Asia

Before the end of President Clinton's term in office, Congress will debate in earnest China's application to join the World  Trade Organization (WTO). Rhetoric in Congress during President Jiang Zemin's recent state visit tells us this debate may be highly contentious. The recent congressional defeat of the President's request for fast-track authority raised awareness in the international trade community that close attention must be paid to laying groundwork for critical national decisions on trade policy. It is not too early to address the new "China question." 

 

On June 21, 2000, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled (14-2) that it lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute brought by Pakistan against India in September 1999. The Court, which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations entrusted with settling legal disputes between sovereign States, consists of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, together with two judges ad hoc appointed especially for the case by Pakistan and India. The ICJ has its seat at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Introduction

 

In recent testimonies before the US Congress, scholars and representatives of the small business community have argued that China deliberately undervalues its currency, the Yuan, in order to gain a competitive advantage towards its major trading partners. [1] China is being accused of manipulating the exchange rate by buying and selling Yuan on the international capital markets for a fixed price. Thereby it effectively discourages a free market value for the Yuan.

 

           On September 24, 2003, members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China urged a U.S. trade official to consider challenging China's fixed currency exchange rate at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Rep. James A. Leach (R-Iowa), chairman of the Commission, put forward the idea that China's currency could be "a subsidies issue under the WTO, so it's not exactly a non-WTO issue." [1]

 

President Bush, on April 25, announced that he would not grant safeguard relief from imports of Chinese wire garment hangers requested by the US industry under Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974.1 In doing so the President rejected a unanimous recommendation from the US International Trade Commission that duties be raised for a three-year period.2 This is the second time relief has been sought under Section 421, and the second time relief has been denied by the Bush Administration.3

 

Background

           On January 10, 2003, North Korea announced (a) that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), effective immediately, and (b) that its withdrawal from the NPT left it free from the binding force of its Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 

It is well known that overfishing has led to the collapse of several commercially valuable fish species and the decline of others. [1] In this context, WTO Members agreed during the WTO Ministerial Conference held in Doha (Qatar) in November 2000, to launch negotiations with the aim to "clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries." [2]