/11/1999 7:59:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

China WTO Entry Likely This Year April 09, 1999: 10:22 a.m. ET WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A. (NB) -- By Martyn Williams, Newsbytes. The United States and China announced failure to conclude a final agreement on trade that would allow China to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) but have said the country is now on track to become a WTO member later this year. The announcement, jointly made by US President Bill Clinton and visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, brings to an end a series of last-minute trade discussions that had aimed at getting a WTO-entry deal signed while Zhu is in the United States. In its pursuit of WTO membership, China has already made some significant announcements regarding market opening measures in the high-tech sector. In the field of telecommunications, the government announced plans to break up China Telecom, the mammoth state-owned carrier that controls around 95 percent of the domestic telecom market. The government also recently gave the green-light to a new telecom venture in Shanghai that gives AT&T Corp. an equity stake in a local operator -- the first time any foreign company has been allowed to take an active stake in a local operator -- and announced a back-track on plans to kill roll out of cellular networks based on the US- developed CDMA (code division multiple access). In the field of information property, the government also signed an agreement to stamp out widespread software piracy within the Chinese government. China needs to make such concessions because its admission to the WTO is dependent on approval of current members, including the United States. The US government has said it will lift its objection on Chinese membership only when China agrees to open up key markets. US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky commented the talks have already made significant progress, "The market access commitments we are locking-in today include China's full participation in the three global agreements negotiated in the WTO since the Uruguay Round: the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) - where China has committed to eliminate tariffs across the vast range of covered technology products in a three-year timetable; the Basic Telecommunications Services Agreement and the Financial Services Agreement." "While much hard work remains to complete China's accession to the WTO, including addressing specific areas which we believe are critical to U.S. interests, these market access terms reflect the Administration's commitment to a comprehensive, far-reaching commercially-meaningful agreement." "We will now focus on resolving remaining issues as soon as possible in support of our common goal of admitting the People's Republic of China to the World Trade Organization on strong commercial terms by the year 2000," said Barshefsky. Commenting on the USTR's statement, the American Electronics Association (AEA) welcomed the agreements already reached. "As the leading U.S. export sector, the high-tech industry has enormous interest in having China take on the obligations of WTO membership," said William T. Archey, president and chief executive officer of the AEA. home \| digitaljam \| contents \| search \| stock quotes \| help Copyright © 1999 CNN America, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.