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2002年10月WTO对日本贸易政策审议-中国代表团的发言(英文)
             Statement of the Chinese Delegation
           at the Sixth WTO Trade Policy Review of Japan
                   November 6th, 2002

Mr. Chairman:

  My delegation is very pleased to participate in this sixth trade policy review of Japan by the WTO. I would like to first express our gratefulness to the WTO Secretariat, the discussant distinguished Ambassador Toufiq Ali as well as the Japanese government for their work in preparation for this review.
As one of the leading economies in the world, Japan’s influences on the economy and trade of the world as well as that of Asia, can never be underestimated. However, as is noted in the report by the Secretariat, the Japanese economy remains hardly improved since 2000, despite of various measures taken. Japan therefore failed to meet the expectations of other countries to contribute to a recovery in Asia as well as the whole world. We note that the government of Japan has emphasized on the structural reform recently, and we hope that measures under this reform will actually lead to a final recovery of the economy of Japan, and thereby inject vitality to the revitalization and sustainable development of the economy of Asia and the whole world.

  Mr. Chairman, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Bilateral trade has been developing continuously because of the obvious complementarities between the two economies. Up till now, the two sides have both become one of the most important trading partners to the other side. In 2001, bilateral trade reached US$ 87.75 billion, increasing by 5.5% compared with that of the previous year. We sincerely hope that based on the existing solid foundation of bilateral economic and trade relations, our two countries will further broaden the field of cooperation, continue to complement with each other’s advantages and compete on a fair basis. We also hope that through strengthened communications and coordination, economic and trade frictions between our two countries will be reduced to a minimum level so as to maintain a healthy environment for further development of the bilateral trade relations.

  Regarding the direction in which Japan’s trade policy is evolving, we have noted with great concern the increasingly frequent application of TBT and SPS measures. While acknowledging the legitimate right of the Japan to apply these measures to the extent necessary to protect human health and safety of animals and plants, we must point out that in many cases these measures have been applied beyond the extent necessary, severely restricting normal trade with drastic increase of the cost and risk of the exporters. At present, export of Chinese agricultural products suffered most. Statistics show that from January to July this year, the export volume of live eel to Japan dropped by 23% in comparison with the same period last year, and frozen chicken by 41%,fresh vegetable by 20%. These are all major agricultural export products from China to the Japanese market. We therefore would like to register with our Japanese colleagues our utmost concerns, and China will follow closely future development in this regard and keep contact with the Japanese side through both bilateral and multilateral channels.

  Mr. Chairman, we also noted with regret the use of the very first safeguard measure by Japan in 2001, which actually targeted at Chinese products. Investigation of a second safeguard case, which involves also Chinese exports, is now still going on, and the investigation has already been extended three times. The repeated extension of the investigation without convincing reasons will only result in misunderstanding which is extremely harmful to the healthy development of bilateral trade. We would therefore request that trade remedy measures be taken in strict conformity with the related WTO agreements and under refrain to the extent possible.

  Mr. Chairman, we would also like to seek clarification on state trading regime of Japan, particularly that concerning import of rice. Understanding that transparency is one of the fundamental principles and purposes of this organization, we look forward to a clear picture as to what the regime actually is and how it operates through this review.

  Mr. Chairman, we appreciate that the Japan has always taken strengthening multilateral trade system as a key aim of its trade policies. At the same time, we have also noted that Japan pays increasing attention to regional trade arrangement in recent years. We will follow with close interest Japan’s policies in this respect and hope that all the efforts of Japan in this regard will be in conformity with the WTO Agreement.

  Mr. Chairman, we posed the Japan written comments and questions prior to this meeting which contain not only what have been mentioned above, but also some specific issues. We believe that through review, our Japanese colleagues will understand better China’s concerns over the trade policies and practices of Japan at this stage. And we hope that this exchange of views will enhance mutual understanding and further promote the trade relations between our two countries.

  Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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