Economic crisis, WTO top China and ASEAN talks

Economic crisis, WTO top China and ASEAN talks

KUNMING, China (AFP): China and ASEAN member-states opened talks here Monday with the biting regional economic crisis and Beijing's long-standing bid to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) dominating the agenda.

A long-standing South China Sea territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands was also due to figure at the talks.

Among the issues discussed was China's foreign policy and developments in the economic situation among the nine-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the group's secretary general Rodolfo Severino told AFP.

China and Indonesia were due to brief the other countries on their economic situation and reforms undertaken in the past year since their last meeting.

Ties between superpowers China and the United States were also being discussed, amid a flurry of talks on Beijing's 13-year bid to join the WTO as well as the role of international finance organizations and short-term capital flows.

"We of course discussed the prospect of China's entry into the WTO. There were a lot of issues," Severino said.

"One of them was the treatment of China as a developing nation. The other issue is the position of demands attaining to quotas ... that are not imposed on other countries but are imposed by the U.S. on China," he said.

Although he did not specify, an ASEAN official said quotas were applied for example on Chinese textiles which were not applied on textiles from other nations.

China won some support for its bid to enter the WTO as a developing nation, something that has been opposed by Washington which argues that its markets are far too vast.

"We support free trade, but there has to be recognition of status of the developing economy," a Thai official said, asking to remain anonymous.

ASEAN officials are also discussing a regional code of conduct in a move to resolve a dispute over the Spratly Islands.

"This is a regional plan of action discussed in Hanoi in 1998 which we want regional countries and claimants to Spratly Islands to sign," the Philippines' Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja told AFP.

The code, which was to be discussed later in the day, will spell out guidelines governing activities in the disputed chain according to the international maritime laws, he said. The Philippines was "sounding out China on the proposal," Baja added.

"A code of conduct is good ... it would help to reduce tension and facilitate cooperation in that strategic part of the region," the Thai official said.

The move comes amid nervousness in the region over a diplomatic row between Beijing and Manila over Chinese structures on a coral reef just 135 nautical miles from the Philippines island of Palawan.

Four ASEAN members -- Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam -- lay partial claim to the Spratlys.

"It is better for us to have a mutual understanding to keep the peace and stability in the region and it benefits all the parties concerned," a Vietnamese official said.

China and Taiwan also partially or wholly claim the Spratlys, a group of reefs, islands and shoals which lie along strategic shipping lines and are believed to harbor rich oil reserves.

Analysts have identified the Spratlys as a potential flashpoint in East Asia, with tensions exacerbated in recent years by China's building activities there and Philippine detention of Chinese fishermen.

Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand are the other ASEAN members.

China is represented by vice foreign minister Yang Wenchang and Wang Yi, assistant foreign minister. The ASEAN countries are represented by their countries' vice ministers or ambassadors in China.