Brussels / Beijing, 18/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - After four days of essentially technical negotiations on China's membership of the World Trade Organisation, Europeans and Chinese met again Thursday evening for a political face to face of almost four hours between the heads of the two delegations. "A certain number of topics of disagreement remain and we are working on bridging the gaps", is all the Community spokesperson had to say after the evening meeting between European Commissioner Pascal Lamy and his Chinese counterpart Shi Guangsheng.
The issues under discussion in Beijing are particularly numerous: mobile telephony (problem of majority shares desired by the EU in joint-companies, a demand that is also true for other sectors but that raises serious "political" problems for the Chinese authorities); the dismantling of State monopolies in distribution, especially oil, fertilizers and tobacco; life-insurance (parity with the United States for operating licences), retailing (lifting of restrictions on a number of foreign supermarkets in China), a "small" tariff reduction on automobiles and tariff reductions (already partially secured) on spirits in general (cognac, Whisky, vodka, etc.), chemical products, cosmetics, electrical household goods, agricultural machinery, etc.. "It is a comprehensive balance between Chinese concessions that we are seeking" said a Community expert. It is a difficult and bizarre negotiation, where we in some way waiting for concessions, on a drop by drop basis"; a member of the Community team on the ground confided. The Europeans have no deadline to conclude, whereas for Beijing, time is important, before the final passage of November's bilateral agreement before the American Congress.