The working party on China's accession formally recommended the WTO's 142 member states welcome China into their fold at the organization's ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar, on November 9-13, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said.

"After 15 years of often arduous negotiations the working party and its member governments have approved the necessary documents paving the way for China accessing to WTO", Rockwell said.

Mike Moore, director-general of the WTO, called it "a defining moment in the history of the multilateral trading system".

The chief Chinese negotiator in Geneva, Long Yongtu, said: "We are part of a historical event, an event which will bring a country with one-fourth of the world population into the multilateral trading system which takes the promotion of world trade and economic development as its major goal."

Diplomats in the working party officially approved an 800-page technical document, effectively sealing the deal on China's bid to join the system that regulates global fair trade.

Approval by ministers in Doha is widely regarded as a political formality.

China must then ratify the accord and wait 30 days before its membership becomes official, probably early next year although long declined to be drawn into a timetable.

Long told the working party that China's accession was a strategic decision "in line with China's reform and opening-up policy and the goal of establishing a socialist market economic system."

"The efforts made by China for its WTO accession have greatly accelerated the reform and opening up process in China," he emphasized.

Describing it as "only a blink of eyes compared with the 5,000-year history of China," Long said the lengthy negotiating process reflected the "unprecedented challenge" of moving from a planned economy to a market economy.

"The great potential of China's market will be gradually translated into actual purchasing power, so as to provide a huge open market to all countries and regions of the world," Long said

But he later warned journalists not to underestimate the scale of the preparatory work China needed to undertake to adapt to the new rules.

He also admitted that more competition would also deepen the income gap, especially between wealthier coastal regions and the inland.

But he said that would be tackled with the creation of a social security system and "a strong strategy" for development in western China.

The US, until now the largest and most powerful economy in the WTO, welcomed the market-opening deal.

"China's accession will benefit the US, China and the global economy," US negotiator Jeffrey Garten said.

The long-winded process, which accelerated over the last three years, began with bilateral agreements between China and the United States, and then the European Union.

Mexico became the final country to strike a bilateral agreement last week, leaving negotiators to work round the clock to settle other sticking points, notably a long-running dispute involving the European Union and the US over access to China's life insurance market.

Diplomats declined to give details of the complex compromise they struck on life insurance.

With its 1.2 billion inhabitants, China offers a vast productive capacity and the world's largest single national market.

But the scale of the future new member raises fears among China's new partners.

"From whatever point of view one sees it, accession will change the balance of power," one of the negotiators admitted.

Approval of China's membership in Doha would boost morale within the WTO, which has been at the center of recent anti-globalization protests.

WTO members also disagree on whether or not they should launch a new round of trade liberalization talks at November's conference.

(chinadaily 09/18/2001)