China and Taiwan brawl openly over WTO at APEC

China and Taiwan brawl openly over WTO at APEC

AUCKLAND (AFP): China and Taiwan clashed openly Friday over their entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the conclusion of a major Asia-Pacific conference here.

In a rare public spectacle played out before the world's media, they tried to score political points over their rival bids to enter the WTO.

China insists Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province, cannot join the WTO before it does.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Don McKinnon tried in vain to prevent questions from Taiwanese journalists dominating the 21- member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum's joint news conference.

McKinnon interrupted when a second WTO question from a Taiwanese reporter was posed in the first minutes of the press conference, which marked the end of two-day ministerial talks.

The reporter had asked whether politics or economics were behind the WTO accession question and whether China believed Taiwan's wish for state-to-state relations with Beijing should influence the bid.

"I am just going to say I have attended now nine APEC meetings, they are becoming more and more dominated in the press conference by journalists from Chinese Taipei," said McKinnon.

"We don't need a constant run of questions from Chinese Taipei -- they are becoming a total dominant factor in APEC press conferences," said the New Zealand minister.