Editor's Note: This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. The predecessor of the WTO was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which had been in operation for 46 years. The history of China and GATT/WTO is tortuous and tortuous. China is a founding contracting party to the GATT. After the founding of New China in 1949, the Taiwan authorities announced their "withdrawal" from the GATT in 1950. In 1965, the Taiwan authorities participated in the GATT activities as observers. After the restoration of China's seat in the General Assembly in 1971, the GATT invited representatives of the Taiwan authorities to leave. In 1986, China applied to restore its seat as a contracting party to the GATT. In 1995, the GATT was replaced by the WTO. In that year, China applied to join the WTO, and until the end of negotiations in 2001, it became a member of the WTO.

 

Although China has experienced several ups and downs in GATT, from the beginning of the establishment and operation of GATT through negotiations, until more than 20 years later, there has always been a Chinese who has been working in the GATT Secretariat and serving as a senior official. With his professional skills and generous virtues, he has won the respect and love of representatives of various countries and colleagues in the Secretariat in the "Rich Club" of GATT. From the founding of New China in 1949 to the reform and opening up in 1978, China and GATT have had no official exchanges for nearly 30 years. However, due to his perseverance, GATT and China are inextricably linked.

  

Tang Xiaobing, a consultant to Gaopeng Law Firm, is the first official in China to participate in the GATT negotiations and a Chinese employee serving for the United Nations and WTO. He has many interactions with this staunch Chinese in GATT. On the occasion of commemorating the twentieth anniversary of China's accession to the WTO, Lawyer Tang wrote an article to recall the past in memory of the ancestor who contributed to China's participation in the multilateral trading system.

 

After eight years of complex and lengthy negotiations on "resuming customs" and seven years of "entering WTO", China finally signed the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement in Doha, Qatar, on November 11, 2001. This has also drawn an end to the debate over whether China is "restoring, resuming, reinstating, or readmission" or "re accession" over the years. But the unique connection between GATT and China in history cannot be erased.

  

Today, as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of China's accession to the WTO, it is very necessary to review the efforts and contributions made by China and its people, together with other countries, to establish the postwar multilateral trading system.

  

Here, I would like to introduce to you Mr. Constant Chung tse Shih, an early Chinese international employee who worked in the secretariat of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Mr. Shi Lao was the first Chinese to work in the GATT Secretariat, and he was a very outstanding international staff member. His life is legendary.

  

Mr. Shi was born in Shouxian County, Anhui Province in 1915. From 1933 to 1936, he was an apprentice at an international bank in Shanghai, where he later worked for another year. After the outbreak of the Anti Japanese War, he enlisted to participate in the War of Resistance and went to Chongqing with the National Government. Soon after, he drove a truck on the road from Yunnan to Myanmar to support the anti Japanese war. At the same time, through this hard and dangerous work (because there were often Japanese military aircraft bombing at that time) to fund his study in Britain. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, he went to England to study abroad.

During his study in the United Kingdom, a chance opportunity made him a member of the United Nations delegation in Havana, and he participated in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment held in Havana, Cuba, from November 21, 1947 to March 24, 1948. During this period, Mr. Shi participated in the negotiation of the Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization; Negotiations on the provisional entry into force of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); And the secretariat of the Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization (ITCO).

 

Mr. Shi joined the GATT Secretariat in May 1948 and left on March 1, 1973, serving for 25 years. On March 1, 1973, he transferred to the secretariat of UNCTAD (United Nations Commission on Trade and Development) until his retirement in 1979. He served in international organizations for over 30 years. His entire career as an international civil servant can be said to be very successful.

Mr. Shi, who lives in my hometown, is my senior and my teacher. Although I have never worked with Mr. Shi before, I have long been familiar with him through my exposure to early customs clearance documents and the preparation of a textbook for the Tokyo Round negotiations manual through UNCTAD's Technical Cooperation Assistance Programme for Multilateral Trade Negotiations.

 

In March 1986, I arrived at the International Textiles and Clothing Bureau ITCB in Geneva and soon had the privilege of meeting him. Subsequently, during my tenure at UNCTAD, he was an expert hired by my project on several occasions. Later, almost every time Mr. Shi came to Geneva for business trips (as a private trade policy consultant or UNDP project review expert), or to visit relatives and friends, we would meet. "Every time I meet him, he will give me a lot of teachings, imparting a lot of his accumulated experience in various aspects of international institutions, or telling the" those "stories of early GATT, which has greatly benefited me and will be unforgettable throughout my life.". He has a good reputation among the old colleagues of the GATT Secretariat and UNCTAD Secretariat, as well as among the old foreign diplomats in the diplomatic corps in Geneva.

  

On August 1st, 2002, I left the UNCTAD secretariat and joined the WTO secretariat. He became the first Chinese to work in the WTO Secretariat after China's accession to the WTO. In January 2004, I asked the Personnel Department of the WTO Secretariat whether they had saved any information about Mr. Shi. Soon, I received their reply and gave me a resume of Mr. Shi during the GATT period. It clearly and in detail records:

  

On May 10th, 1948, Mr. Shi joined the GATT Secretariat as an assistant researcher;

  

On January 1, 1958, he was promoted to Head, Quantitative Restriction Section;

 

On January 1, 1963, he was promoted to Counsellor, Trade Policy Division;

 

On April 26, 1963, he served as Counsellor, General Division, Department of Trade Policy and Intelligence of the Ministry of Trade Policy and Information;

 

On February 6, 1964, he served as the Director, Director of in Service Training Program, Office of the Executive Secretary;

 

On January 1, 1966, he was transferred to the Acting Director, Development Division, Department of Trade&Development of the Ministry of Trade and Development;

 

On July 1, 1966, he was promoted to Director, Development Division;

 

On October 1, 1969, he was transferred to the Assistant Director General in charge of the Department of Trade Policy until he left on March 1, 1973.

Due to his banking experience, rich experience in international finance and accounting, and proficiency in abacus calculation, Mr. Shi is a rare talent. In the 1950s, he worked for many years to curb and eliminate quantitative restrictions maintained on the basis of the balance of payments or for industrial development goals; Providing support to the Balance of Payments Committee; And coordinate with the International Monetary Fund on matters related to monetary reserves on behalf of GATT.

 

Mr. Shi was also responsible for or involved in the handling of some important, sensitive and thorny issues: for example, the exemption requirements for agriculture in the United States in 1955; Urgent action arrangements under the GATT "exemption clause"; "Grey zone" measures; "Market disruption" issues; Short-term arrangements for cotton textiles; Long term arrangements for cotton textiles; Multifiber Arrangement MFA; The issue of US import surcharges in 1971; Non tariff trade barriers in the formation of the European Common Market and the European Free Trade Area; Accession and provisional accession (Japan, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, etc.); Invoking Article XXXV does not apply to GATT obligations; As well as the "provisional application" and "grandfather clause" of GATT.

 

After World War II, the United States led the creation of the multilateral trading system - GATT - from the beginning ignored the recognition that economic development and trade as a traction for economic development are extremely important to developing countries. In the 1950s, especially in the early 1960s, the proportion of developing countries in international trade continued to decline. With the sudden increase in the number of developing countries joining the United Nations, there are continuous calls within the United Nations to pay attention to and take action on trade development issues. Developing countries are extremely dissatisfied with GATT's "equal treatment" and "reciprocal" trade liberalization. They believe that "equal treatment of unequals is unfair". They also believe that the GATT system does not have a solid institutional foundation and ignores the trade interests of developing countries. On the contrary, the GATT transition is keen to reduce trade barriers in developed industrialized countries. Even "commodity" arrangements that are of concern to developing countries have been kicked out of the GATT. The international community has twice attempted to create an international organization with institutional foundations: the International Trade Organization (ITO) in 1948 and the Organization for Trade Co operation (OTC) in 1955, but both failed because they did not receive the support of the United States. As a result, UNCTAD was established in 1964 and the first UNCTAD Conference was held; The fourth part has also been added to GATT.

  

Out of sympathy for the situation of developing countries, Mr. Shi actively promoted the GATT discussion of the "trade and development" agenda within his mandate; Promote trade liberalization that is in the interest of developing countries (for example, in the GATT organization: the Third Committee (Committee III), the Action Committee (Action Committee), the Trade and Development Committee, the Working Group on Tropical Products, the Working Group on Residual Restrictions, and so on). 

 

Mr. Shi participated in the operation of various rounds of multilateral tariff and trade negotiations under GATT, especially the Kennedy Round. In the early 1960s, he also served as the dean of the GATT Trade Policy Course Training School. He was well aware of the difficulties faced by developing countries in multilateral tariff and trade negotiations: a lack of understanding and knowledge of the laws and negotiating skills involved in the negotiations; Lack of sufficient statistical information and data support. He is well aware that technical assistance and negotiation capacity-building in multilateral trade negotiations are particularly important for developing countries.

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

 

　　图四：时先生在GATT与缔约方代表