31 March 1999
SECRETARY DALEY GUARDED ABOUT CHINA ACCESSION TO WTO
(Considerable serious issues still be resolved, he says) (560) By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr. USIA Staff Writer Washington -- U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley says China still has many problems to resolve before winning accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a goal of the East Asian nation for nearly 13 years. "These are difficult issues," Daley told reporters March 31 in a conference call from Guangzhou, China, but he declined to elaborate them. The secretary is leading a presidential infrastructure trade mission in China and South Korea March 28-April 1. He spoke earlier in the week with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and State Councilor Wu Yi about WTO accession, expanded trade, market accessibility, the U.S. trade imbalance with China, human rights concerns, and allegations about the Chinese theft of U.S. nuclear weapons technology. The primary purpose of the trip was to negotiate new trade between the United States and China, he said. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky concluded a one-day trip to Beijing March 30 on WTO talks without reaching any settlement. Her negotiating team led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Robert Cassidy and the Chinese team led by Long Yongtu, chief negotiator of China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, were continuing talks, however. President Clinton has said he wants a strong trade agreement with China that will allow it to enter the WTO, but the agreement has to receive strong backing from business leaders. Ambassador Barshefsky and Daley said there were no deadlines for completing the agreement. Daley said that expectations an agreement could be ready for Premier Zhu's April 6-14 visit to Washington may have been "a little unrealistic." "If we don't make a deal on WTO, which we think is the best way to go, some of these problems will have to be discussed with the Chinese" through bilateral negotiations, he said. Accession of China to the WTO is a commercial deal not a political one, Daley said. He commended the work of Barshefsky and her team on the WTO accession. "We've made great progress," he said. "Her team is still in Beijing trying to work through the issues, but it has been a very difficult negotiation for them." On a related issue, Daley said a pending report from a U.S. House of Representatives special committee investigating the transfer of U.S. arms technology to China over the past two decades has raised concerns in China. The panel -- chaired by Representative Christopher Cox -- is investigating whether some technology transfers to China have ended up aiding Chinese military modernization. Publication of the unclassified version of that report would follow recent allegations that China may have obtained U.S. nuclear weapons technology to improve its weapons capability. Daley said the Chinese are concerned that the Cox committee report will increase a growing anti-China mood in the United States. Daley also said the infrastructure trade mission he is leading with representatives from 18 corporations has focused on energy, telecommunications, transportation, housing, engineering projects and insurance licensing agreements. A U.S.-Sino telecommunications summit will be held April 1 in Guangzhou, he said. The Commerce Department had also sponsored a conference in Shanghai on Y2K, the potential problem involving computer systems' ability to distinguish between the years 2000 and 1900.
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