DATE=11/16/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CHINA / W-T-O (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-256214 BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Authorities in China are trying hard to sell the Chinese public on the idea that membership in the World Trade Organization is a good thing. V-O-A's Stephanie Ho reports this comes one day after U-S and Chinese negotiators concluded an historic agreement that paves the way for China's entry into the global trade body. TEXT: When Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng signed a landmark agreement with U-S Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky Monday, he emphasized its positive effect on bilateral relations. On Tuesday, though, attention turned to how the W-T-O will play to the domestic audience. W-T-O membership is a goal Beijing sought for 13 years to attain. Now that China is close to reaching that goal, the government wants to convince the Chinese people the battle has been worth it. State-run papers splashed news of the agreement across their front pages. Photos showed a smiling Chinese President Jiang Zemin shaking hands with Ms. Barshefsky and White House economic adviser Gene Sperling. Headlines declared that the clouds had cleared for China's entry into the W-T-O. But the stories were aimed at allaying fears that foreign competition brought by W-T-O membership would destroy jobs, by pushing already teetering state enterprises over the edge. One example came in the popular newspaper, Beijing Youth Daily. It warned readers that Japan's economy suffered painful adjustments after Tokyo joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, W-T-O's predecessor, in 1955. But the newspaper added that the Japanese economy doubled in size over the next decade and said W-T-O entry would provide a turning point for Chinese enterprises. The China Market Economic News acknowledged that unemployment pressure is widespread, but said it is not necessarily a bad thing. It tried to persuade people that solving unemployment is not the sole responsibility of the government. For many ordinary Chinese, though, a steady job is the most important concern. Experts say Chinese companies will have a hard time coping initially with foreign competition. They say as the unemployment rate in China increases, so does the possibility of social unrest. A Ministry of Labor survey of three thousand enterprises -- published by the Chinese paper, Homeway Financial News (Hexun Caijing) in late October -- showed there is no sign layoffs are slowing. Official statistics put the number of people unemployed from state companies at nearly seven-and-a-half million. The Homeway article estimates that as many as seven million more people could be laid-off this year, swelling China's jobless ranks to more than 14 million. Meanwhile, a report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency says that by the end of September, almost 95-million Chinese workers had registered with the government's unemployment insurance system. (Signed) NEB/HO/KL 16-Nov-1999 07:48 AM EDT (16-Nov-1999 1248 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
