The beginning of the end for Far East trade row?
Chinese and Japanese government ministers last week failed to resolve the ongoing trade row between the two countries despite two full days of talks.
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, however, the situation was not as intractable as it appeared and agreement was reached that the two parties should meet again soon.
Held in Brussels, the talks followed on from China’s imposition last month of punitive tariffs on Japanese vehicles, mobile telephones and air conditioners. The move was in retaliation against Japan’s decision during April to apply temporary prohibitive duties on some Chinese farm goods. In the escalating row that has flared up since, both sides have accused the other of breaching World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules (China has yet to join the organisation), bringing severe disruption to a trade relationship worth an estimated $70 billion per annum.
The stalemate between the two sides last week was in sharp contrast to the progress made by China in its fifteen year-long mission to secure its accession to the WTO (see leatherbiz.com story ‘Green light given to China’s accession to WTO’ 09.07.01).
Following talks in Geneva with European Union and the United States officials, the consensus was that most of the obstacles preventing China from being granted WTO membership status had been overcome, and that this would most likely occur in the first half of next year. Analysts say the row between Japan and China is one more reason why China should be brought into the WTO, where arguments of this kind can be more effectively refereed.
