china, wto and its impact on india - icrier

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of the US to <strong>its</strong> strategic competitor. Besides, China does not figure at all in President Bush's legislative agenda for 2001 which includes a global round of negotiations, a regional round of negotiations for the free trade agreement for the Americas by January 2005 <strong>and</strong> a bilateral route for negotiations. In the bilateral route, three countries- Jordan, Singapore <strong>and</strong> Chile -have been identified for further bilateral negotiations towards a free trade agreement in addition to a bilateral preferential trade agreement with Vietnam <strong>and</strong> Laos. This is unlike during the Clinton administration when China's entry into the WTO was seen to be a major achievement for the US. There is also a technical problem. The US Congress extended PNTR to China in 1999 <strong>and</strong> then subsequently in May 2000 on the condition that the US President would certify to the Congress that the WTO multilateral agreement is as beneficial to the Americans as the bilateral agreement that China <strong>and</strong> America had signed in 1999. The last date for fulfilling this condition is June 3, 2001 1 . The multilateral agreement however, has not been concluded yet. If this certification does not take place by June 3, 1 There was a provision in last year’s (2000) legislation approving PNTR that China join the World Trade Organization by June 2001. Because China failed to meet that deadline, US lawmakers had been preparing for another PNTR vote. But on June 11, 2001, US <strong>and</strong> Chinese trade negotiators reached an agreement on key outst<strong>and</strong>ing bilateral issues. “It now appears that Congress need only one last time - for the span of just a few months – before China becomes a full member of the WTO.” China has now completed all of <strong>its</strong> bilateral talks on WTO entry except for Mexico <strong>and</strong> Central America. Source: Asia Times Online, 12 July, 2001 in WTO Press review dated 12 July 2001. 9
China loses <strong>its</strong> PNTR status with the US. It reverts to a conditional MFN regime which then means Dalai Lama, prison labour, 'three gorges project' etc. All the non-trade issues come into the fore during negotiations for the MFN renewal. As of now it appears that the June 3 deadline is unlikely to be met which means that the negotiations on the multilateral agreement would slip. In that event, China's entry into the WTO will certainly not take place in November 2001. It would slip, if not till the next Ministerial in 2003, then certainly until sometime towards the latter part of next year. As of now it does look that Chinese entry into the WTO is not on the cards in November 2001. Opposition to WTO in China I went to China at the invitation of the National People's Congress which is their equivalent of the Indian Lok Sabha. My interlocutors were Members of provincial Congresses <strong>and</strong> the National People's Congress. I saw that there is opposition to the WTO membership in China as well. Zhu Rongji is a great moderniser. He is the man spearheading Chinese membership of the WTO. He gives up his office of Premier in May 2002. He wants to go down in history as the man who got China into the mainstream of international trade <strong>and</strong> international economics, exemplified by the WTO. Jiang Zemin, unlike Zhu Rongji, is much more lukewarm. He has never come out openly in favour of China joining the WTO. Li Peng is a hardliner. He is the third most important man in the Chinese hierarchy. He is the Chinese counterpart of the Lok Sabha Speaker. He was the prime mover in the Tiananmen Square incident. 10
Page 1 and 2: CHINA, WTO AND ITS IMPACT ON INDIA
Page 3 and 4: Foreword In the aftermath of the ph
Page 5 and 6: The Chinese Economy In 2000, China
Page 7 and 8: particularly in areas of domestic t
Page 9 and 10: It is worth nothing that at present
Page 11: point access to all these regulatio
Page 15 and 16: performance, its e
Page 17 and 18: discussion. Once the discussion is
Page 19 and 20: having greater experience in the en
Page 21 and 22: lawyers. But are they prepared for
Page 23 and 24: Summary of Discussion The presentat
Page 25 and 26: Dr. Bhalla, Mr. Ramesh clarified hi
Page 27 and 28: ectified only through exchange rate

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