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Article: Peasant classes bank on WTO subsidy hike.
- Article from:
- Sunday Business (London, England)
- Article date:
- March 4, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Sunday Business Publishing. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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OMORROW marks the start of China's annual session of the National People's Congress. This is the equivalent of the mainland's parliament and, like parliaments all over the world at the moment, the main topic of discussion is going to be agriculture (when it's not war and famine).
In China's case, the leadership is not worried about foot-and-mouth disease or mad cows. Beijing is concerned about the effect World Trade Organisation membership will have on the country's 800mn farmers and rural dwellers.
China's lagging farm sector has become the prime sticking point over the country's increasingly delayed entry into WTO. In a nutshell, Beijing ...