I was interviewed in the Lianhe Zaobao, the leading Chinese newspaper in Singapore on the implications of the 2009 APEC Leaders' Declaration in Singapore. The story is reproduced below. You may scroll down for the whole story and an English translation of the article.
Eight months ago, I blogged about the proposed ECFA between China and Taiwan. Now it seems that the formal negotiations will finally take off as the researchers from both sides have finished and exchanged the results of their feasibility studies. My take is that the agreement probably will be reached the latest by early 2013, as Hu, who will step down as China's president, will probably want the historical agreement as one of his main legacies (Ma will also probably try to get it done by mid-2012 but he probably will get a second term in the office).
The WTO recently issued a press release o celebrate the 400th dispute passing through the gate of centre william rappard. DG Lamy noted that "this is surely a vote of confidence in a system which many consider to be a role model for the peaceful resolution of disputes in other areas of international political or economic relations". While that may well be the case, one may also argue that had Members really had such confidence in the system, they wouldn't have brought so many disputes in the first place. Another thing worth noting is that the number of disputes have greatly decreased after the first decade, which saw an average of 30 cases brought every year. Does this mean that the system has worked so well in deterring trade disputes from arising in the first place, or that people are losing confidence in the system so that they resort to other means and don't bother to bring cases anymore?
The US, EU and Mexico have requested for the establishment of panel against China's restrictions on certain minerals and other raw materials. One of the items at issue is coke, on which I wrote a paper analyzing another similar complaint against China by the EU a few years ago. The paper could be downloaded free of charge here (of particular relevance are pages 334-348).
I will be speaking at two conferences next week. The first is the Asia-Pacific Trade Economists' Conference on Trade-Led Growth in Times of Crisis. Held in Bangkok, this conference is organized by the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) in collaboration with the WTO, UNCTAD, UNDP and IDRC. The conference will also mark the celebration for the fifth anniversary of the ARTNeT, a research network sponsored by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Some of the leading trade economists, including Alan Deardorff, Patrick Low, Simon Evenett, Kym Andersen, Patrick Messerlin, KC Fung, and Robert Scollay will be speaking in the conference. As probably the only lawyer among the speakers, I will be presenting my paper on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (also known as the P4 Agreement). The Conference brochure is here and the program can be found here.
商务部召开例行新闻发布会（10月15日）
2009-10-15 15:57 文章来源：商务部新闻办公室
文章类型：原创 内容分类：新闻
2009年10月15日，商务部召开例行新闻发布会，新闻发言人姚坚发布新闻并回答记者提问。实录如下：
A very colorful statement by Dr. Zhang Xiangchen, current DPR of China
to the WTO. If only every statement in the WTO meetings were so
interesting, then my days at the Secretariat would have been much less
boring!
张向晨公使在WTO贸易与环境委员会上的发言
2009-07-14 16:04 文章来源：商务部世贸司
文章类型：原创 内容分类：新闻
Statement on Trade and Climate Change at the CTE Regular Meeting
Dr. ZHANG Xiangchen, DPR of China
10 July 2009
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On 26 June, the WTO Secretariat and the UNEP
jointly released a Trade and Climate Change Report. I would like to
take this opportunity to make some comments on that report. Since it
is almost impossible not to mention the Bali Action Plan these days
when climate change is at question, please allow me to start by
sharing with you my personal experience with the beautiful Island of
Bali.
Last month, I went to Bali to attend the Cairns Group Trade Ministers
Meeting as an observer. One evening, I took a walk at the top of a
mountain with my colleague. The view was fantastic, with the sunset,
the wind, the sea tide, and the monkeys jumping around. All of a
sudden, I heard my colleague screaming "MY GLASSES"! There were traces
of claws on his shoulder, glasses on nose gone. Mr. Chairman, you
could imagine how frenzy and yet hopeless we were. But surprisingly,
some local kids managed to exchange the glasses back with some
peanuts. And my colleague hastened to give some dollars to the kids
out of thankfulness.
On the way back to the hotel, we found something odd about the whole
thing. The monkeys took belongings from the visitors; the kids gave
peanuts to the monkeys; the monkeys gave the belongings to the kids;
and the kids returned the belongings to the visitors and got some
rewards. This is an interest chain! Our suspect was confirmed by our
local driver. This interest chain does exist. The monkeys only realize
the correlation between visitors' belongings and peanuts after
repeated hinting and training. As a result, they fill the first and
most critical link in this chain with their agility.
Coming back to the Report of the WTO Secretariat and UNEP, though the
scientific part has been deemed reasonably good, the legal analysis
part has been unfortunately interpreted by the media as "WTO signals
backing for border taxes". A tossed stone raises a thousand ripples.
Drafters of this Report might feel innocent as they seem to have only
tried to explain relevant provisions in the WTO Agreement, such as the
conditions of applying the general exceptions, and there is no
mentioning of backing for border taxes. That being so, they should be
aware that it is beyond the public and media's ability to fully
understand the legal relationship between the general provisions and
the exceptions. One thing is clear to all, though, that any attempt to
levy border taxes comes out for the purposes of restricting the
competitiveness of others instead of fighting climate change. On this
premise, it is impossible for the conditions of applying the
exceptions to be satisfied, such as "no discrimination between
countries where the same conditions prevail". Even President Obama has
said, "At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession
and we've seen a significant drop in global trade, we have to be very
careful about sending any protectionist signals out there". "I am very
mindful of wanting to make sure that there's a level playing field
internationally", "but there may be other ways of doing it than with a
tariff". With this in mind, the international society should express
condemnations with one voice so as to deter others from following
suit. It is only to be expected that the public and media have
suspicions when the focus is placed on exceptions. There are two ways
of interpreting exceptions. One is to say you CAN'T do something
except under very special circumstances. The other is to say you CAN
do something as long as certain conditions are met. The two ways can
make huge differences. I am ignorant of the functions of the
Secretariat, but I do know that trade and climate change is a very
controversial issue. The WTO needs to be very cautious about making
any opinions on it.
Mr. Chairman, current WTO rules is a small cage which is unable to
hold big monkeys such as climate change. The only way out for climate
change and trade measures is first to reach a multilateral agreement
on climate change. This is what DG Lamy has termed as "Copenhagen
first". Then the relationship between climate change and trade
measures could be further clarified under the WTO framework. These
clarifications should still be based on multilateral discussions and
negotiations, and not make way for unilateral measures.
Finally, let me come back to Bali. Our driver was very responsible. He
swayed a bamboo pole in order to prevent the monkeys from approaching
us, in spite that the "Glasses Gate" still took place. But he did his
duty. He didn't act in collusion with the kids. He even reminded us
not to give too much money to the kids since this would encourage the
malconduct. Monkeys are monkeys, wild and difficult to tame, while
people should be clear about their identities and duties.
I thank you for your kind attention.
