| Abstract | When the inaugural World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference opens on December 9, 1996 in Singapore, the question on the minds of the 5,000 delegates will be whether the bang of the chairman's gavel becomes a rallying call to a new world order of ever-freer trade - or something of a death blow to years of idealism. Can the WTO's 125-strong membership and 30-odd observers, including China, Russia and Taiwan, push the free-trade agenda forward? The rich-versus-poor debate extends to the vexed question of China's entry into the WTO. As the world's 11th biggest trading nation, its absence as a full member of the forum is glaring. Asia and other developing countries want the mainland in. The United States says it does too - at a price. |
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