Taiwan says WTO hopes still alive

Taiwan is not hostage to China's WTO bid and may still be able to conclude all procedures necessary for entering the world trade body by the end of the year, Taiwan's lead WTO negotiator said yesterday.

Lin Yi-fu (林義??/CHINESE>), Vice Minister of Economic Affairs, made the comment yesterday amid media reports that US President Bill Clinton had telephoned Chinese President Jiang Zemin (|蕞A民) to express his hope that China will finalize its WTO access negotiations by the end of the month.

"Even if China manages to conclude bilateral talks with the US soon, it does not mean that China will be formally admitted to the WTO immediately," Lin said.

"Taiwan is actually far ahead of China in its negotiations for WTO entry," he said. "We have finalized all bilateral talks with major WTO members, including the US as well as the EU."

He said that Taiwan may still be able to join the world trade body by the end of the year.

Most analysts believe that Taiwan's accession to the WTO is being held captive to China's own accession. Not everyone agrees, though.

"There are some circles discussing whether, in view of China's delays, Taiwan's earlier admission can be used to influence China to come to the table ... with serious discussions on their own issues," said Nicholas Chen (3?憳T), a lawyer and chairman of the China Business Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taiwan.

Chen also pointed out that the EU and the US are not inclined to make special concessions for China to get in and they want China to meet the same rules applied to all other economies. Complex internal political battles within China also seem to be preventing it from reaching consensus domestically, thus holding it back from forging external agreements, he said.

The thorny issue of trade concessions remains a crucial problem to be tackled by both China and the US before a bilateral trade agreement can be reached, Chen Ruei-long (3窈蝬?/CHINESE>), director general of the Board of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said yesterday.

He said that despite the enthusiastic efforts of President Clinton in pushing forward a trade agreement with China, the key issue is whether either side is willing to make concessions.

According to Chen, among these issues is a five-year extension of textile import quotas past the current expiry date of 2005. Agreements on agriculture and dumping prices have also yet to be reached.

Whether US trade negotiators will bow to pressure from Con-gress is also a sticking point.

As for Taiwan's entry, Chen said that with a new round of trade negotiations beginning next year, further opportunities will exist for Taiwan to have its accession case reviewed, if it fails to gain entry by the end of the year.