China-Taiwan row mars APEC talks on free trade, WTO

China-Taiwan row mars APEC talks on free trade, WTO

SHANGHAI, China (AFP): Trade ministers from 21 Pacific rim
economies ended a two-day meeting Thursday by voicing support for
a new round of global trade talks, but the forum was overshadowed
by an unseemly row between host nation China and Taiwan.

The representatives of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum, which encompass more than half the world's economic
power, said the World Trade Organization meeting in the Qatari
capital Doha in November would provide the perfect stage for the
launch of new trade talks.

"The delegates ... strongly appealed for a new round of WTO
negotiations in 2001," Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Shi
Guangsheng said at a press conference after the meeting.

"They agreed that the Doha meeting would be an important
opportunity to launch a new round."

The 2001 series of APEC gatherings, hosted for the first time
by China, will culminate in a leaders' summit in Shanghai in
October to be attended by US President George W. Bush.

The summit will be the largest gathering of heads of state on
Chinese soil since the establishment of the communist state in
1949.

A statement issued at the end of the trade ministers' meeting
said the new global trade round should have "equitable and
effective participation of all members" and that "a balanced and
sufficiently broad-based agenda" should be worked out in advance.

Until the Qatar meeting, the APEC members would show their
goodwill by refraining from "using measures to increase the
levels of protectionism," the statement said.

China, whose 15-year attempt to join the WTO got the backing
of APEC ministers, said it would support new trade talks
regardless of how fast its bid to join the Geneva-based world
trade body progressed.

"Whether China can join the WTO before the Doha meeting
doesn't affect its support for the new trade round," Shi said.

Amid the flow of rhetoric in favor of freer trade, the last
day of the Shanghai meeting was marred by a controversy over what
Taiwanese representatives said was a Chinese snub.

Taiwan's delegation, led by Economic Minister Lin Hsin-i,
complained their invitation to the Shanghai meeting had initially
just been in the form of a notice.

When, after much discussion, China sent a formal letter of
invitation, it addressed the Taiwanese delegation head as "Mr
Lin" rather than "Minister Lin," the Taiwan delegates said.

Enraged, Taiwan's delegation handed a letter of complaint to
Shi earlier this week and later distributed the letter among all
the participants at the meeting.

"We enjoy the same rights and obligations," Lin said at the
press conference after the conclusion of the meeting. "We don't
want to be sticklers on matters of form, we just want our voices
to be heard."

Chinese Foreign Trade Minister Shi said the invitation to
Taiwan had been completely in accordance with past practice and
the understanding under which China and Taiwan joined APEC in the
early 1990s.

"There is nothing like the claims by Lin and the Taiwan
authorities of unfair treatment," Shi said at the press
conference. "As to Taiwan's claim for a title, we have
difficulties complying with that."

China has said repeatedly in recent weeks that it will not
allow Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian to participate in October's
summit.

Taiwan presidents have been barred from every APEC summit due
to opposition from China, which has claimed sovereignty over the
island since their separation in 1949 after a civil war.

China works to isolate Taiwan from international
organizations, and it only accepts its representation at APEC
because the forum is an economic, not political, body.