(September 8, 1999) CHINESE President Jiang Zemin expounded China's principled stand on China's access to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Canberra on September 8, 1999.

At a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard after their meeting, Jiang said he talked with U.S. President Bill Clinton on the question of restoring the lawful seat of China in GATT, now called the WTO, during his meeting with Clinton at the first informal meeting of leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Seattle of the United States, in 1993.

Jiang said: "I expounded three principles at the time,

which now remain applicable. Firstly, the WTO will not be comprehensive without the entry of China, the largest developing country in the world, since it is an international organization. Secondly, China can only join the WTO as a developing country. Thirdly, there should be a balance between China's rights and duties for its entry into the organization."

Jiang said that the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia was bombed on May 8 this year, and three Chinese were killed in the bombing. "The U.S. government and President Clinton personally apologized to us again and again. Nevertheless, the timing then was totally inappropriate for the U.S. government to request that talks between China and the United States on China's access to the WTO continue. And therefore, the talks were suspended."

Jiang said the United States has kept sending messages requesting the resumption of talks with China since August. "Recently, President Clinton wrote to me specially, on the question of resumption of such talks. And I agreed in my reply. Thus, the talks started again," Jiang said.

Jiang said some reports in Western media have alleged that it is China that is eager to resume talks with the United States. "This is not the fact," Jiang said.

Jiang also said that he will attend the informal meeting of the leaders of APEC, to be held in Auckland of New Zealand in a few days, and is expected to meet President Clinton during the meeting.

"I think that China and the United States should proceed with talks according to the principle of equality and mutual benefit," Jiang said.

He said that during his visit to the United States in 1997 and Clinton's visit to China in 1998, the two countries had originally planned to solve the question concerning China's entry into the WTO.

However, the issue was not discussed, because of the reasons reportedly lying with the U.S. Congress, he said.

Jiang said that the United States again lost a good opportunity this spring when Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited the United States. At the time, the two countries could have reached an agreement, and again, the reasons for the failure to reach an agreement reportedly lay with the Congress, Jiang said.

"Now, an agreement has been reached between China and Australia on China's entry into the WTO. How the talks between China and the United States will proceed and whether or not an agreement can be reached depends, to a large extent, on the United States." Jiang said.