South China Sea, Xinjiang muddy water of fishing subsidies debate as WTO faces ‘crucial test’
- The World Trade Organization (WTO) hopes to conclude negotiations over fishing subsidies by the end of 2021 after 20 years of deadlock
- Governments hand out around US$35 billion in environmentally damaging fisheries subsidies every year, with China doling out the most
Targeted import bans by the United States on seafood caught by Chinese owned vessels over forced labour claims, while reflecting Washington’s increasing pressure on Beijing over the hot button issue, show that US-China tensions have spread into an area that is crucial for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to restore its prestige.
Under growing scepticism and setbacks, the global trade body was hoping to strike a multilateral pact over fishing subsidies by the end of 2021 to bring at end to a two-decade deadlock.
However, the discord between the world’s two largest economies could now become a “flashpoint” that threatens the talks as they enter the final stretch, analysts have warned.
“The remaining effective time for negotiations is not enough, differences among major members are apparent, it is still very difficult to conclude the fisheries subsidies [talks] at an early date, many experts in Geneva are not optimistic,” said Lu Xiankun, a former senior Chinese trade negotiator at the WTO, at the end of July.
Securing a successful agreement is vital to the future of the institution, this is a crucial test of whether the WTO can function as an effective forum for the negotiation of global trade rules
The fisheries subsidies debate is currently the only active multilateral negotiation under way at the WTO, having been first discussed in 2001 as a part of the failed Doha Round of trade talks. It was also identified as an international priority by the United Nations in 2015 under sustainable development goals that aimed to prohibit harmful subsidies by 2020 that could lead to overfishing.
“Securing a successful agreement is vital to the future of the institution, this is a crucial test of whether the WTO can function as an effective forum for the negotiation of global trade rules,” said Kristan Hopewell, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and a close observer of the WTO. “The future of the WTO hangs in the balance.”