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US and Japan stand up for Taiwan at WTO meet

The US and Japanese representatives to the WTO spoke out on Friday in support of Taiwan's bid to join the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) , according to a Taiwanese representative to the WTO.

Kao Shuo-tai (高碩泰), Taiwan's deputy representative to the WTO, said that the US representative, whose name Kao did not mention, said at a WTO committee on the GPA that his government supports Taiwan's membership in the GPA.

The GPA ensures that foreign companies enjoy the same rights as domestic companies in bidding on procurement contracts handed out by governments in GPA member states.

The US representative said that US many companies would look forward to the opportunity to supply the Taiwanese government with goods and services if Taiwan were made a member of the GPA.

The Japanese representative, whose name Kao also did not mention, expressed Tokyo's hope that Taiwan would be able to sign the agreement as soon as possible and noted that there are only a few questions remaining to be settled.

The US and Japanese representatives made their comments after Kao complained to the committee that Taiwan's attempts to join the GPA have been hindered by "non-economic factors" despite Taiwan's finishing its bilateral negotiations with all GPA members within one year.

Without naming China, Kao said that everyone on the committee knows that Beijing's boycott of Taiwan is the problem.

Taiwan trade officials in Geneva said Taiwan is trying to fulfill a promise it made before entering the WTO by signing the GPA.

The officials said that the nation had conceded as much as it could to conclude all bilateral negotiations before December 2002.

However, Taiwan has still been unable to sign the agreement because of Chinese resistance.

The officials said that Taiwan has done its best and should not be blamed for not being included in the agreement.
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