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UPDATED: 16:55, July 12, 2005
Feature: Chinese farmers expect more help, less discrimination from WTO



Jiang Linyuan drove three hours to a vegetable wholesale market in Dalian, a scenic coastal city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, at 2 a.m. in a hope that he can sell his home-grown cucumbers, tomatoes and lentils at a good price.

Less than two kilometers away from the market locates the hotel which hosts representatives from 30 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) attending an informal ministerial meeting.

Trade disputes over agricultural products will on top the agenda of the two-day meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday.

"Maybe I can earn more if I can sell the vegetables abroad," said 42-year-old Jiang jokingly, clad in a white vest.

Unfortunately, the farmer has no such a chance now.

When asked about his opinion on the meeting, Jiang says," I don't care what they will debate, as the topics they will discuss has nothing to do with me."

But the meeting is a great concern to Zheng Quanren, another farmer at Caijia Village of Shahezhen in Dalian.

Zheng, 51, now earns hundreds of thousands of yuan a year from selling home-grown vegetables, such as cabbage, shallot and brocoli, to Japan and the Republic of Korea.

He is very sensitive to the international market situation. So he likes surfing the Internet every day to learn about the latest international political and economic news.

"Can't the developed countries provide the Chinese farmers more latest agricultural technologies and new strains and impose less trade barriers on us?" Zheng asked.

China, with a population of 1.3 billion and 900 million of them are farmers, is in fact integrating fast into the global trade system ever since it joined the WTO as its 143rd member in December 2001.

In 2003, the country's imports and exports amounted to 850 billion US dollars and the figure rose to 1.1547 trillion US dollars in 2004, up 30 percent.

In the first five months of this year, the imports and exports volume reached 522.78 billion dollars, up 23 percent from the same period of last year, statistics showed.

Meanwhile, China is plagued by increasing trade disputes with other WTO members. According to WTO statistics, since the world trade body was established in 1995, anti-dumping cases involving China made up around one-seventh of the total.

China has been ranking the first for nine consecutive years for being accused of alleged dumping by other countries.

In 2004, developed countries lodged 31 anti-dumping complaints against China, a rise 20 percent from the previous year.

In the first six months of this year, the European Union and the United States threatened to impose export quotas on Chinese textiles on grounds that China's surging textile exports disrupt their production.

Although China and EU reached a deal to manage the growth of Chinese textile exports to the EU in the coming three years on June 11, their disputes over shoes surfaced again recently.

The dispute between China and the United States over textiles and shoes is also awaiting to be solved and cast a shadow over the bilateral ties.

"Why do developed countries discriminate against us," asked Han Wei, a farmer from Dalian.

"The EU bans imports of eggs and poultry products from China," Han said. "I don't understand why this happens when the global economy is increasingly integrated?"

Han, 48, now owns Asia's largest chicken-breeding farm and employs 2,000 local farmers.

He plans to expand his business to Fuxin, a city in Liaoning, to help local laid-off coal mine workers to get rich.

"I hope that the ministers (who are here attending the WTO negotiations), especially those from the developed countries, not just talk empty words," Han said.

"They should do something to help developing countries and the poor people in these countries through the fair trade rules of the WTO, not just shirk off their duties and responsibilities," he noted.

"Market opening should be mutual," Han said," a win-win goal can only be achieved when all play the game within the WTO rules," said Han.

He revealed that he is planning to establish a Chinese agricultural industry association to "protect the legal interests of Chinese farmers in case trade disputes involving agricultural products erupted between China and other WTO members in the future.

Source: Xinhua

People's Daily Online -- Feature: Chinese farmers expect more help, less discrimination from WTO