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SCMP Reporter

China needs to work harder to provide more information about its compliance with World Trade Organisation rules, according to the global body's next director-general.

Supachai Panitchpakdi, who replaces WTO director-general Mike Moore in September, said China's co-operation with the WTO on compliance issues had so far been 'quite satisfactory'.

However there was a 'large demand for more information and statistics' coming from the trade body's Geneva headquarters.

'I expect China will have to work harder in providing more information and statistics . . . in the areas of domestic supports, rules regarding dumping and also in the areas of intellectual property protection, because these three are asked about in Geneva,' Mr Supachai said after addressing a forum at the University of Hong Kong yesterday.

Mr Supachai said he was trying to set up a WTO committee to assess the burgeoning number of regional free trade agreements (RTAs) to ensure they were 'the building blocks for multilateral agreements' rather than stumbling blocks to them.

However he did not believe the RTAs would have a negative impact on the multilateral process unless they only helped member countries and hindered access of non-member countries.

Mr Supachai refused to openly criticise the protectionist direction of United States trade policy, after the US recently imposed steel tariffs and increased domestic support levels for US agricultural exporters.

'I don't think we should be moving into final judgment of our members' policy.'

He said it was not yet clear what the final US policy would be at the end of negotiations for the new trade round. The trade talks, dubbed the Doha development agenda, are due to be finished in 30 months.

However when academics at the forum criticised US trade policy, Mr Supachai said that he had 'common views' even though 'I would also like to have the privilege of saying so'.

'We need political leadership coming from the powerful countries to make this a successful round,' he told the forum.

Mr Supachai's caution followed condemnations of increased protectionism in the world's leading economies from the current WTO director-general, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund and the president of the World Bank Group last week.

Razeen Sally, a free trade expert and lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the constituency for a completely free market access agenda within the WTO was 'very, very small' because such support was politically difficult in most advanced economies. Supporters included open economies like Singapore and Hong Kong, which had the most to gain from a free multilateral trading system.

'This is all the more reason for Hong Kong and Singapore not to be distracted too much by their increasing attention to RTAs . . . they have a very big burden to bear given what's happening all around them.'

'Free trade is under fire, it is perhaps more exposed than it has been for some time,' Mr Sally said.

Mr Supachai said the working group to examine RTAs would also examine debt reduction and the workings of the international financial architecture.

'We need to have a good look at the exchange rate structure . . . because [a few hours of currency speculation] can ruin trade agreements overnight,' he said.

'I want to use the good office of the director-general to be more interventionist than before.'



Supachai calls for more detailed disclosure by mainland to WTO