China urges wealthy countries to make WTO concessions

BEIJING, Sep 5 (Reuters) China expects wealthy countries to make breakthrough concessions to revive deadlocked global trade talks, the country's top trade official told visiting WTO chief Pascal Lamy.

Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said he ''regretted'' the suspension of the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks, launched nearly five years ago with the aim of fighting Third World poverty by lifting global trade, the ministry Web site (www.mofcom.gov.cn) reported on Tuesday.

Lamy suspended the tortuous negotiations in July after major trading powers failed to bridge differences over agricultural trade, with the European Union and United States blaming each other for not offering deep enough cuts.

Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said China should offer its own concessions to help restart talks.

But Bo told Lamy on Monday that since joining the WTO in 2001, China had ''abided by its promises'' by lowering tariffs and opening trade in services.

Rich countries now needed to take the lead, Bo said.

''At present, we need the developed members to lead the way in making substantial concessions to restore conditions for negotiations as quickly as possible'', Bo said.

''Only by altering development imbalances between the developed and developing countries can we encourage the sustained healthy development of global trade.'' China is the world's third-largest trading economy, behind the United States and European Union.

But while Beijing has promoted itself as a bridge between developed and poor countries, it has avoided deep entanglement in the complex Doha negotiations, reluctant to make new concessions.

When China joined the WTO, it accepted tariff cuts on farm goods that were deeper than many countries are now proposing. China's tariffs on farm goods now average about 15 percent.

REUTERS CS DB1224