CONFIDENTIAL
seeking "transitional" (but in practice more or less indefinite) provisions allowing the maintenance of QRs on
substantially tougher lines than the East European Protocols. We have a strong political interest in letting others make the running on this, although we shall want to make sure that the Community position takes the interest of our producers fully into account.
16. As a developing country, China would also be able to claim a special treatment accorded under Part IV of the GATT.
This would enable her to benefit for all the commitments made by developed contracting parties to reduce trade barriers without having to reciprocate. She could also exploit the obligation on developed countries in Part IV to have special regard to the trade interests of less-developed countries in
order to resist their efforts to retain transitional QRs.
Since the terms of accession are agreed by a two-thirds 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.
16 bis China could thus have two "let-outs" from meaningful GATT obligations: first as a State Trading Country and second as a developing country.
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 two-thirds 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
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