Global Express Carriers challenge Chinese Government
International express courier operators, led by United Parcel Service (UPS), rejected a registration deadline to carry parcels on the mainland in a move which looks set to seriously question China’s commitment to the World Trade Organization.
The move defies mainland authorities, which this month gave foreign operators 60 days to register for ‘entrustment’ with the State Post Bureau, the express companies’ competitor. The notice also restricted the couriers from carrying ‘private letters and official documents’ of the party, government and military ‘above county level.’ ‘We have to now question if China is serious about its WTO commitments. We have resisted postal abuses all over the world and we have no plans to file for entrustment by the deadline,’ said negotiator Stephen Monaghan, UPS’s vice-president for public affairs.”
Foreign express operators have been represented in the dispute by the Council of Asia-Pacific Express Companies (Capec), which said in a statement: ‘At the present moment, Capec members are not filing for entrustment.’ The September 5 notice, jointly issued by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (Moftec) and the State Post Bureau, said failure to register by the deadline would result in a ban. The State Council waded into the dispute in May after Moftec challenged MII’s authority to legislate changes to the industry.
The notice appears to indicate the ministries have settled their differences, but the council’s presence has changed the stakes, according to one executive. ‘Things have become more complicated now because it’s gone all the way up to the State Council. Now there will have to be some significant face-saving gestures before a settlement can be reached,’ he said.
‘But China has no real interest in making this a more public dispute, so adjustments will have to be made.’ The executive said the issue could be brought up on the sidelines of President Jiang Zemin’s visit to the US in late October and at the next WTO meeting. Both events occur before the November 4 filing deadline.
