CONFIDENTIAL
Special Terms
(Paragraph 19 unchanged)
20.
Within the constraint of possible developing country status, what special terms for China could be considered? Normal GATT rules are intended to govern trading relationships between market economies. The presumption is that the GATT rules ensure fair competition and that, even when the competition is fierce and painful, open trade will be main- tained, to the benefit of members. The burden of proof lies on the party who believes himself the victim of "unfair" competition: he must find evidence of subsidy or dumping. In the case of China, this would not do. It would amount to an unequal treaty in which China retained political freedom
of maneuvre while other Contracting Parties with a transparent, market-oriented Government surrendered theirs. Special terms would be needed that reserved a greater degree of political discretion for all Contracting Parties in their dealings with China. In other words, the onus of proof would have to be reversed.....
(Remainder, plus paragraph 21 unchanged).
Other Countries' Attitudes
22. The interests of other developed countries, including the United States, are on the whole close to our own. As regards regional countries, NICs (eg Korea and Singapore)
are likely to see more potential commercial benefit to them- selves than the less industrialised (Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia). Where for less developed countries Chinese accession would simply mean greater competition for their own goods on third country markets with little in the way of
compensating gains, China's more developed Asian neighbours would also be interested by any prospect of opening the Chinese market to their own exports. As already suggested, many LDCs will expect Chinese support for traditional LDC positions in the GATT.