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China slow in meeting WTO commitments: US study
Washington (AFP) May 14, 2008 China has been slow in meeting commitments it made when joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) more than six years ago, according to a US Congress-commissioned report Wednesday. "Our analysis revealed that China's progress in resolving compliance issues appears to be slowing over time, especially since 2003 and 2004, when most progress was made," said the study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress. Its analysis identified about 180 compliance issues during the 2002-2007 period spanning nine trade areas. The areas ranged from specific issues such as China's failure to establish an official publication of all laws and regulations, to broader concerns such as a lack of transparency in quota allocations. Based on reports by the US Trade Representative (USTR) office, the GAO said China "resolved a quarter of these issues but made no progress on one-third of them." China's progress on resolving individual issues varied significantly by trade area, it said. For instance, USTR reported that the highest proportion of issues on which China made progress were in the agriculture section, and the lowest was in import regulation, the report said. The GAO also asked the USTR office to "clearly and systematically" identify the number, type, and disposition of trade issues it was pursuing with China, and report this and more useful trend information in its annual China trade compliance report to Congress. China's December 2001 accession to the WTO resulted in commitments to open and liberalize its economy, offering a more predictable environment for trade and foreign investment in accordance with rules of the global trade watchdog. The GAO report came a day after the WTO, in its own review of Beijing's trade policies, said that China had made its export regime "considerably more restrictive" due in part to efforts to reduce its large trade surplus. China has been engaged with the United States and the European Union in several high profile trade rows in recent years over items ranging from textiles, shoes to auto-parts. Related Links Global Trade News
DR Congo cautiously approves China deals
Kinshasa (AFP) May 14, 2008The Democratic Republic of Congo's government gave its cautious approval on Tuesday to a controversial set of construction and mining deals with China, but appealed for possible "adjustments" later. |
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