During the fifteen years from 1986 to 2001, after arduous negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization. Wang Lei, a lawyer from Gaopeng Law Firm, participated fully and deeply in the negotiation from the beginning, and was a legal person in the negotiation delegation. This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. Gao Pengsuo specially invited Lawyer Wang to write a series of articles to recall the details of those eventful years. We also take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who stood at the forefront of reform and opening up and worked hard in the negotiations for the national interests.

 

The process for a country to accede to the General Agreement is roughly as follows. First, a working group is established in the General Agreement. The chairman is usually the ambassador of the permanent mission of the contracting parties in Geneva. The Secretariat of the General Agreement provides a working secretary to assist the chairman in presiding over meetings, consultations, and negotiations. The Working Group has three main tasks. Firstly, it is necessary to review the trading systems and regulations of the acceding parties to determine how far they differ from the requirements of the General Agreement; The second is to provide a platform for parties to negotiate on the "entry fee"; The third is to draft a legal document for accession, known as the "Protocol of Accession".

 

The acceding party should negotiate with the main stakeholders on the "entry fee" to form a "tariff concession table" for the acceding party. This major stakeholder is known as the "major supplier country". Because there are thousands of goods under a country's tariff, it is impossible and unnecessary for the acceding party to negotiate with each contracting party one by one. For example, Norway is most concerned about the tariffs on tuna and salmon, but not on cars. Malaysia is concerned about the tariffs on natural rubber and palm oil, but not wool. Therefore, the country that exports bulk products to China is the "main supplier" of the product in the concession table negotiated with China, and is also the "initial negotiating country" of the bulk product. According to the most favored nation treatment trade rules, the tariff rates negotiated between Norway and China on tuna salmon as the initial negotiating country, and the tariff rates negotiated between Malaysia and China on natural rubber and palm oil as the initial negotiating country, are applicable to all parties to the General Agreement.

 

After China submitted its application for restoration of seats in the General Agreement, the General Agreement established a China Working Group to handle the application, which was named the "Working Group on the Status of China as a Contracting State". After that, it is time to identify a candidate to chair the working group. At that time, it was planned to select among the ambassadors of Norway and Switzerland in Geneva. There is reason to consider candidates in these two countries. China was once a party to the East West camp, and now its decision to return to the General Agreement is a major event of the international community that has attracted worldwide attention. Dealing with Eastern and Western affairs is a tradition that these small neutral countries are good at. As an ambassador, it is a challenging mission and honor to be able to handle this important event. Due to the imminent departure of the Ambassador of Norway, and considering the inconvenience of attending and returning to the Working Group in the future, the final candidate fell to the Ambassador of Switzerland: Pierre Louis Gillard.

 

During my six years at the Geneva Mission, my main job was to be responsible for the affairs of the China Working Group, accompany my supervisor, and be close to Gillard in the past.

 

Gillard is a native of Martini, Valais, Switzerland, and is a genuine Swiss mountaineer. Valle, which means valley, is located in Valle State, where more than half of the 82 majestic peaks in the Alps with a height of more than 4000 meters are located, such as the famous Matterhorn and Zermatt. Valais is the most sunny region in Switzerland, so these majestic mountains are often bathed in golden sunlight. The state is also the largest grape growing area and wine producing area in Switzerland, and its wine production accounts for 40% of Switzerland's annual wine production. Gillard is one of the few small Swiss people who doesn't seem to have much of the breeding genes of the Alps, but her light chestnut complexion fully absorbs the mountain sun. He was born into a diplomatic family and his father was the Consul General of Switzerland in Osaka. Perhaps for this reason, he married a Japanese wife. "We joke with him, Japanese women are gentle and obedient, but he says, 'Oh, who knows?'". They had no children and later divorced.

 

Gillard is a professional trade diplomat who served at the International Monetary Fund. He is from the French speaking area of Switzerland, fluent in English without a French accent, but with sufficient breath and a loud voice, he can hear his voice from afar. During his long 15-year career as Chairman of the Working Group, he has visited China many times and received reception and hospitality from party and state leaders. This should be something that senior diplomats from this small and neutral country should boast about. In the past 15 years, China's negotiators have changed four terms, the United States has changed five terms, the European Union has changed four terms, the General Agreement has become the WTO, and the Director General has changed four terms. Only the Chairman of the China Working Group has not changed, and Gillard has been working for 15 years. Finally, being able to bring a great eastern country into the world trade family under the negotiations presided over by Gillard is indeed a page that can be written and written in Gillard's diplomatic career. "I am happy that I have finally lost my job," Gillard said as she left the 15-year working group.

 

 

在中国常驻日内瓦使团工作六年之后，我于1994年夏调回国内，走前专门到伯尔尼瑞士经济部吉拉德办公室辞别。临走前，吉高兴地让秘书给我们在办公室挂毯前合影。左为龙永图部长助理。

但这一路走来起起伏伏的艰难旅程，吉拉德和中国谈判代表团一样感同身受。作为外交官，他生性略显好斗，凡事究个究竟。但是与中国打交道时间长了，他应该学会了一点委婉。“哎呀呀，今天会议室温度有点高，要开窗户透透气”，每当工作组会场上中方与他方争论激烈时，吉拉德总是从中调和。记得有几次，他把美方的发问，解释给中方听，但适得其反，中方代表正为所发问的问题感到愤懑，吉拉德的解释似火上浇油。“没见过这样的主席，哪有什么中立”，中方代表情不自禁用中文自语道。虽听不懂，但察言观色，吉拉德感觉到了会场上的愠怒气氛，及时宣布会议休息一刻钟。

也曾有几次，吉拉德私下表示想辞职。他也觉得“我好难啊”。但是，他坚持到了最后。

在总协定和后来的WTO多边外交场合，吉拉德与主要大国的代表和秘书处上上下下，能左右逢源，从善如流。但是面对媒体，他本能显示出瑞士人行事低调的禀赋，对采访能拒则拒，鲜有见诸报端。而对主持工作组的工作，他又彰显出瑞士人特有的精准与井井有序。“根据我的瑞士表的时间，现在开会”，每次工作组会议，吉拉德如此准时宣布开会，顺便不忘给国货直播带货。年复一年，工作组文件汗牛充栋，某年某月某成员方的某建议某提案，随需随查，随查随有。真是验证了那个广为流传的善意段子：英国警察，德国技师，法国厨师，意大利情人，瑞士人把他们组织起来，那就是天堂；德国警察，法国技师，英国厨师，瑞士情人，意大利人把他们组织起来，那就是地狱。

未完待续……