China's Premier, Zhu Rongji, is scheduled to visit the United States in early April 1999 to meet with President Clinton. As of late February 1999, the United States and China are involved in intensive negotiations toward concluding an agreement on terms for China's proposed accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). China's Accession to the WTO was first published in early 1998, shortly following President Jiang Zemin's widely reported state visit to the United States. That visit generated tempered optimism that an agreement on terms of WTO accession might be concluded over the following year. 

There was very little movement on the China accession question in 1998. The 1997/98 world monetary crisis resulted in a general slowdown in market access negotiations across all regions of the world, with China and Asia no exception. Whether the world economy is sufficiently less turbulent in 1999 to allow major new integration efforts is uncertain. 

Major political developments since early 1998 may of course influence the course of the China accession negotiations. Perhaps the Clinton presidency is so weakened by events surrounding the now-concluded impeachment process that the Administration will not be able to take decisive action on the trade front. More important, though, is that the government of China is reported over the past year to have undertaken a systematic crackdown on internal political dissent, and to have threatened or imprisoned a number of important critics of the government. It should be no surprise to the government of China that such action may severely inhibit the willingness of the U.S. Congress to support China's accession to the WTO. Chinese government action certainly places a greater burden of congressional persuasion on the US Trade Representative, which already faced a formidable political task. 

About the Author: 
Frederick M. Abbott is Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, Illinois.