U.S. wants China to join WTO this year

Zoellick chats with Thai Commerce Minister Adisai Bhotharamik as a meeting of Asia-Pacific trade ministers winds down

By staff and wire reports

SHANGHAI, China -- U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick wants to see China join the World Trade Organization by year-end.

"I believe it's very important for China to join the WTO. I hope it can happen this year," he said Thursday.

Zoellick was speaking as a two-day gathering of Asia-Pacific trade ministers came to a close in China's business capital, Shanghai.

His sentiments echoed those of the trade ministers of the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations.

RESOURCES What is APEC?

In a declaration to end their two-day session, they called for China to join the WTO before the end of the year.

New round

China's trade minister, Shi Guangsheng, said APEC ministers also supported the resumption of a new round of WTO talks in Doha, Qatar, in November.

"The meeting strongly appealed for a launch of a new WTO round of negotiations," Shi said.

China's 14-year bid to join the WTO has been the center of attention at the APEC meeting. The country currently attends WTO events such as the Doha talks as an observer.

China's bid has stalled on issues such as subsidies for Chinese farmers. China wants to join as a developing nation, which would let it back its farmers up to 10 percent of their output.

The United States insists it join as a developed nation, with subsidies up to 5 percent.

The sidelines

A meeting on Tuesday between Shi and Zoellick failed to yield any progress. But U.S. and Chinese negotiators have been holding talks on the sidelines of the summit to resolve those issues.

Experts say the differences are really political and the farm subsidies could be resolved easily enough if both sides wanted it.

The WTO's executive director, Mike Moore, said Wednesday he wants to see China join the 141-nation group as soon as possible.

A working group is set to meet at the WTO's Geneva headquarters on June 28 for five days of talks on China's accession.

But even with a quick resolution to what many analysts see as China's inevitable accession, the paperwork involved will push the issue into next year.

The trade ministers were this week laying the groundwork for a major APEC summit in Shanghai in October, which U.S. President George W. Bush will attend.

Taiwan, 'charter' not resolved

They hope to make a splash in October. On Wednesday, Zoellick floated the "Shanghai Charter" aimed at reducing tariffs between the countries.

Trade ministers throughout the talks were supportive of the idea. But the details are still being hashed out.

In fact, even the name is far from certain. The word 'charter' has legal implications that may rule out its use.

China is getting a boost as host of APEC this year. But holding events on Chinese soil has also raised the thorny issue of how Taiwan attends the talks.

Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province, attends as an "economy."

China has repeatedly denied requests by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to attend the October summit.

The APEC meeting led to no change.

The United States this week backtracked on support for a visit to Shanghai by Chen, saying it favored Taiwan's current low-level representation.

Reuters contributed to this report.