Taiwan follows China on WTO membership

Associated Press

GENEVA — Members of the World Trade Organization formally cleared Taiwan for admission Tuesday, a day after China was approved.

Terms for Taiwan’s admission were completed 18 months ago, but the final decision was delayed because of a 1992 understanding that China would join first.

The 142 WTO governments on Tuesday approved a 1,200-page document setting out the terms for Taiwan’s membership in the body that sets global rules on international trade.

"Joining the WTO has been the great hope of the nation’s people, and it has enjoyed the common support of all the people," Taiwan’s economic minister, Lin Hsin-yi, said in a news conference in Taipei moments later.

WTO director-general Mike Moore welcomed the decision, saying, "With Chinese Taipei’s membership, the WTO has taken yet another step toward achieving universal membership."

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of Chinese territory, at first objected to Taiwan’s joining at all. It finally agreed Taiwan could join the WTO because it is a separate customs territory with different rules on importing goods. It will not be regarded as a country in its own right.

Tuesday’s decision opens the way for China and Taiwan to be formally approved for membership at a meeting of trade ministers planned for Doha, Qatar, in November. The two would then likely become full WTO members early next year, following ratification by their own parliaments.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing considers the island to be a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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