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Long Yongtu:Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation  |
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THU, NOV 01, 2001
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Long Yongtu's name has been linked in the Chinese press with China's bid for membership of World Trade Organization (WTO). For almost two years, vice minister Long Yongtu has been China's chief negotiator for the country's WTO accession. In his many interviews in the Chinese press, Long has insisted that China's industry must face the risks of WTO membership because they are outweighed by the benefits of regularizing trade procedures. Long has also insisted that China's opening to foreign investment is essential to stimulating the economy.
Born in Youxian, Hunan Province, in May, 1943, Long Yongtu graduated with a degree in English from Guizhou Provincial University in Guiyang in 1965. Aside from being a top student, Long scored well on his English exam and was given a government scholarship to study at the London School of Economics from 1973 to 1974. Upon returning from the United Kingdom, Long worked as a translator with the Communication Section of the Ministry of International Economic Liaison, and later worked in the Ministry's Sixth Office. Long also spent time at the Chinese mission to the United Nations as a commercial attache and third secretary, and parlayed that job into a stint with the UN Development Program. He later served as China's deputy trade representative in Pyongyang, North Korea. In April 1986, Long returned to Beijing to become deputy director of the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges.
In January, 1992, Long returned to the foreign trade ministry (MOFERT) as director of its International Liaison Department, and was quickly reassigned as director of the International Economic Relations and Trade Department of the renamed Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). In April 1994, Long was promoted to Assistant Minister in MOFTEC and was given responsibility for coordinating China's international trade negotiation policies. That onerous job placed Long in MOFTEC's communist party leadership and he now deals with China's top trade policy decision-makers on a regular basis. Long is considered to be one of MOFTEC's best negotiators, and was promoted to Vice Minister in April 1997.
American trade negotiators who have dealt with Long say he is affable, easy to get along with and extremely capable, and, of course, speaks very good English. He has the solid patronage and support of China's senior vice premier, Li Lanqing, state councilor Mme. Wu Yi, and his boss (and former colleague) Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Shi Guangsheng.
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