CONFIDENTIAL
2/3 majority of Contracting Parties, the developing
countries would be able to guarantee the explicit
recognition of Part IV principles in any protocol.
More generally, China could be expected to reinforce
powerfully the developing country lobby within the
GATT, and to take a consistently unhelpful line on the
wide range of issues on which the interests of
developed and developing countries differ.
Method of Joining
-
Rejoining or Resumption?
17. It is, in addition, becoming increasingly clear
that China does not intend to apply to rejoin the GATT
(under Article XXXIII, which provides for fresh
accessions with decisions taken by 2/3 majority, and
would allow existing contracting parties to secure
safeguard provisions, import commitments, etc as in the
case of other state traders), but to resume the seat
vacated by the Chinese Nationalists in 1950. There are
precedents for this - China's resumption of her seats
in the UN and in the IMF, for example. If it was
agreed that China could resume her seat, that would
make it more difficult to impose conditions like those
in the East European Protocols on Chinese accession.
China would have an obligation to pay 34 years of back
dues (totalling nearly 3 million Swiss francs, to which
compound interest could presumably be added) and to
CONFIDENTIAL
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