APEC and to free trade
APEC and to free trade
The meeting last week of leaders from 18 Asian Pacific
countries in Osaka, Japan, ended with what seemed like a whimper.
The leaders committed their governments to voluntary measures
that would be announced at next year's gathering to lower
barriers to foreign trade and investment. The commitment appeared
small next to the bold declarations at last year's Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that its members would create a
free-trade zone by 2020.
But it was obvious then that some leaders did not mean what
they had said. Malaysia, Japan and several other countries
lobbied successfully in Osaka for a loosely-worded agreement that
perpetuated disagreement over key questions, such as whether APEC
had agreed to a binding deadline for eliminating protection from
agriculture and other sensitive industries.
Free trade is a pleasant goal, but for these countries it is
simply premature.
China is a good example. Its closed borders, contempt for
patent and copyright protections and lack of legal protection for
foreign investors make it ineligible for membership in the World
Trade Organization, the new entity that oversees rules of fair
trade.
A declaration by China that it plans to move toward free trade
lacks credibility. Besides, the best way for Asian Pacific
countries to achieve free trade is through the World Trade
Organization rather than creating a separate trading bloc that
discriminates against all excluded parties.
This year's meeting focused instead on useful steps to
harmonize customs forms, adopt common product safety standards
and eliminate other specific trade impediments. Japan and others
also promised to speed up tariff reductions and other trade-
liberalizing measures that were already under way.
The most sweeping promises came from China. It pledged to
eliminate import quotas on about 170 products and to cut tariffs
next year on thousands of items. That is a welcome step in its
campaign to qualify for World Trade Organization membership. But
China must do much more to achieve conformity with the
international trading community. For starters, it must strictly
enforce legal protections for traders, investors, authors and
inventors.
The meeting was unspectacular but encouraging. The Pacific
countries are moving slowly toward freer trade, while giving up
the pretense that they will drop all trade barriers anytime soon.
-- The New York Times