All it took was the press of the "reception" button at China's permanent mission to the WTO by Geneva Lake to gain access to the site on Route de Lausanne 228 -- even without a security check.
At least this was how reporters for the Liberty Times and Taipei Times managed to gain access to the site on May 16. They were the first among the Taiwanese press corps to visit Beijing's brand new WTO mission.
"An architect from Beijing joined a Swiss architect to complete the project," revealed a Chinese staffer from the mission, who stood idly in front of the new two-story building.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
"The stone-laying foundation ceremony took place in February 1999 and construction was completed by August 2000," he said in front of the site, with a view of the snow-capped Mont Blanc, the highest and most massive peak in the Alps, in the background.
Despite the modern outfit of Beijing's mission to the WTO and Chinese officials' overwhelming boastfulness of their efficiency in securing the home for their WTO office, the loose security check at the site took some Geneva-based Taiwanese diplomats by surprise.
"How did you manage to enter the site of the Chinese mission? All we have been able to do so far is to observe from outside the wall," a Taiwanese diplomat said.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Political Constraints
It's not just walls of the Chinese mission that have distanced Taiwanese diplomats from their Chinese counterparts.
Sensitive cross-strait political issues have also cast a shadow on prospects for formal interactions between diplomats from Beijing and Taipei in Geneva -- even under the umbrella of the WTO.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
For example, when China in January issued an invitation to Geneva-based foreign delegations with regard to the formal opening of its permanent mission to the WTO, former director of Taipei's representative office to the WTO, Lin Sheng-chung (
"We were quite undecided when the invitation came," recalled Lin, currently serving as a senior advisor at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
"But considering that we and our Chinese counterparts did have quite a bit of informal interaction in Geneva, we decided to take part in the ceremony," said Lin, a veteran trade negotiator who was posted in Geneva for six years prior to his return to Taipei in March.
"At the ceremony [on Jan. 29], I just shook hands with the Chinese ambassador to the WTO Sun Zhenyu (
The unique political entanglements between Taipei and Beijing also complicated China's actions in late March when Beijing announced it would begin an anti-dumping investigation into cold-rolled steel imports from Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, Kazakstan and Taiwan.
Beijing failed to formally inform Taiwan in writing of the investigation, while the other targeted countries received notice.
"This violated existing WTO rules," Yen Ching-chang (
Article 6 of the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement states that, "To ensure the transparency of proceedings, authorities are required to disclose the information on which determinations are to be based to interested parties and provide them with adequate opportunity to comment."
The agreement also "establishes the rights of parties to participate in the investigation, including the right to meet with parties with adverse interests."
Although Yen has said repeatedly he expects to meet with his Chinese counterpart Sun in what he termed a "natural setting" under the multilateral umbrella of the WTO, talks between Yen and Sun in Geneva seem remote, officials conceded.
Aside from prospects for formal cross-strait interactions under the WTO, some experienced Taiwanese trade negotiators said what's important now is getting settled in Taipei's WTO mission as well as preparing for the new Doha round of trade talks.
Although some Geneva-based Taiwanese diplomats, such as Yen, were envious of the site of China's mission to the WTO, others said their new home near the international airport, slated to begin formal operations in the middle of this month, wasn't bad at all.
At least as far as security is concerned, the home to Taipei's mission to the WTO, located on the sixth floor in a so-called "smart" building and a neighbor to the European headquarters of the renowned Gillette Company, will have tighter security control.
The security check on the ground floor of the modern building will ensure that visitors can only reach the floor of their hosts, a Taiwanese diplomat explained.
The "smart" building, with part of the design work carried out by one of the instrumental architects that masterminded Chek Lap Kok Hong Kong International Airport, also has a lighting system that automatically switches off when the building is empty.
Despite his new office overlooking the snow-capped Mont Blanc as well as the Lake Geneva Foundation known around the world as the symbol of Geneva, Yen said he's indeed envious of South Korea's mission and its well-equipped interpretation facilities.
But the veteran trade negotiator Lin had a different view.
"What's more important is the function of the office, and whether we can work efficiently as a team," Lin said.
"We can even borrow each others' office if necessary, and such a practice is not unusual among various country missions to the WTO," added Lin.
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