HONG KONG, Jun 4, 1999 -- (Agence France
Presse) Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said Friday
that the time was not ripe for a resumption of
Sino-US talks on Beijing's long-standing bid to
enter the World Trade Organization (WTO),
local television said.
Zhu was quoted as saying the message had
been delivered to US President Bill Clinton
during a recent telephone conversation with
Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The premier said at a meeting with Hong Kong
Financial Secretary Donald Tsang that the
present atmosphere "was not appropriate" to
resume WTO-related talks with the United
States.
Zhu also said the dialogue could not continue if
human rights were being linked to China's
accession to the world trade watchdog.
Sino-US relations have been strained since the
bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
by NATO forces last month.
US and Chinese negotiators have not discussed
China's WTO accession bid since the incident
on May 7 which killed three Chinese journalists.
The Cox report charging China with having
stolen US nuclear weapons secrets has also set
back Sino-US relations and is seen to have
complicated the WTO talks.
Even before the bombing, the United States and
China were having trouble hammering out an
accord under which Washington would back
Beijing's entry into the Geneva-based trade
body.
The United States is pressing China for
sweeping market-opening commitments before it
extends its backing.
Hong Kong's financial secretary told reporters
the premier had told him how the Chinese
economy was likely to fare this year.
Tsang said Zhu had repeated assurances that
the Chinese yuan would not be devalued.
The Bank of China's move to stop overseas
yuan remittances to domestic branches on
Thursday sparked renewed worries of a yuan
devaluation in regional financial markets. ((c)
1999 Agence France Presse)