China has strictly honored its commitments to the WTO in formulating the regulations on banking, insurance and telecom service that have been promulgated recently, Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said Tuesday.
Shi dismissed as misinterpretation the claim that the regulations on banking and telecom service have violated the spirit embodied in the WTO agreements it signed as they provide that no more than one foreign bank will be allowed to open China branch a year and foreign investors in the telecom sector have to wait 310 days before getting the license.
The regulations have been wrongly construed, said the minister. As a participant in WTO talks, I know that the opening of the service trade is conditional, including time, content and geographical area, which have their transitional periods.
Shi made the statement in response to a question at a press conference sponsored by the on-going session of the legislative National People's Congress.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2002)
