Statement by the Republic of Korea
Trade Policy Review of the People’s Republic of China 21 May, 2008
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
Let me first extend a warm welcome to the Chinese delegation headed by Ms. Qiu Hong, assistant minister of Commerce, to its second trade policy review. Taking this opportunity, I would like to join the previous speakers in expressing our deepest condolences to the government and people of China for the tragic losses of lives as a result of the recent earthquake. I would like to thank Ambassador Muhamad Noor of Malaysia for his insightful comments as our discussant. My thanks also go to the Secretariat for its comprehensive report.
Mr. Chairman,
Since its first trade policy review in 2006, China has continued to grow at a remarkably high rate of more than 11%, achieving five consecutive years of double-digit economic growth. According to IMF Chief Strauss-Khan, China is likely to grow at a rate of about 10% this year despite the global economic slowdown. Korea applauds China’s great economic success and gives much credit to the Chinese government for managing its economy so well.
Of course, as acknowledged by the Chinese government and noted in the secretariat report and elsewhere, China faces numerous internal and external challenges associated to fast growth, such as income disparities, inflationary pressure and large current account surpluses. However, I am optimistic that China will successfully overcome those challenges and steer its economy onto the sustained path of economic growth, and eventually achieve its goal of a “harmonious society”. China is now the world’s third largest economy and the biggest contributor to global growth; it therefore cannot afford to fail.
The beginning of the DDA negotiations coincided with China’s accession to the WTO.
While China has continued its impressive economic growth, the DDA has made only limited progress. When the outlook for the world economy is uncertain, Korea believe it is evermore important to conclude the DDA to reinforce the global trading system. As the third largest trading entity, China has an important role to play at this critical stage of negotiations and Korea looks to China to play a leadership role in successfully concluding the DDA by the end of this year.
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Mr. Chairman,
While China’s high speed economic growth is impressive, I am pleased to note that the pace of improvement in Korea-China economic relations is even more striking. With the two economies being mutually complementary, bilateral trade volume has jumped from a mere 6 billion US dollars in 1992 to 145 billion US dollars in 2007. China is now Korea’s # 1 trading partner and investment destination. To China, Korea is its fourth trading partner after US, Japan and Hong Kong. Korea and China are now aiming for a trade volume of 200 billion US dollars by 2012. I am very optimistic that this goal is within reach.
As bilateral economic ties are so close, Korea has great interest in China’s trade policy.
Korea generally appreciates China’s continued trade liberalization and its strenuous efforts to adopt various laws and regulations to implement its WTO commitments during the review period. Nevertheless, we still see some scope and areas for further improvement. Thus, today, I would like to provide some comments particularly with respect to transparency, a greater containment of IPR infringement, services liberalization and government procurement.
First of all, Korea is greatly interested in the transparent implementation of China’s domestic laws and regulations related to trade and investment. We welcome the Chinese government’s various measures to enhance transparency including the introduction of
‘the Regulation on Open Government Information’, which we regard as a significant progress. However, we tend to agree with the Secretariat report that some aspects of China’s trade policy regime remain complex and opaque. In fact, while many laws and regulations that may greatly impact foreign investors have been rapidly enacted in recent years, information regarding these has not been provided in a sufficient and timely manner for foreign investors to be prepared for new laws. Nor have foreign investors had the opportunity to present their views on given areas. We would therefore like to urge China to make further efforts to improve transparency.
Korea appreciates China’s efforts to improve the enforcement of intellectual property rights and hopes to see further measures in this regard.
On services, Korea agrees with the observation in the secretariat paper that the pace of service liberalization has been slow and most services sectors are still subject to a high degree of state control. But on the other hand, we are pleased to see in China’s government report an intention to further open the services sector to private and foreign participation as a means of boosting growth and improving its economic efficiency. To this end, China would particularly gain from further openness in areas such as telecommunication, distribution, construction and financial services. Korea hopes China will improve its initial offers in those areas in the ongoing services negotiations.
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Lastly, with respect to government procurement, Korea welcomes the submission of China’s application for accession to the GPA last year. Korea is now reviewing China’s initial offer carefully and would like to address its concerns through the GPA committee, although we have to note today our disappointment with this initial offer in terms of the proposed high levels of threshold; the very limited coverage of goods and services; and the lack of coverage of entities at Annex 2 and Annex 3 among others. We look forward to working together with China to improve its offer and would like to express our readiness to cooperate to successfully conclude its accession process in a timely manner.
We thank the Chinese delegation for providing answers to our questions related to these and other issues and we look forward to receiving remaining responses in due course.
Mr. Chairman.
This year marks thirty years of reform and opening up for China, bringing about remarkable benefits not only for China but also for many of the world’s economies.
Korea hopes China will continue on this path and further accelerate its reform and trade liberalization. Finally, I should not miss this opportunity to commend the important contribution by Ambassador Sun and his team in the DDA negotiations. Korea hopes to continue to work closely with China for the successful conclusion of the DDA this year.
Let me conclude by expressing my appreciation to the Chinese delegation and the secretariat for their hard work in preparing for today’s meeting. I wish the Chinese delegation great success on their TPR. I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
/The End/
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