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US and China reach consensus on WTO

The US and China yesterday said they had reached consensus on issues holding up Beijing's entry to the WTO and would work towards bringing China into the global trade body by year-end.

The announcement followed talks between China's Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng (石廣生) and US trade representative Robert Zoellick on the sidelines of an APEC trade ministers meeting in Shanghai this week.

"We are pleased to report that the US and China have reached consensus on major issues that we discussed," the US embassy in Beijing said in a statement.

"China and the US agree that we should now work together in Geneva to complete China's WTO accession," it said.

The statement did not detail the issues discussed, but talks on China's entry have stalled over the amount of subsidies Beijing can pay its farmers.

The two countries also discussed trading rights, distribution and insurance market access during bilateral talks on Tuesday, Zoellick told a news conference earlier this week.

The US had wanted China to pay farm subsidies of just 5 percent as a developed country. China had insisted it could pay subsidies of 10 percent as a developing country.

The WTO has already announced its members and China will hold high-level talks in Geneva from June 28 to July 4. The last round of multilateral talks was held in January.

"This understanding is a win-win result for China and the US," Zoellick said in the statement. "It should help us and the other nations of the WTO to try to complete China's accession this year."

In a similarly worded statement released through the official Xinhua news agency, China's trade minister Shi said the two sides had reached "full consensus" on remaining issues concerning its entry.

"This has served to create important conditions for the 16th session of the China working group of the WTO to be held in Geneva at the end of this month, and for ending the substantive talks for China's accession to the WTO at an early date," Shi said.

But analysts warn it will still be a race for China to enter the WTO before the end of the year.

Even though China and the US appear to have worked out their differences, the WTO must draft a complicated accession protocol that could take three to six months -- leaving a narrow window of opportunity for entry this year.
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