China urges flexibility on free trade

China urges flexibility on free trade

SINGAPORE (Agencies): China used the second day of a visit by its president to Singapore yesterday to plug a "flexible" approach towards liberalized regional trade and to enhance ties with this prosperous city state, a major investor in the Middle Kingdom.

A spokesman for Chinese President Jiang Zemin told a news conference the pace of trade liberalization within the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum should be "flexible" to accommodate the group's diverse economies.

"The fact that APEC members are at different levels of economic development should be reflected... They should realize free trade at different times," said Chen Jian, director of the Information Department within China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of Jiang.

Chen is Jiang's spokesman during the two-week Southeast Asia swing, which kicked off Tuesday and includes Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Jiang's three-day Singapore visit is his first official tour of the island republic.

The Chinese president will attend the APEC summit meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, on Nov.15.

Beijing has been wary of APEC, which it fears could be dominated by Western members and evolve too rapidly into a trade bloc.

While Jiang has said China favors trade liberalization as a "long-term" APEC goal, it has not supported proposals from some members to turn the grouping into a free-trade zone by the year 2020.

Flexible

Chen told the news conference on Wednesday: "In view of the diverse nature of the Asia-Pacific region, such a timetable should be flexible and its should be a timetable of intent."

Chen said proposals to make APEC a free-trade zone by 2020 "would only be empty talk" unless there was a "clear-cut consensus concerning implications and fundamental principles."

China however is not rejecting discussions of setting a time frame. "China endorses discussions for a timetable for trade liberalization," Chen quoted Jiang as telling the Singapore leaders.

China had reportedly linked its support for a target date to full US support for its membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It has been pushing to be accepted by the end of the year, in time to become a founding member of the World Trade Organization which replaces GATT on January 1.

The United States has said it is not opposed to China's membership in principle but still has some reservations.

"People talk of free trade in APEC but some members are not even engaged in GATT yet ... this is not compatible with free trade," Chen said when asked whether China's entry into GATT was discussed between Jiang and the Singapore leaders.