Hong Kong Police Clash with Hundreds Protesting WTO Summit - Article Example

Hong Kong police clash with hundreds protesting WTO summit Source : The Boston Globe, December 18, 2005 HONG KONG -- Protesters opposed to lowering trade barriers swung bamboo sticks at police yesterday and tried to storm a convention center where World Trade Organization delegates were negotiating a global accord on farming, manufacturing, and services. At least 70 people were injured. Negotiators met overnight into today trying to overcome differences on a draft text, but failed to agree on a deadline to eliminate agricultural export subsidies. India's trade minister, Kamal Nath, said a deal had been reached, but he was swiftly contradicted by a spokesman for the European Union trade commissioner. Yesterday, security forces scattered the crowd of protesters with tear gas and pepper spray, and 900 people were detained after the worst street violence in Hong Kong in decades. The injured included 10 police officers. The protesters included South Korean farmers, Southeast Asian groups, and activists from the United States and Europe. They are concerned that WTO efforts to open up global markets will enrich wealthy nations at the expense of poor and developing countries. By early today, police ordered demonstrators staging a sit-in on a major road near the site to disperse and began dragging them away and loading them in buses. Leading delegates met into today in hopes of reaching an agreement on a text that showed only incremental progress after nearly a week of largely fruitless talks on how to reduce trade barriers in services, manufacturing, and farming. The talks focused on the contentious proposal to end export subsidies by 2010 -- an issue that could make or break the entire gathering. ''Today is the day," Fernando de Mateo y Venturini, Mexico's ambassador to the WTO, said early today. ''At least I hope there is going to be a result. That's my expectation." The US trade representative, Rob Portman, said negotiators were close to a deal, reporting modest progress on market opening measures for farm and manufactured goods and services. ''The expectations were relatively low for Hong Kong but I think we're making some incremental progress," he said. Venturini said delegates discussed possibly pushing the date to end export subsidies back to 2013, and Nath said that proposal would be acceptable to India, one of the leading developing nations and a key player in the rules-setting World Trade Organization. Section: World News Accessed 1/9/2006 from http://www.boston.com 2.2 Commentary The World Trade Organization (WTO) Convention in Hong Kong has experienced considerable opposition from protesters which include the local agricultural sector and various activist groups. The WTO is the only international organization that handles and controls the laws governing trade between countries. It is consisted by delegates and representatives from all trading countries who negotiate the agreements that would be ratified by their own governments. The protesters are opposed to lowering trade barriers, broadly defined as government regulations or policies that ensure that domestic products are safe from foreign competition and that exports can artificially boosted. Trade barriers essentially restrict the international trade of goods and services. The maneuvers lowering trade barriers being opposed to include the proposal to end export subsidies, one of the crucial issues being discussed in the convention. Export subsidies are incentives given by the government to advocate the export of certain goods, commonly agricultural products. In most countries, this comes in the form of income support programs for farmers. Their earnings are maintained by either inhibiting the growth of domestic supply, which is the amount of goods produced or manufactured locally, or raising domestic demand of such goods. When there is excess supply however, governments are obliged to purchase them. Export subsidies are utilized to encourage exports in order to reduce the domestic supply and eradicate government need to purchase them. Because the government compensates the farmers in part for the commodities, the export prices are usually low. From the local agricultural sector's perspective, the abolition of these subsidies mean a decrease in their incomes. However, the need to abolish export subsidiaries, especially in developed countries, arises from the fact cheap imported products due to export subsidiaries hurt local and domestic producers (see diagram below). Developing countries also object to the biased nature of export subsidiary laws because developed countries can continue subsidizing because they have large finances to do it, while they cannot. So in effect, the reduction of trade barriers acts as an advantage to developing countries, making them more competitive in the world market1. The article also states that the protesters are "concerned that WTO efforts to open up global markets will enrich wealthy nations at the expense of poor and developing countries." The issue of globalization has always been a fiercely debated topic, many activists claiming that it acts to the disadvantage of poor and developing countries2. However, globalization, which is the expansion and growth of international economic activity, is a complex process operating in various levels and that a using it as "catch-all" phrase for poverty is inappropriate. Globalization's impoverishing effects could be attributed to increased competition, trade, government borrowing, etc. These factors have variable effects depending on the government's management. Oftentimes, "globalization" is attributed to political movements which are not related its actual economic processes. The article is basically a report of the WTO protest, however, the treatment of the protesters' issues were merely anecdotal. There was no explanation as to how the WTO talks would "enrich wealthy nations at the expense of poor and developing countries" In this matter, the article failed to represent the protester's vantage point. Since it is an article primarily about the protest, might have served a better purpose by showing the protesters' side as it did the WTO's. It also should have explained what trade barriers and export subsidiaries are, and how they affect the economy, as the average person is not initiated with such terms. Content-wise the article is short and does not include a lot of details, just the gist of the issue,understandably because it is a news article and does not need to bother with economic jargon, as opposed to business or financial pieces. But overall, article is credible, coming from the Associated Press and also because it includes interviews with various convention delegates. Bibliography "Export Subsidies and Competition." World Trade Organization Agriculture. 1 December 2004. World Trade Organization. Kurtenbach, Elaine. "WTO Negotiators Agree on Farm Subsidies." ABC News. 18 December 2005. ABC News Internet Ventures. 10 January 2006. Porter, Keith. "Pro-Globalization and Anti-Globalization: The Two Extremes." Globalization Issues. 2005. About, Inc. 10 January 2006. Read More