(September 11, 1999) CHINESE President Jiang Zemin and his U.S. counterpart Bill Clinton, in an official meeting held in Auckland on September 11, 1999, exchanged views on China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

At the meeting, Jiang said China has always been positive toward accession to the WTO.

China's accession to the WTO is not only in the interests of the country's economic development and its reform and opening to the outside world, but also the interests of the establishment of a complete and open international trading system, Jiang said.

On the issue of acceding to the WTO, China has always insisted on the balance of rights and obligations, he said.

As a universally recognized developing country, China will not accept any conditions which go beyond its economic capacity, and will not harm its national interests because of this, the Chinese president stressed.

Presently, it is of positive significance that China and the United States have resumed negotiations on China's accession to the WTO, he noted.

Recently, negotiators from the two countries fully exchanged their views on the issue, which helped enhance mutual understanding, he said.

"We hope that the negotiations will proceed on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and that an agreement can be reached at an early date," the Chinese president said.

Speaking on the same occasion, Clinton said that the United States supports the early accession of China to the WTO and hopes that the WTO negotiations with China will conclude successfully as soon as possible.

He expressed the hope that the two sides will make further efforts to this effect.

During the meeting, the two presidents agreed that their present summit meeting will play a guiding role in the process of the WTO negotiations between the two countries.