World Trade Organization (WTO)
Posts Member Information on Website
     The WTO recently posted a new section on its website that provides comprehensive information on member countries. The site www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm, allows visitors to obtain data regarding a country’s date of membership, goods and services schedules, trade policy reviews, dispute settlement cases, and notification.


Woman Breaks Government
Monopoly on Public Restroom Management
     A 45-year-old woman took over management of public restrooms on Huaihou Road in Shanghai. Li Hongfang, a former bus company worker, is one of the first entrepreneurs to be part of the reform launched by the Shanghai Public Sanitation Bureau, which is encouraging individuals and professional sanitation firms to bid for toilet operation, road cleaning, and garbage collection. Li won with a bid of ¥200,000 ($24,096).


USAID Removes China From Foreign Policy-Restricted List
     The US Agency for International Development (USAID) in late 2002 announced the removal of China from its list of “foreign policy-restricted countries”; the list now consists only of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Sudan. The removal of China from the list allows US companies to participate in USAID contracts soliciting bids for US exports to third countries even if a company’s exports contain components sourced from China. Under 22CFR228.03, US companies were previously unable to bid on such contracts if their exports contained components sourced from China. Other US government restrictions on the ability of USAID to operate in China remain in effect.


PRC Tax Revenue Up $20 Billion
     According to PRC tax authorities, China’s tax revenue for the first 10 months of 2002 totaled ¥1.4 trillion ($169.1 billion), up 13.4 percent over the year-earlier period. This figure is equal to 85.5 percent of the central government’s tax revenue target for 2002. A spokesperson for the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said this growth rate translates into ¥168 billion ($20.3 billion) in added revenues. The increase in tax revenues comes despite a drop in Customs collection of import tariffs that occurred after tariff reductions took effect upon China’s WTO entry into the. The PRC government boosted tax revenues this year by closing tax loopholes and cracking down on smuggling to keep its widening budget deficit—set at a record ¥310 billion ($37.5 billion) for 2002—under control.

Rampant tax evasion has been a serious problem in recent years. For example, the Beijing Taxation Bureau found that 71 percent of 7,166 businesses examined failed to pay taxes on time during the first half of 2002. But there are clear signs that the government is taking tough steps to crack down on evaders. Following a major mid-year meeting aimed at increasing revenue and tax collection convened by Premier Zhu Rongji, a new system that requires companies to register at tax departments within 30 days after receiving their business licenses has been established. Without such registration, companies will be unable to open bank accounts, apply for tax reductions and exemptions, or conduct other tax-related business. SAT also attributes the rapid growth in tax revenue to an increase in imports as well as a better-than-expected economic growth rate.


CORRECTION:
     There was an error in the table “Top Foreign-Invested Enterprises (FIES) by Export Value, 2001” that appeared in the November-December 2002 issue of The CBR. The enterprise listed as “Cannon (Zhuhai) Co., Ltd.” should have read “Canon Zhuhai, Inc.”