Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/23/2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268312

TITLE=CHINA-E-U (L)

BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: French President Jacques Chirac says China may be able to enter the World Trade Organization by year end. Mr. Chirac is heading an E-U delegation in Beijing for a summit with Chinese leaders. As Correspondent Leta Hong Fincher reports, Mr. Chirac also expects China to ratify a U-N treaty on human rights by the end of the year.

TEXT: President Chirac says that one of key goals of the E-U-China summit was to wrap up the negotiations in China's 14-year bid to join the World Trade Organization.

/// CHIRAC ACT IN FRENCH, THEN FADE ///

Mr. Chirac told reporters in Beijing that he believes China's accession to the W-T-O could take place before the end of the year.

The European Union leaders came to Beijing concerned that China might renege on a number of commitments it made to open its markets to foreign competition - a precondition to entering the W-T-O. Seven-weeks of multilateral negotiations in Geneva have failed to finalize China's W-T-O entry. Sticking points have included granting insurance licenses for European firms, access to China's distribution system, protection of intellectual property rights, and judicial review of Chinese trade laws.

But Mr. Chirac says he has been assured by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji that China would not retreat from any commitments it had made to the European Union or other W-T-O members.

/// CHIRAC 2nd ACT IN FRENCH, THEN FADE ///

Mr. Chirac says he also received a pledge that China would soon ratify a U-N Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which China signed in 1997. E-U nations have been pushing China to ratify that and another human-rights treaty, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998.

China's official Xinhua News Agency says China's legislature is considering ratifying the first human-rights treaty during its current

nine-day session. But Xinhua says that legislators are not yet ready to ratify the second treaty, which is considered more politically sensitive. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/LHF/JO/RAE