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2004年9月WTO对韩国贸易政策审议-中国代表团的发言(英文)
              Statement of the Chinese Delegation
             at the WTO Trade Policy Review of Korea
                    September 15, 2004

Madam Chair,

  I would firstly like to join other delegations in welcoming the Korean delegation headed by Ambassador Cui to Geneva. Ambassador Sun is now in Beijing and he apologizes for not being able to participate in this important meeting, but we have here also a delegation from Beijing, and in our delegation we particularly include an official responsible for economic and trade affairs from our Embassy in Seoul. We look forward to the exchanges and communication at the meeting and wish the meeting a great success.

  Madam Chair, this is the first time for China to participate in the trade policy review of Korea by this Organization ever since our accession. Korea is our close neighbor in Asia and it is also one of our most important partners both in trade and investment. We therefore always pay great attention to the economic recovery and growth of Korea, as well as its trade regime and policy evolvement. We notice with great pleasure that since the last review the Korean economy has generally experienced further growth and that for quite some time the momentum was very strong. We believe that an economic situation of Korea as such is extremely important for the world to maintain and strengthen further the confidence in the continuous recovery and growth of the economy in East Asia. We also notice with particular interest the observation made in the Secretariat’s report that the current recovery of Korea since mid-2003 has been fueled mainly by buoyant growth in industrial exports, particularly to China. As our statistics show, Korean exports to China reached 43 billion US dollars in year 2003, a 51% growth compared to the exports to China in the previous year of 2002. While we are pleased and encouraged by the closer economic ties between our two countries, we do agree with the view point expressed in the Secretariat’s report, that the over-reliance on exports as the main source of growth poses an economic challenge to Korea. In spite of that, our confidence in the structural adjustment and reform process carried our by the Korean government remains, and we believe that the Korean government will be able to ensure that the economy develop further in a stable and healthy manner.

  Madam Chair, on the trade regime and policy evolvement of Korea, we agree with the view point as contained in the Secretariat’s report, that is, since the previous review in year 2000, Korea has continued its trade and investment liberalization policies. We appreciate the firm and strong support of the Korean government to the multilateral trading system, and believe that on this particular point China and Korea share the same position. The new policy direction of Korea of showing increasing interest to negotiate regional free-trade agreements, in our point of view, is a natural response to the growing regionalization trend world wide and is complimentary to the trade liberalization process, as long as this policy direction does not go beyond the rules, principles and spirit of the multilateral trading system.

  Madam Chair, China is generally satisfied with the overall situation of our bilateral trade with Korea, particularly the strong momentum in the past few years. According to our statistics, bilateral trade reached 63 billion US dollars in year 2003, which is a 76% increase from the 36 billion US dollars registered in year 2001 when China acceded to the WTO. However, trade deficit exists at the Chinese side, and it has been expanding fairly fast. In year 2003 the deficit was 23 billion US dollars and this year from January to July, the deficit went up to 20 billion US dollars, a 65.6% increase from the same period in the last year. We are concerned that if this situation continues, it will have negative effects on our bilateral trade. Apart from that, Madam Chair, China is also very much concerned with the following issues regarding the trade regime and policies of Korea, namely the high protection of the agriculture sector, over complicated tariff regime, SPS and TBT related measures as well as its bidding system for import purposes. On these issues China has submitted written comments and questions to Korea. We will continue the contacts with our Korean colleagues either through bilateral channels or in multilateral framework. It is our hope that the concerns and interests of China will be well taken by the Korean government and our future exchanges on these issues will be facilitated with a view to making progress satisfactory to both countries.

  Lastly Madam Chair, I would like to thank the Secretariat and the Korean government for their hard work done for today’s meeting. I would also like to thank you and the discussant the distinguished Ambassador of Malaysia.

  Contributions from you two persons are also indispensable for the success of this trade policy review of Korea.

  Thank you.
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