Vol. 446 No. 1
86 Mr. Dukes asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason he supported the view that the People's Republic of China should be admitted to the GATT before the Republic of China during the course of a recent visit to Beijing, notwithstanding the fact that the two applications are based of different Articles of the GATT Charter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1712/94]
During the course of my recent visit to Beijing, I had the opportunity to discuss the application from the People's Republic of China for re-entry to GATT with the Chinese Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen. I informed him that Ireland and its European Union partners welcomed China's application for membership of GATT and the new World Trade Organisation and looked forward to a successful outcome to the negotiations currently taking place in Geneva.
Ireland also welcomes the application from Taiwan for membership of GATT. We support the approach adopted by the GATT Council in September 1992 to the effect that the working parties negotiating the terms and conditions of membership for China and Taiwan should process both applications in parallel and report back to the Council expeditiously. It was agreed that the GATT council would examine the China working party report and adopt the Protocol for the People's Republic of China before examining the report and adopting the Protocol on Taiwan. Work on the applications has been progressing in Geneva and it is hoped that they will be completed as soon as possible.
The proposed accession of both China and Taiwan to GATT and the new World Trade Organisation is welcomed by the European Union and by Ireland. Given the potential of China as a trading partner and the importance of Taiwan in international trade, it is desirable that they should both be bound by GATT rules regulating world trade.
