【Ｔａｌｋｉｎｇ　Ｄｏｈａ】 Talking

　　Washington seeks Beijing’s support to jump-start difficult trade negotiations 　　
　　“The Doha Round is our generation’s best opportunity to lift millions of people out of poverty and to raise living standards for millions more.” --Susan Schwab
　　
　　
　　“The Doha Round is…an important reason why I am in China today,” said Susan C. Schwab on her first trip to Beijing as the U.S. Trade Representative.
　　During her trip to China on August 27-29, the top U.S. trade envoy urged China on different occasions to play a bigger role in promoting the resumption of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks. Stressing that China is an important member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and stands to be the major beneficiary of the talks, she expressed hope that China would help to revive the stalled talks.
　　The Doha Round talks, under the auspices of the WTO, were suspended in late July following a bitter dispute between Europe and the United States over farm tariffs and subsidies. The first round of talks was initiated in Doha, Qatar, in 2001.
　　When the talks broke down, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said there would be no winners from the collapse of the Doha Round. Schwab said Lamy’s comment held “especially true for China, which in a few short years has risen from relative economic obscurity to become the third largest trading nation in the world.”
　　Schwab called on countries, rich and poor, to push for the establishment of an efficient multilateral trade system. “The Doha Round is our generation’s best opportunity to lift millions of people out of poverty and to raise living standards for millions more,” she said when addressing a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing on August 29.
　　One day earlier, Schwab held talks on bilateral and multilateral issues with Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai. The Doha Round was one of their major topics.
　　According to Xinhua News Agency, Bo told Schwab “China is willing to continue to participate in the talks in a constructive manner along with other nations and to actively push for the resumption of the Doha negotiation process.”
　　The minister said China hopes that developed WTO members would make substantial contributions. He also stressed that the Doha Round is a development round and the emphasis in the talks should be placed on development issues in order to break the stalemate and promote a fair, stable and open multilateral trading system.
　　“To safeguard U.S. economic clout, the world’s largest economy is liable to rekindle the multilateral trade talks, and China appears to be the best helper,” said Zhang Yansheng, Director of the Foreign Economic Research Department of the Macro Economic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.
　　Among the 149 WTO members, China could benefit from both the reduction of farm tariffs and subsidies by the EU and the United States and the opening up of the service sector by India and Brazil.
　　This special position would allow China to mediate and explains why Schwab complimented China as an important WTO member, Zhang noted.
　　This may also explain why the new trade representative has not bashed China on a further revaluation of its currency or its record on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. Schwab has played down the disputes in bilateral trade and given China credit for boosting the U.S. economy. The trade envoy also said she prefers direct negotiation to resolve Sino-U.S. trade disputes to submitting them to the WTO.
　　Before coming to Beijing, Schwab made headway in Southeast Asia. During her first stop in Singapore, she discussed with her hosts the ongoing developments since the U.S.-Singapore free trade agreement (FTA) came into force in 2004. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Schwab focused on the U.S.-Malaysia FTA agreement in meetings with Malaysian stakeholders. She also made progress on FTA talks between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the 38th meeting of ASEAN Economic Ministers. On August 25, Schwab signed an agreement on trade and investment with ASEAN ministers, renewing pledges on simplifying procedures, better protecting IPR in the region and encouraging bilateral trade flow.
　　Answering a question on U.S. enthusiasm for signing more bilateral free trade agreements, Schwab said she does not believe that bilateral talks with other countries on FTA treaties would be obstacles to the multilateral talks of the Doha Round. “They can be parallel…and mutually reinforcing,” she said.
　　The United States wants the Doha Round to get back on track by the end of this year. If no substantial breakthrough is made in the coming months, the talks may be shelved for years, said the top U.S. trade envoy, “The challenge now is who goes first.”

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