Editor's Note: 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

As the China Working Group returned to the track and continued to move forward, the Uruguay Round negotiations, which began in 1986, also reached the final stage. This is an ambitious round of negotiations. The parties have not only negotiated the opening of markets on new and old topics, but also launched an unprecedented law making movement on the organization and dispute settlement of the multilateral trading system.

From the beginning of the Uruguay Round negotiations, China has fully participated in negotiations on all topics. However, as China is not a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and its participation in the negotiations is limited, China can participate in the discussion of negotiation topics, but ultimately has no decision-making power. Negotiations are divided into several negotiation groups based on the topic. My colleagues from the mission and I have divided our work and participated in the work of various negotiation groups, mainly to track the progress of the topic negotiations. I am responsible for tracking negotiations on the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO Charter), dispute resolution, anti-dumping agreements, countervailing agreements, safeguard measures agreements, and amendments to the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Other colleagues are responsible for tracking negotiations on intellectual property rights, trade in services, textiles, agricultural products, rules of origin, customs valuation, and other issues.

The Chairman of the Negotiating Group on the Organizational Structure is Ambassador Lakati of Uruguay, known as the "Father of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade". He participated in the negotiation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 at the age of less than 30, and went through the entire birth process of the GATT. Laka proposed to serve as the first Deputy Director General after the establishment of the General Agreement, and subsequently served as three Uruguayan ambassadors to the General Agreement, participating in all eight rounds of multilateral negotiations under the General Agreement. He successfully persuaded members of the General Agreement to launch the eighth round of negotiations in their home countries, namely the Uruguay Round. After the establishment of the WTO, he became the first chairman of the Appellate Body.

The work of the negotiating group is informal consultations at the technical level, with frequent night meetings. The parties engaged in a number of draft texts, verbally deleting, supplementing, and revising each other. The Chairman's job is to seek common ground while reserving differences, strive to capture the maximum common denominator of all parties, place different opinions in square brackets in the text, and gradually delete all square brackets. In the face of debates and disputes among the main members, the 75 year old Lakati, with the seniority and patience of his elders, constantly reconciled and stood up. He was full of vitality and his voice was loud. As soon as he spoke, the meeting place was completely silent, except for the sound of the lake lapping on the shore outside the window.

As part of the reconstruction of the international order after World War II, countries originally intended to establish an International Trade Organization (ITO), which was negotiated as the Havana Charter. However, later, the United States Congress failed to approve it, and the International Trade Organization was not established. Instead, the tariff and trade chapters of the Havana Charter were taken into effect separately, resulting in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Legally, the GATT is only an international treaty, not an international organization, but it has been in operation for nearly half a century. During this period, the international political and business circles have all tried to advocate the creation of an organization that manages international trade affairs on the basis of equal organizational structures, keeping abreast of the International Monetary Economic Organization and the World Bank, but they have failed to achieve their aspirations. In this Uruguay Round negotiation, all parties have basically reached an agreement to create such an international organization. In order to avoid the misfortune of the International Trade Organization (ITO) at that time, all parties advocated avoiding the term "international trade" and replacing it with "world trade" to create a World Trade Organization (WTO).

The negotiating group, convened by President Lakati, spent most of its time discussing and negotiating an agreement to establish the World Trade Organization. During the discussion of the draft agreement item by item, when it came to the "accession" clause in Article 12 and the "non applicability" clause in Article 13, as a representative of the Chinese delegation tracking this issue, I raised the "CHINA" table and asked for a speech. Previously, there had never been a voice from China in the negotiating group. The delegates saw that China was about to speak, and the venue was unusually quiet.

"Mr. President, China is concerned about Articles 12 and 13 of the draft. The accession party mentioned in the accession clause of Article 33 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade refers to the government of a non member party or a government acting on behalf of a separate customs area. Moreover, Article 26 of the General Agreement defines a separate customs area. In particular, a separate customs area must be proposed by a contracting party that bears international responsibility for it, and it is considered a contracting party. However, Article 12 of the current draft WTO agreement is considered a contracting party The accession clause, when referring to WTO accession parties, juxtaposes countries with separate tariff regions. This and other clauses do not define separate tariff regions. "The Chinese side is concerned about this and considers it inappropriate."

I believe that if China does not raise this issue, no one else will raise it; Even if China is not a member of the General Agreement and does not have the final decision-making power over the draft agreement, the negotiating group has minutes of each meeting, and China's remarks will be left in the minutes of the negotiation meeting. In the event of unclear or controversial text regarding the future interpretation of the agreement, it is helpful to review the legislative process and negotiation records of the agreement to understand the background of the issue and the existing disputes at the time.

At this moment, the representative of the United States at the meeting, Stuart, made a statement. "He is an American of Ukrainian ancestry, with a medium head and a round face with" plateau red "on both sides. He has been a deputy representative of the United States Mission to the General Agreement for over a decade.". "Mr. President, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that China is not yet a member of the General Agreement and has no right to comment on the negotiation of the agreement."

Stuart does not talk about substantive content, but first imposes restrictions on procedures and discourse rights. As soon as I listen, anger emanates from my heart. "The Chinese delegation has received a written notice from the negotiating group to attend the meeting. Please clarify the identity of China in participating in the work of the negotiating group."

Ambassador Lakati then invited Lyndon, the Special Adviser to the Director General, who was sitting next to him, to speak. "China is not a party to the General Agreement. The Ministerial Declaration of the Uruguay Round, which initiated the round of negotiations, invited China to participate as a full participant in the Uruguay Round of negotiations, but has no decision-making power over the outcome of the negotiations."

"Since I am a full participant, it includes expressing opinions on the issue," I said immediately.

With the consent of Ambassador Lakati, I will continue to speak on the "non applicability" clause.

"Article 35 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides for the mutual exclusion clause between individual contracting parties due to difficulties in applying the GATT, and stipulates the conditions for mutual exclusion, that is, the parties have not conducted tariff concession negotiations, in other words, once the two parties have conducted tariff concession negotiations, they lose the conditions for mutual exclusion. However, if the provisions of Article 13 of the WTO do not apply to each other, the declaration of mutual exclusion will be postponed until the conclusion of the negotiations and submitted to the Ministerial Conference." During deliberations, as a result, the parties, especially the acceding parties, have to negotiate with the other party when they are unable to know whether the other party ultimately does not apply to each other. "This is unfair and fundamentally changes the original meaning and legislative purpose of Article 35 of the General Agreement."

Stuart didn't follow up. But across the long conference table, I saw his slightly raised chin and arrogant eyes. He may feel that China has no decision-making power over the final outcome of the agreement anyway, and he doesn't care what I say.

During the tea break, Ambassador Lakati came to shake hands with me. Since the birth of the General Agreement in those years, he has been dealing with every article and negotiation history of the General Agreement for a lifetime. He knows better than anyone about the "accession" clause and "non applicability" clause, as well as the changes to be made by the WTO today. I told him that China's concerns may not be included in the agreement, but what we want is to be recorded in the negotiation history.

"You did the right thing," he affirmed.

The entire Uruguay Round is scheduled for completion of work level negotiations before Christmas 1993. On the night of November 15th of this year, the negotiating group finally completed the text negotiation of the agreement establishing the WTO. At midnight, the Secretariat prepared champagne and Dim sum in the corridor to celebrate. "We are pleased that the hard negotiations over the past few years have brought about positive results, and we are grateful for our participation in the establishment of an international organization such as the WTO. We are also full of expectations for the upcoming birth and operation of the WTO in accordance with the agreements discussed.". Everyone smiled and left this precious group photo.

Of course, China cannot be absent from such an important commemorative moment. Fortunately, as the only representative of China, I am among them.

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)