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| WTO Welcomes China into Fold |
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SUN, NOV 11, 2001
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) finally opened its door on Saturday to China, the world's most populous -- and one of the most robust -- economy, sending a positive signal to the world economy loitering on the brink of a full-blown recession.
It took only minutes for WTO trade ministers to symbolically deliberate and then, on a basis of consensus, rubberstamp a draft report of the China Working Party with an applause.
Chairman of the ongoing WTO conference Youssef Hussain Kamal of Qatar rapped the gavel after the resounding long-time applause. All ministers cracked broad smiles in a rare light moment during the ongoing tense talks on free trade.
The overall formality is only a twinkling in the 15-year-long arduous negotiations between China and its trading partners leading up to the historic moment.
The Chinese delegation led by Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng became a darling of media cameramen. All the participants gave Shi a standing ovation before he took the floor.
In his speech, Shi said that the WTO accession and its full participation in the multilateral trading system are "strategic decisions made by the Chinese leaders under accelerated economic globalization."
"The WTO accession is not only in the interests of China, but also in the interests of all WTO members and conducive to the development of the multilateral trading system," he said. "It will inevitably exert widespread and far-reaching impact on China's economy and on the world economy in the new century."
China and the WTO will sign a membership protocol Sunday, which needs to be ratified by the former's legislature. Under WTO rules, China will become a full member 30 days after it notifies the global trade body of the legislature's approval of the document.
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