April 2000 PulseOnline: TIA Around the Globe: TIA Continues Active Support for China (Page 2 of 3)

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Coupled with this is the WTO Seattle debacle that took place in early December 1999. At that time, the United States and the world watched as WTO Ministerial meetings were interrupted by demonstrations in Seattle. The protestors voiced their opinion that the global trading system leads to environmental and labor abuses. This gave U.S. lawmakers, already concerned with the U.S. - China relationship, reason to distrust the WTO's global trading system and China's accession to it.

U.S. labor, human rights and environmental activists plan to do their best to keep attention focused on what they perceive as one of the world's largest perpetrators of human rights, namely China. With this goal in mind, these organizations have already launched well-funded efforts focused on blocking the PNTR vote in Washington, D.C. The business sector, in response, has begun a heavy lobbying effort on Capitol Hill to convince the U.S. Congress that including China in the global trading system is more prudent than keeping China isolated on the periphery. The fight will be a long one.

Additional Pieces of the Puzzle
For China's accession to the WTO to occur, other countries must conclude their bilateral negotiations with China. Over the past several months, several of China's key trading partners have closed their accession agreements with China, including India and Canada. But many others remain, most notably the European Union (EU). While EU negotiators traveled to China at the end of February and are said to have made progress in their negotiations, key issues between the two countries remain outstanding, including insurance and telecommunications. A major telecom issue addresses the percentage of a corporation that foreign telecom service ventures could own in China.

Also, the WTO Working Party on China must meet in Geneva to continue negotiations on the protocol section of China's package. Protocol covers the general rules of WTO membership.

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