Asian and European Union ministers have clashed over EU calls for labour standards to be included in the upcoming millennium round of world trade talks, when the World Trade Organisation fixes the agenda at its Seattle meeting next month.
The row, which overshadowed renewed bilateral discussions between the EU and the mainland over Beijing's WTO entry, erupted during two days of intensive trade talks in Berlin.
As the 15 EU member states and 10 East Asian nations attempted to thrash out their differences ahead of Seattle, both sides claimed the 'open and honest' discussions had been helpful.
They said the talks had allowed them to begin to close the gap between the European and Asian views on a range of issues - from what Asia sees as Europe's abuse of anti-dumping legislation to a series of non-tariff barriers.
However, the central controversy was Europe's insistence that further liberalisation of trade should be linked with improvements in labour standards in developing countries.
Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi admitted the subject would inevitably come up because both Europe and the United States believed it should be discussed. But Asian countries were determined it should not be a matter for WTO negotiations.
