Japan ratifies GATT bills as other Asian nations clash over textiles
Japan ratifies GATT bills as other Asian nations clash over textiles
TOKYO (AFP): Japan's parliament ratified the Uruguay Round trade accord yesterday as other Asian nations, including India and China, clashed with the West over dismantling trade barriers on textiles and clothing.
The bills approved by the upper house include measures to ease the impact of the world trade pact on Japanese farmers, whose expensive rice production techniques will be partly subject to international competition from next year.
The legislation, passed in the lower house last week, also includes Japan's approval of the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is to succeed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on Jan. 1.
The farm-support package calls for a total outlay of 6.01 trillion yen (US$60 billion) over the next six years. Under the GATT accord signed in April in Marrakesh in Morocco, Japan will open its rice market next year, starting with the equivalent of four percent -- or 379,000 tons -- of domestic consumption. The imports are to reach eight percent by 2000.
Japan's international trade and industry minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, said the accord had "historical significance" as it covered intellectual property rights and services in addition to tariff cuts.
"It is expected to contribute to the expansion and development of world trade, through the maintenance and enhancement of the multilateral trading system," he said.
But ratifying the accord was not plain sailing for other Asian countries.
Textile
In Geneva overnight, India and other textile exporters such as China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Morocco and Turkey clashed with western trading powers over the composition of a key WTO body to monitor the dismantling of trade restraints on textiles and clothing covered by the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA).
India was reported to have warned a WTO preparatory committee that failure to settle this issue could endanger the implementation of the Marrakesh accord.
Trade diplomats said the group wanted the proposed 10-member Textiles Monitoring Board to be composed of six exporters and four importers, tilting the balance in their own favor.
But a senior European official said the GATT's Textiles Surveillance Board, which will be succeeded by the new board, had "worked well" with five members from each of the two groups. He saw no reason to modify the set-up.
The 20-year-old MFA will be phased out in four steps over a 10-year period starting in January.
Tony Miller, Hong Kong's director-general of trade, said last week he was concerned about certain objectionable provisions in the accord, including unilateral changes to the rules of origin for textiles and apparel products.
"The Hong Kong government will take appropriate action to protect Hong Kong's trade interests," he said.
China meanwhile stepped up its battle to rejoin the GATT by the end of the month, slamming the United States for blocking it and threatening to drop all previous trade commitments if it is not allowed to become a founder WTO member.
Chief GATT negotiator Long Yongtu warned in Geneva that if China were excluded from the WTO, it "will not abide by any of the offers it has made in the past," including implementation of the Uruguay Round agreement.
Earlier in the week, Long said Washington "was asking the impossible" with its demands for an immediate and massively expanded opening of the China market in key sectors such as the automobile and service industries.
In other GATT-related news, South Korea said yesterday it had decided to drop a clause stipulating the recognition of commodity trade between North and South Korea as a condition for its ratification of the Uruguay Round.
The South Korean parliament is to debate the GATT legislation over the coming week, with most observers expecting it to be approved despite a recent boycott of parliament by the opposition, which rejects the accord. Like Japan, South Korea has drawn up an accompanying bill to ease the impact on farmers.