WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/117
12December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5293)
Original: English MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
PEOPLE 'SREPUBLIC OFCHINA
Statement byMr.Long Yongtu
Assistant Minister ofForeign Trade andEconomic Cooperation
Itisagreat pleasure formetoleadtheChinese delegation toattend theFirst Ministerial
Conference oftheWTO inthisbeautiful State ofSingapore. Letmeexpress myheartfelt gratitude
toourhostfortheirwarm hospitality andtheexcellent preparation which hasensured thesuccess of
theConference. Thesubjects discussed atthisConference willhaveamajor bearing ontheorientation
ofthemultilateral trading system inthecoming years andwillhave animportant impact onthe
development ofinternational tradeandworld economy. TheChinese Government attaches importance
tothisConference andwishes itevery success.
Iwould liketotakethisopportunity toexpress ourviews ontheinternational economic and
trade situation since theestablishment oftheWTO.
Since theconclusion oftheUruguay Round Multilateral Trade Negotiations inApril 1994,
theinternational tradeandeconomic pattern hasbeenundergoing major restructuring withaccelerating
process ofglobalization andintegration. During thisprocess, thereplacement ofGATT bytheWTO
andtheincreasing regional economic cooperation aretwoimportant events having astrong bearing
ontheworld economy. Thesimultaneous emergence ofastrengthened andencompassing global trading
system andrapidly developing regional economic groupings attract worldwide attention.
Wearepleased tonotethatsince itsestablishment, theWTO hasmade headway inimproving
andimplementing Uruguay Round Agreements, inestablishing asound institutional set-up ofthe
multilateraltradingsystem,andinimprovingtheeffectivenessofthetradedisputesettlementmechanism.
TheWTO hasgradually laidasolidfoundation forfurther strengthening themultilateral trading system
andforformulatingandimprovinginternationaltradedisciplinesinthefuture.TheChineseGovernment,
asalways, supports themultilateral trading system asembodied intheWTO, endorses itsrolein
promoting healthy trade andeconomic relations among countries, andbelieves thattheWTO should
make duecontributions totheestablishment ofafairandrational international economic order.
However, theWTO isfacing great challenges. These challenges havearisen mainly because
ofthemajor change ofitsmembership composition. When theGATT wasprovisionally applied almost
50years ago,there were onlyeight developing countries among theoriginal 23contracting parties,
accounting foronethirdofthetotalmembership. Along withthedevelopment oftheworld multilateral
trading system, there were 52developing countries which became theMembers oftheWTO when
theUruguay Round Agreements tookeffect asof1January 1995. Today, thenumber ofdeveloping
countries hasraised to96,taking upfourfifths ofthetotalmembership oftheWTO. Thisnotonly
reflects asimple change ofthecomposition oftheWTO membership, butalsodemonstrates thegreat
changes ofinternational economic structure. Webelieve, iftheWTO were toplayapositive role,
itmustadapt tosuchchanges andbeready tomeetthechallenges brought about bythisnewinternational
economic andtrade structure. Infact,inthepasttwoyears, theWTO hasencountered difficultiesWT/MIN(96)/ST/117
Page2
insuchareas astheimplementation oftheUruguay Round Agreements, balance ofthemultilateral
policy-makingprocess,expansionofnewareasoftradeliberalizationandcoordinationofthedevelopment
ofregional groupings andtheacceptance ofnewMembers. These difficulties reflect theextent of
seriousness ofthechallenges facing theWTO. Webelieve thatthefollowing areas havereflected such
challenges andaretherefore worth ourattention:
Firstly, theimplementation ofvarious Agreements oftheUruguay Round isnotbalanced.
Developed countries havemade greater efforts topushfortherapidimplementation ofthoseAgreements
which areofvitalinterest tothem, andinthemeantime, haveshown littleinterest inimplementing
various Agreements which areofgreat interest todeveloping countries, suchastheAgreement on
Textiles andClothing. Since theefforts inimplementing theAgreements differ greatly, itisofthe
danger todamage thedelicate balance ofrights andobligations ofMember countries intheUruguay
Round Agreements. Thevictims ofsuchimbalance willmost likely bedeveloping countries.
Secondly, there hasbeenlittlechange inthesituation where afewmajor players dominate
themultilateral decision-making process. They tendtodisregard thereality ofthedevelopment of
world economy andunduly exert pressures onothers toincorporate issues irrelevant totrade intothe
mandate ofthemultilateral trading system. Meanwhile, theyareproceeding fromtheirowninterests
andtaking aselective approach inexpanding newareasfortradeliberalization. Suchtradeliberalization
approach hasgonebeyond thelimitofpresent development stage ofmany developing countries and
haveadetrimental effect ontheeconomic development ofthese countries.
Thirdly, intheimplementation oftheUruguay Round Agreements andinpromoting tradeand
investment liberalization, reciprocal principle isunduly emphasized andmost-favoured-nation principle
hasoften beenneglected. Thesame paceoftrade liberalization hasbeenadvocated inspiteofthe
diversity ofeconomic development ofMember countries. Some major players continuously demand
tomake newrulescovering newground while neglecting theirrationality ofsome existing rules. The
rules oforigin isacaseinpoint. With theexpansion ofinternational investment, thedevelopment
ofinternational trade andtheincrease ofre-exportation, therules oforigin istotally outdated. The
irrational trade statistical reporting method hasledtomany unnecessary disputes ineconomic trade
relations. TheWTO should review andrevise these rulesandshould notindulge onlyinmaking new
rules.
Fourthly, theaccession oftheapplicants totheWTO hasbeenslowed down duetopolitical
considerations andtheexcessive demand forimmediate commercial benefits. Thescope ofsome
accession negotiations hasgonebeyond theprovisions oftheWTO Agreements andhassometimes
become asymposium toundertake inclusive review ofeconomic andtrade regime oftheapplicants.
Some Members havetaken advantage oftheaccession negotiation asameans toresolve bilateral trade
andeconomic disputes notrelevant totheWTO rules. Asaresult, some accession negotiations have
encountered undue delay, which hasslowed down theprocess ofeconomic globalization anduniversality
ofthemultilateral trading system.
There isnodoubt thatshould theWTO turnaclosed eyetotheabove abnormal phenomenon
andfailtotakeeffective measures tocurbandcorrect them, theenthusiasm ofdeveloping countries
inparticipating inthemultilateral trading system willbedampened andtheimplementation ofthe
Uruguay Round Agreements willbedelayed, andasaresult theoperation andauthority oftheWTO
willbejeopardized. When weemphasize thattheWTO should seriously copewiththechanges of
thecomposition ofitsmembership andpaymore attention totheinterests ofdeveloping countries in
themultilateral trading system, weareaiming at,inthefinalanalysis, strengthening themultilateral
trading system. With theincreasing interdependence between countries today, thenegligence ofthe
interests ofdeveloping countries mayendupbydamaging theinterests ofdeveloped countries.
Over-emphasis ontrade liberalization, indisregard ofthedevelopment ofdeveloping countries mayWT/MIN(96)/ST/117
Page3
leadtoasituation where onefinds openbutnon-existing markets. Ifthisisthecase, itwould bethe
biggest failure oftrade liberalization.
China, likethemajority oftheWTO Members, isoftheviewthattheWTO should notmake
hasteinexpandingthecoverageoftradeliberalization,thepressingtaskoftheWTOistoensureeffective
implementation oftheUruguay Round Agreements. Effective implementation andaccomplishment
ofthebuilt-in agenda andfollow-up negotiations willbetheWTO 'scentral taskforalongtimeto
come. AsaChinese saying goes, "More haste, lessspeed".
Webelieve theexpansion ofthescope oftheWTO activities andthecoverage oftrade
liberalization should bebased onconsensus. Undue expansion isinappropriate. Itwillnotonlydivert
theWTOfromfocusingitsattentiontodealwithmajorsubstantialissues,andthusaffecttheeffectiveness
ofthenewly established WTO, butalsooverburden theMember countries, especially thedeveloping
countries. Allthesubject matters, including theInvestment Agreement, should befullydiscussed among
allparties. Wedonotwanttoseesomething worked outbehind closed doors byasmall group of
people, andthenimpose decision asfaitaccompli ontheother Members. Atthesametime, weshould
define theroleoftheWTO inanobjective andrealistic wayandthere should beaproper division
oflabour between theWTO andother international organizations. Theycancomplement andreinforce
eachother. WTO should not,andcannot substitute therolesplayed byotherinternational organizations.
TheSingapore Ministerial Conference hasprovided anopportunity forallofustomake an
assessment oftheimplementation oftheUruguay Round Agreements, express views ontheroles of
theWTO aswellasitsfuture trend ofdevelopment. Itwould bepremature todefine arigidframework
forfuture multilateral trade negotiations.
TheSingapore Conference should accelerate theadmission ofnewmembers. Tenyears have
passed since China applied fortheresumption ofitscontracting party status toGATT andnegotiating
forjoining WTO. Theprocess hasdrawn attention fromallquarters. Asyouareallaware thatsince
1978, China hastaken economic reform andopening uptotheoutside world asitsbasic policy. This
policy, webelieve, willpromote theestablishment ofasocialist market economy inChina toparticipate
intherules-based multilateral trading system, anditwillbeaboost forChina 'sopening uptotheoutside
world tojointheWTO which hasmore than100Members. Therefore, theChinese Government has
overcome many difficulties andobstacles, inthepastyears, adhering firmly toitsgoaleversince the
negotiation started. TheChinese Government hasconsistently heldapositive attitude towards joining
theWTO notbecause webelieve themembership willbring about miracles tooureconomy andforeign
trade. Thisattitude shows theconsistency andperseverance oftheChinese Government inpursuing
thepolicies ofreform andopenness totheoutside world. Italsoreflects China 'sconviction in
safeguarding theintegrity ofthemultilateral tradeframework anditsefforts toavoid tradewarswhich
areinnobody 'sinterests.
Recently, moreandmorecountries realized thatChina 'sparticipation inthemultilateral trading
system isnotonlyinChina 'sowninterest, butalsotothebenefit oftheWTO anditsMembers as
awhole. Theyrealized thatasanincreasingly growing economy, China 'sparticipation ininternational
economic affairs willcontribute totherational allocation ofglobal resources, andprovide apredictable
hugemarket forinternational trade andinvestment.
China participated inthewhole process oftheUruguay Round Negotiations andsigned the
Final ActoftheUruguay Round Agreements in1994. Thisrepresents thefirmcommitment ofthe
Chinese Government toabide byinternational economic andtraderules. Inrespect ofmarket access,
theChineseGovernmenthastakenaseriesofsubstantialmeasurestoreducetariffsandnon-tariffbarriers
andexpand theopening ofmarkets including tradeinservices, consistent withitsownneeds ofreform
andopening policy. Weareready tocarry onthenegotiations ontheprotocol andmarket access withWT/MIN(96)/ST/117
Page4
allMembers onthebasis oftheUruguay Round Agreements andinconsistence withChina 'sown
economic development levelandtheprinciple ofachieving balance between rights andobligations.
Recently, some major players oftheWTO expressed theirreadiness toaccelerate theprocess ofChina 's
accession intotheWTO. Wewelcome thisinitiative andhopethepositive attitude willbetranslated
intoactions inresolving specific issues inthenegotiation. Onourpart, weshall takeaflexible,
pragmatic andforward-looking attitude andinthehopethatother Members willdolikewise. Weare
willing towork together toaccelerate theprocess ofnegotiations andbring ittoasuccessful conclusion
assoonaspossible.
TheFirstMinisterial Conference oftheWTO hasprovided anopportunity tofurther strengthen
themultilateral trading system. Atthesametime, weshould notlosesightoftheformidable challenges.
Asabigdevelopingcountry,Chinawillmakeunremittingeffortswithaviewtoestablishinganequitable,
justandrational international economic order andmeeting thechallenges together withallofyou,and
bring astable andprosperous world intothe21stcentury.