Instead, even small issues have proved extraordinarily difficult to resolve. On agriculture, for example, Beijing has insisted that China be designated a developing economy and thus permitted to continue support payments to its farming sector. Peasants account for about 900 million of China's 1.3 billion population. Terms of bilateral agreements signed with the United States and the European Union require China to lower tariffs and raise import quotas on staples such as wheat, corn and soy beans. China's leaders consider maintaining a self-sufficient grain sector to be a matter of national security.
Western economists decry the state's grain-buying program as inefficient.
Chinese farmers complain the subsidies are too small to provide anything more than a subsistence income. Many farmers have already begun shifting to more profitable crops and could benefit from expanded trade opportunities under the WTO agreement. News Jobs AP Shopping Archives Entertain.