China assures ASEAN WTO membership not a threat

China assures ASEAN WTO membership not a threat

SINGAPORE (AP): Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji assured his
Southeast Asian counterparts Saturday that China's entry into the
World Trade Organization won't threaten their economies.

"China's accession to the WTO means a bigger market and more
business opportunities to ASEAN countries," Zhu said in a speech
at a two-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.

"It would bring them more opportunities than challenges, and
more advantages than disadvantages," he said.

Some Southeast Asian nations have expressed concern that cheap
Chinese imports could hurt their local industries once China
joins WTO. The WTO seeks to give equal market access to all its
members.

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's elder statesman, said Friday that
China's expected entry into the WTO will create one of the
biggest economic challenges for Southeast Asia. The only way to
meet that challenge is for Southeast Asian nations to combine in
a free trade area, Lee said in a television interview.

"The watershed change will be China's entry into WTO...it's
going to be a giant of an economy in 30, 40, 50 years," said Lee.
However, Zhu said Southeast Asian countries "are not China's main
competitors in the markets of the U.S. and other developed
countries."

China, whose 14-year quest to join the WTO appears to be
nearing completion, mainly sells manufactured goods in the U.S.
ASEAN's exports to the U.S. are mostly high-technology products
such as computer microchips, he said.

On Friday, Zhu urged East Asian countries to rapidly expand
cooperation, warning that reviving the region's economy would
otherwise be "out of the question."

He suggested five measures to boost cooperation, including a
proposal to speed up a new currency swap agreement crafted as an
alternative to the International Monetary Fund.

The agreement between the 10-member ASEAN, and China, Japan
and South Korea was devised in May as a shield against financial
crises similar to the one that ruined the once-booming economies
of East Asia in 1997-1998.

The crisis "reveals that the 50-year-old international
financial architecture can no longer meet the needs of our
times," Zhu said at a dinner Friday for leaders attending a two-
day East Asian summit.

Zhu's comments came after the 13 leaders proposed setting up
an East Asia caucus to boost economic, social and political
cooperation. They also suggested making East Asia a free trade
zone on the lines of the North American Free Trade Area
comprising the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

There is growing realization within ASEAN that its future lies
with the rosier economies of northeast Asia, which has attracted
more foreign investment than Southeast Asia in recent years.

Zhu said the annual meeting of ASEAN, China, Japan and South
Korea, known as "ASEAN plus three," is the best mechanism for
such cooperation.

Among the main ways to bring the 13 countries closer would be
to "earnestly implement" the currency agreement to rescue each
other's currencies - in case of speculative attacks or other
problems.

The mechanism would center on currency swaps, which in theory
could allow the financial authorities of troubled countries to
gain access to allies' reserves to buy up their own currencies -
and keeping up exchange rates.

Later Saturday, ASEAN leaders will meet separately with
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and President Kim Dae Jung
of South Korea.

Japan also expressed support for bilateral currency swap
arrangements between ASEAN and the three partners.

Japan has a $5-billion bilateral arrangement with South Korea,
and a $2.5-billion swap arrangement with Malaysia.

The ASEAN members are Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar.