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China says not dragging feet on WTO promises
BEIJING (September 14 2002) : China denied on Friday it was dragging its feet in opening several key industries as part of its World Trade Organisation entry and insisted it was serious about meeting its pledges.
"We should say that we have been serious and pro-active in fulfilling every aspect of our commitments," said Foreign Trade Ministry spokeswoman, Gao Yan.
"We feel that we have tried our best in fulfilling the commitments," Gao said. "But we are doing things in a step-by-step and gradual way."
Gao was responding to a report by US business leaders on Thursday, which said Beijing had failed to meet many early WTO obligations.
The report stopped short of recommending formal action against China.
The report by the US Chamber of Commerce praised China for moving quickly to allow more foreign participation in its economy, but cited problems in areas like farm goods, information technology, intellectual property rights and financial services.
For example, the report said China had yet to reduce subsidies to its farm sector.
Meanwhile, imports of wheat, corn and soyabean oil had fallen short of expectations and new rules on genetically modified crops threatened US soyabean shipments.
Asked about the farm complaints, Gao said: "They are just imagining those, we have not done anything like that."
But several foreign firms said China, which fears rapid reform could threaten social stability, appeared to be trying to wriggle free of some commitments, like importing more farm products under lower tariff rates.
"They've done a lot of things to undermine the provisions and to obscure whether or not they have fulfilled that.
But in fact, we think that they haven't," said Phillip Laney, director of the American Soyabean Association in Beijing.
FRUSTRATION: Telecommunications firms have also been frustrated with what they say are shifting rules that make investing hard despite promises to open up the sensitive sector.
Various regulatory bodies pass the buck when confronted, they say.
"It's hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem is, which is possibly part of the strategy," said Duncan Clark, managing director of BDA China Ltd, a telecoms consultancy in Beijing.
"We can't classify China as a rogue state. They are more like a vague state," Clark said.
Officials say WTO will help standardise foreign investment requirements, providing a framework to speed up approval.
Shanghai, for one, was allowing city departments to approve foreign projects valued at less than $10 million without seeking the blessing of the municipal foreign trade bureau, a local trade official said.
"If foreign companies meet the requirements, they will get approval.
The whole process becomes more straightforward."
Investors are still flocking to China, as the most recent foreign investment figures illustrate.
Direct foreign investment in the first eight months of the year jumped more than 25 percent from a year earlier, hitting $34.4 billion.
Contracted investment, an indicator of future trends, rocketed more than 42 percent to $62.3 billion.
"The basic understanding is that they are moving in the right direction, but in many areas they are falling short," said one Beijing-based diplomat who follows WTO issues closely.
"But businesses are willing to forgive that, as long as they make overall progress".
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com;
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